Evaluation of a supplementary retention program for African-American baccalaureate nursing students. Evaluation of a supplementary retention program for black allied health sciences students.
This study evaluated the Minority Academic Advising Program (MAAP), a supplementary retention program established for African-American students enrolled in a southern state health sciences university's baccalaureate nursing program. The evaluation method merged a quasi-experimental with a time-series design. A group of 114 black students were included in the study. A comparison group consisting of 608 nursing student cohorts who were predominantly white was incorporated for control purposes. Although the students who were MAAP participants had significantly lower SAT scores, reduced Pre-Admission GPAs, and included a contingent of 11 students at high risk of failing, the following enhancements were identified: their retention-to-graduation rate increased 5.3 percentage points to 97.1%, their nursing program GPA increased nearly one-quarter letter grade, their time-persisted-in-program increased 0.7 months, and their nursing board examination pass rate increased 15 percentage points. The Medical College of Georgia's (MCG's) Minority Academic Advising Program (MAAP), which began in 1984, is a supplementary retention program for Black students. This paper describes an evaluation study of the effectiveness of MAAP within the MCG School of Allied Health Sciences (SAHS). The study sample consisted of 89 Black students who enrolled in the SAHS from fall 1978 to fall 1982 (preMAAP period) plus 129 Black students who entered the SAHS from fall 1984 through fall 1988 (MAAP period). The comparison group consisted of all other students who entered the SAHS (n = 1,884) within those same time periods. Using an evaluation design produced by merging a quasi-experimental and a time-series design, the authors found that the MAAP succeeded in increasing both the Black student retention-to-graduation rate and the time-persisted-in-program, to the extent that Black students achieved parity with other SAHS students.
The evidence to estimate the likely effects of interventions in pre-licensure education to increase health-worker supply is generally insufficient or unavailable, particularly in LMICs. Promising innovations from a high-income country include providing financial support to health professional students or introducing mechanisms to identify and encourage potential students and offering support to 'at risk' students. These and other promising interventions should be evaluated in LMIC.