Qualitative Experiences of Trained Medical Student Coaches Delivering a Community-Outreach Telehealth Coaching Program

Research Objectives: To describe medical student coaches’ experiences leading the Community Outreach teleheAlth program for Covid education and Health promotion (COACH) [1,2].

Design: Qualitative, descriptive study.

Setting: Online via Zoom video conferencing.

Participants: Trained medical student coaches (n = 19) were recruited from the University of British Columbia via convenience sampling. Seventy-four percent of participants were female and had an average age of 25.6. Most participants (57.9%) were from visible minority populations, and 42.1% administered COACH in suburban/rural areas.

Interventions: COACH included six 30-45-minute one-on-one sessions where student coaches promote positive health behaviours to adults ages 65 or older.

Main Outcome Measures: Participants engaged in a 45-to-60-minute semi-structured interview conducted via one-on-one Zoom video-conferencing calls. Interview questions focused on students’ experiences delivering COACH, their understanding of various health-related topics (e.g., chronic care, virtual health, and health promotion), and possible impacts on their beliefs and future practice. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically [3,4].

Results: Three main themes emerged from our thematic analysis, including: (1) exploring opportunities for knowledge and skill acquisition (i.e., learning virtual care, health promotion strategies for chronic care, and client-centered care), (2) developing clinical perspective and acumen (i.e., developing a chronic care perspective, overcoming challenges to health coaching, and developing interest in chronic care practice), and (3) learning to appreciate patient care (i.e., becoming a health motivator and appreciating the opportunity to build rapport).

Conclusions: Findings suggest that COACH supported development of knowledge, skill, and confidence in medical school students in areas of health promotion, virtual care, and chronic disease management. These findings also demonstrate promise for the use of health professional students and telehealth in advancing chronic care health services [5].

Author(s) Disclosures: We report no real or perceived conflicts of interest.