Health Profession Student-Reported Motivations for Service-Learning: Experiences at a Multi-Disciplinary Health Fair

Service-learning provides extracurricular opportunities for health profession students to gain hands-on experience caring for diverse patient populations. Our study utilized quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate student volunteer perspectives in the setting of a student-led health fair. The Health Care Equity Fair (HCEF) is an annual health screening fair organized by Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) students across interprofessional programs, including MD, DMD, PA, nursing, and PharmD, to address the challenges faced by urban underserved populations in Portland, OR. Volunteers for the HCEF serve on committees to support fair planning or volunteer at the fair itself. Post-fair surveys were shared with all student volunteers and included questions on motivation for volunteering, career goals, reasons for choosing specific volunteer roles, and overall impressions from volunteering at the fair. Students were most interested in serving urban underserved (72.7%), immigrant (67.5%), and unhoused (63.6%) populations. The most common motivations for volunteering included interest in the HCEF itself (27.3%), interest in health equity and underserved communities (26.0%), and interest in giving back (18.2%). The most reported reasons for choosing specific volunteer roles were the need for that role (24.7%), the ability to work directly with patients (23.4%), and to have a direct role in planning the fair (14.3%). Responses reflected student benefits of service-learning, including opportunity for community engagement, student development, interprofessional collaboration, and fostering peer motivation.