Perceptions and experiences of undergraduate medical students regarding social accountability: a cross-sectional study at a Subsaharan African medical school

• Published in: BMC medical education Vol. 24; no. 1; p. 409
• Main Authors: Oriokot, Lorraine, Munabi, Ian Guyton, Kiguli, Sarah, Mubuuke, Aloysius Gonzaga
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 12-04-2024; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Accountability; Adult; Africa South of the Sahara; Allied Health Occupations Education; Career counseling; Career development; Career Guidance; College students; Community; Community Education; Community Problems; Community Relations; Community-based education research and service; Cross-Sectional Studies; Education; Female; Health aspects; High schools; Humans; International Organizations; Learning; Male; Medical education; Medical school; Medical schools; Medical students; Medicine; Methods; Psychological aspects; Questionnaires; Research Assistants; Schools, Medical; Secondary Schools; Social accountability; Social aspects; Social Responsibility; Statistical Analysis; Statistical Significance; Students, Medical; Supervisors; Teaching Methods; Vocational guidance; Young Adult; Africa South of the Sahara; Uganda; Community-based education research and service; Medical students; Medical education; Social accountability; Medical school
• ISSN: 1472-6920; 1472-6920
• DOI: 10.1186/s12909-024-05412-3

Medical schools are called to be socially accountable by medical education and healthcare system stakeholders. Social accountability is a feature of excellent medical education. Medical students are essential to the development of socially accountable medical schools. Therefore, understanding the perceptions and experiences of medical students regarding social accountability is critical for efforts to improve social accountability practices and outcomes.
This cross-sectional online questionnaire-based survey used Google Forms and involved medical students in their fourth and fifth years of study at the Makerere University School of Medicine. The survey was conducted between September 2022 and October 2023. We used a study questionnaire and a validated toolkit designed by students as part of The Training for Health Equity Collaborative to gauge a school's progress towards social accountability in medical schools to collect data on demographics, perceptions and experiences and evaluate social accountability.
Out of 555 eligible medical students, 426 responded to the online questionnaire. The response rate was 77%. The mean age of the students was 25.24 ± 4.4 years. Almost three fourths of the students were male (71.3%), and slightly less than two thirds were in their fourth year of study (65%). Almost half of the students (48.1%%) evaluated the school as doing well with regard to social accountability. The evaluation items referring to community-based research and positive impact on the community had the highest mean scores. Only 6 (3.6%) students who reported hearing of social accountability had a clear understanding of social accountability. Students receiving career guidance in secondary school was associated with evaluating social accountability in the medical school as strong (p-0.003).
Medical students evaluated the medical school favorably forsocial accountability despite lacking a clear understanding of social accountability. Receiving career guidance in secondary school was significantly associated with a positive evaluation of social accountability.