Effectiveness of Family Adoption Program as a Tool for Experiential Learning in Medical Curriculum

Abstract Background: The National Medical Commission (NMC) introduced a family adoption program (FAP) in the undergraduate (UG) medical curriculum to provide an experiential learning opportunity about community-based health care and thereby promote equity in health. It is important to know the perceptions of students and faculty. Objective: The objective of the study is to determine the perceptions of students and faculty about the experiential learning in FAP. Materials and Methods: It is a Mixed Method–Embedded design study conducted among two batches of MBBS students, 195 students from 2021 batch and 250 students from 2022 batch with sixteen staff from the Department of Community Medicine (10 faculty, 4 postgraduate students, and 2 medicosocial workers). Data were collected from the students and faculty using a questionnaire designed in Google form. Focused group discussion (FGD) was conducted to collect data from students and faculty. Continuous variables are expressed as mean and standard deviation. Thematic analysis is performed for responses to open-ended questions and FGD. The satisfaction index for each item was calculated. Results: Self-efficacy scores of students showed a significant improvement in the post-test median scores in FAP related skills. The perceptions of students and faculty about experiential learning in FAP were found to be positive in all items. Thematic analysis brought out themes on experience about FAP in terms of learning imbibed by the students, challenges, and what needs to be modified. Conclusion: Students and faculty perceived that FAP is providing experiential learning of the objectives that the NMC intended during the inception of the program into curriculum.