Experiences of Health Professional Students Delivering a Community-Outreach TeleheAlth Program for COVID Education and Health Promotion to Older Adults

Objectives To describe students' experiences as health coaches in a student-delivered Community Outreach teleheAlth program for COVID education and Health promotion (COACH).Methods This qualitative description study collected data from student coaches (n = 19) who engaged in a 45-to-60-min semi-structured interview conducted via one-on-one on Zoom video-conferencing calls. Most (74%) student coaches were female with an average age of 25.6 years. Fifty-eight percent were from visible minority populations, and 42% administered COACH in suburban/rural areas. Coaches were located throughout British Columbia, Canada. Interview questions focused on students' experiences delivering COACH, their understanding of various health-related topics (eg, chronic care, virtual health, health promotion), and possible impacts on their beliefs and future practice. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically. Findings were reported in accordance with the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research guidelines.Results Three themes emerged from our analysis, including: (1) knowledge and skill acquisition for professional development; (2) appreciating relationship-based client-centered care; and (3) developing clinical interests and gaining clinical experiences.Conclusion COACH supported the development of knowledge, skill, and confidence in medical school students in areas of health promotion, virtual care, and chronic disease management. Emerging themes were found to be representative of the six domains of the Canadian Medical Education Directors for Specialists (CanMEDS) framework (Theme 1: scholar and health advocate; Theme 2: professional and collaborator; Theme 3: leader and communicator). (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04492527).