Is earning detrimental to learning? Experiences of medical students from traditional and low socioeconomic backgrounds
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18573/bsdj.297Keywords:
Medical Education, Widening Participation, Medical students, Qualitative research, student experienceAbstract
Background: Medical schools are striving to produce a representative workforce through admissions processes that actively encourage applications from students with backgrounds of social and financial disadvantage. Such medical students frequently have reduced financial support and need to undertake paid employment while studying. However, there is limited evidence to show how a lack of financial support and undertaking paid employment impacts those studying for medical degrees, who are not from affluent backgrounds. Method: A mixed methods approach was used for this single site, exploratory study. A questionnaire on paid employment was distributed to undergraduate medical students. Those respondents in employment were invited to attend an interview to further explore their experiences. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Results: Questionnaire responses from 199 medical students were received and 11 semi-structured interviews conducted. Most students undertook paid employment during medical school and stated it had some benefits. However, the negative impact of paid employment was greater for LSE students: those who met the medical school’s widening participation criteria. LSE students reported work was a necessity rather than a choice. They also had additional stress of financial responsibility for others, including parents or partners. Discussion: Compared to traditional medical students, LSE students report increased negative experiences from undertaking paid employment, with greater financial responsibility for themselves and others during their studies. Medical schools have a responsibility to adapt and provide appropriate support for all students. It is vital to understand and acknowledge the additional challenges students from LSE backgrounds face.Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 The Author(s)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright for articles published in the journal is held by The British Student Doctor Journal.
Authors are required to complete a copyright assignment form, available here. The form specifies that authors must seek to obtain permission for publication of any content for which they do not already own the copyright, before submission of the manuscript.
The content of The British Student Doctor Journal is usually made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives) licence from Creative Commons. The licence lets others distribute the work in its original form as long as they credit the author(s) of the work.
Authors of articles in The British Student Doctor Journal may request that their work is published under a CC-BY 4.0 (Attribution) licence instead. If this is the case, then please contact the Editor-in-Chief (editorinchief@thesdj.org.uk) at the time of acceptance.
For further information about the licences, please visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.
For full details of our open access and copyright policies, then please visit our website.