Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Education

Advisor

Celeste Fenton

Abstract

The affective and professional development of health care professionals, including medical laboratory science (MLS) professionals, is important for their employability and provision of effective patient care. The problem is that affective development is critical to graduate employability and the quality of care provided in health care settings, yet there is limited research about which activities and experiences are perceived by MLS students as beneficial for their affective domain development. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to understand how MLS students describe the usefulness of program learning activities and experiences as supporting their affective development, within the framework of social cognitive and emotional intelligence theories, through semistructured interviews. A total of 12 MLS program graduates from one large Midwestern university were interviewed. Data were analyzed using open manual coding to identify emergent themes. The data revealed that their affective domain development was influenced by interactions with different types of people through a variety of learning experiences and activities in diverse settings integrated during the program coursework. By integrating affective domain components into program coursework, MLS programs may provide opportunities that are supportive of student affective domain development that will be beneficial to their employability and the quality of care that they provide to patients. Developing coursework activities that enhance and are supportive of student affective development will promote positive social change by increasing graduate employability to help reduce the workforce shortage of MLS professionals, as well as promoting quality of patient care in healthcare settings.

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