Medical Laboratory Sciences Student Perceptions of Their Affective Development

AIMS: The affective and professional development of healthcare professionals, including medical laboratory scientists (MLS), is important for employability, resilience, and provision of effective patient care. Affective domain development is also critical to the quality of care provided in healthcare settings, yet there is limited research about which activities and experiences are perceived by MLS students as beneficial for their affective development. The purpose of this study was to understand, through semi-structured interviews, how MLS students value program learning activities and experiences in support of their affective development within the framework of social cognitive and emotional intelligence (EI) theories. METHODS: Twelve MLS program graduates from one large Midwestern university were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using open manual coding to identify emergent themes. RESULTS: Findings indicate that students’ affective domain development was influenced by interactions with different types of people through a variety of learning experiences and activities in diverse settings integrated during the program coursework. CONCLUSION: Developing program coursework activities that enhance and are supportive of student affective development may be beneficial to graduate employability, helping reduce the workforce shortage of MLS professionals, and promote a better quality of care for patients in healthcare settings.