2 - Comfort Levels of Middle and High School-aged Learners in Anatomical Donor-based Anatomy Outreach Sessions

Poster Board Number: 2
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Co-authors:

Humberto Baquerizo, EdD - Rutgers New Jersey Medical School; Maria Soto-Greene, MD, MS-HPEd, FACP - Rutgers New Jersey Medical School; Jeremy Grachan, PhD - Assistant Professor, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School

Abstract Body : Introduction

Many health professions schools host outreach programs for undergraduate and high school students, especially those underrepresented in healthcare, that have been shown to increase interest in STEM fields. Some of these programs teach with anatomical donors, which has proven to help teach anatomy, expose students to science, and introduce students to possible careers. However, teaching with anatomical donors remains uncommon for outreach programs involving younger learners, with discomfort around death cited as a barrier. This study aimed to assess the comfort levels of middle and high school students learning from isolated organs and full-body anatomical donors as part of an anatomy outreach curriculum.

Methods

Students enrolled in health-science focused summer programs aimed at increasing diversity and sponsored by Rutgers New Jersey Medical School participated in two anatomy outreach sessions covering multiple body systems. Each session included a lecture and a one-hour lab session that utilized isolated organs and full-body anatomical donors. Students completed pre- and post-session surveys to self-report their comfort using a 4-point Likert scale. Students entering grades 7 through 10 were grouped as “younger learners” (n = 25) and those entering grades 11 and 12 were grouped as “older learners” (n = 33). Descriptive statistics, paired t-tests, and unpaired t-tests were performed on Microsoft Excel.

Results

Most students (93.1%) indicated that this was their first time in an anatomical donor lab. Prior to seeing isolated organs, there was no significant difference in the mean level of comfort between younger (M = 2.84, SD = 1.2) and older (M = 2.61, SD = 1.3; p = 0.50) learners. Similarly, prior to seeing full-body donors, there was no significant difference in the mean level of comfort between younger (M = 2.40, SD = 1.4) and older (M = 2.42, SD = 1.4; p = 0.95) learners. Younger learners’ level of comfort learning from isolated organs (M = 3.16, SD = 1.1; p = 0.36) and full-body donors (M = 3.08, SD = 1.1; p = 0.09) increased after the curriculum. Older learners’ level of comfort learning from isolated organs (M = 3.33, SD = 1.2; p = 0.02) and full-body donors (M = 3.18, SD = 1.3; p = 0.03) significantly increased after the curriculum.

Conclusion and Significance

Younger learners are not significantly less comfortable learning from human tissue than older learners, and this donor-based outreach curriculum increased student comfort learning from human tissues across age groups. Donor-based anatomy outreach programs could be expanded to include younger learners, potentially demystifying healthcare as a profession for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.