Does a participant's perceived self-efficacy of healthcare professions improve following a week-long informational camp for high school students?

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine if a week-long summer day camp for high school students to learn about various healthcare professions could influence the students' perceived self-efficacy and knowledge of healthcare careers related to sports medicine. Additionally, we investigated if there was a relationship between level of parent education and the participants' self-efficacy scores before and after camp. SUBJECTS: We recruited 13 male and 13 female (n=26) students from five area high schools with an average age of 15.8 yrs (range, 15 to 17 yrs). Participants were predominantly of Hispanic origin. METHODS: A preand post-intervention survey was used to collect participants' demographic data and to assess participants' perceived self-efficacy towards the healthcare field and their knowledge of different healthcare careers. A paired, two-tailed t-test was used to determine if perceived self-efficacy scores before and after the camp differed. A linear regression analysis was run to determine if parental education was a predictor for the difference in self-efficacy scores. RESULTS: We found a statistically significant difference between perceived self-efficacy scores before and after the camp. Parental education was not found to be a significant predictor for the difference in participants' self-efficacy scores. CONCLUSIONS: The evidence suggests that attendance at a summer program that allowed students to learn about and interact with various healthcare professionals significantly improves perceived self-efficacy towards pursuing a career in the healthcare field. Parental education may not be a predicting factor for the change in perceived self-efficacy after attendance at such educational camps.