Towards an Anthropology of Service-Learning: An Exploration of the Impact of a Cross-Cultural, Service-Learning Experience on Health Professional Students.

摘要

In the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program at Creighton University, students have the opportunity to participate in a clinical rotation, better described as a cross-cultural, service-learning program, in the Dominican Republic. The program both incorporates and extends beyond traditional service-learning models by emphasizing cultural immersion, community service, and reflective practices rooted in Jesuit spiritual traditions. This thesis explores the impact of a cross-cultural, service-learning experience on Creighton physical therapy students by utilizing evidence from a six-week, multi-sited qualitative research project. Anthropological research on the impacts of such experiences on health professional students is essential to better understanding their future engagement as professionals in the U.S. health care system. Current anthropological research has not thoroughly examined how these processes influence health professional students' long-term attitudinal and behavioral changes, and furthermore, has not thoroughly considered the role of reflective processes during these experiences. And yet, anthropological perspectives are particularly well-suited to understand service-learning, cross-cultural education, experiential learning and transformational learning, and to contextualize the impact of such experiences and illuminate the formation of health professional students. Additionally, anthropological literature is utilized to examine critiques of humanitarianism in the developing world.