Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Medical Education
Date Submitted: Jan 16, 2024
Date Accepted: Feb 23, 2024
Global rate of willing-to-volunteer among medical and health students during pandemic: Lessons from COVID-19 – A meta-analysis
ABSTRACT
Background:
During health crisis such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, shortage of healthcare workers often occurs. Recruiting students as volunteers could be an option, but it is uncertain whether the idea is well accepted.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to estimate the global rate of willing-to-volunteer among medical and health students in response to COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods:
A systematic search was performed on PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and Google Scholar for studies reporting health students’ willingness to volunteer during COVID-19 from 2019 until November 17, 2023. The meta-analysis was carried out using restricted maximum-likelihood model with logit transformation.
Results:
A total of 21 studies participated by 26,056 health students were included in the meta-analysis. The estimated pooled willing-to-volunteer rate of health students was 66.13% with I2=98.99% and p-Het<0.001. Removing a study with the highest influence led to the rate being 64.34%. Our stratified analyses indicate that those with older age, longer study year, and being female were more willing to volunteer (p<0.01). From the highest to the lowest, the rates were 77.38%, 77.03%, 65.48%, 64.11%, 62.71%, and 55.23% in Africa, Western Europe, East and Southeast Asia, Middle East, and Eastern Europe, respectively. Due to high heterogeneity, the evidence of this present study has a moderate strength.
Conclusions:
In conclusion, the majority of the students are willing to volunteer during COVID-19 suggesting that the volunteer recruitment is well accepted.
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