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Abstract

Background: Understanding social determinants of health is central to public health practice. Integrating experiential learning through public health research projects can be important in this context, as it can deepen medical students’ understanding of these determinants and their impact on health outcomes, although research in this area remains limited. Purpose: This study assessed how experiential learning through public health data projects enhances medical students’ knowledge and understanding of public health. Methodology/Approach: Experiences of medical students undertaking projects using public health data were evaluated using semistructured interviews (n = 12). Kolb's experiential learning framework was applied to analyze the results. Findings/Conclusions: Most students appreciated the projects, citing increased confidence and research skills applicable to future work. The experiential learning approach was valued for its practical insight into public health's relevance in clinical medicine. However, some students perceived these projects as less important than clinical research, and concerns were raised about publication prospects. Implications: This study confirms the importance of integrating experiential learning into medical education to enhance comprehension of the social determinants of health and better prepare future health practitioners for effective public health and clinical practice. Future research should explore long-term impact on medical students’ future clinical practice and public health research.

Keywords

public health medical students experiential learning research projects mixed methods

Significance of the Research Statement

This study emphasizes the importance of experiential education through research projects in enhancing medical students’ understanding of public health and its integration into clinical practice.

Public health principles emphasize disease prevention over treatment, and public health practice complements clinical practice by focusing on disease prevention, improving overall population health, and addressing health disparities (Wylie, 2011). A fundamental aspect of public health education involves understanding social determinants of health, the conditions in which people live, work, and age, influenced by societal, employment, and environmental factors (World Health Organization, 2008).

Importance of Public Health Teaching in Medical Education

Healthcare professionals trained in public health are better positioned to manage disease outbreaks, track epidemiological trends, and identify emerging health threats. Moreover, healthcare professionals with public health expertise are well-positioned to influence health policies that create healthier environments and promote public well-being (Bornstein et al., 2021; Mehta & Shah, 2023). During a medical degree, teaching public health principles and their applications can prepare public health practitioners, academics, researchers, and teachers to lead public health research and teaching fields (Frenk et al., 2010; Khalid et al., 2023). Similarly, by integrating the teaching of social determinants of health into medical education, medical students can effectively reduce disease incidence and promote healthy behaviors at individual and community levels as future health professionals. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic served as a timely reminder to reinforce the importance of teaching public health concepts to medical students (Altillo et al., 2021; Rao et al., 2020; Soled et al., 2020).

Current Gaps in Public Health Education

Despite its importance in medical education, research indicates that medical students are disengaged and disinterested in studying public health (Tyler et al., 2009). A lack of space in medical curricula, a lack of confidence/capabilities of medical educators, and inadequate institutional support are reported as the main contributing factors for inadequate integration of public health teaching into the medical curriculum (Abdul Kadir & Schütze, 2022). Hence, there are gaps in students’ understanding of and opportunities to learn about the relevance of public health data and concepts to the causes and progression of clinical illness. Amongst the major challenges in teaching public health to medical students are undermining of the clinical relevance of public health (Thompson, 2015) and a lack of experiential learning (Roopnarine & Regan, 2021).

Role of Experiential Learning in Public Health Education

It has been reported that students are more engaged with public health teaching when it is introduced early in the medical curriculum and practical activities are integrated (Dankner et al., 2018). High-impact experiential learning activities, including research, can significantly improve medical students’ engagement and practical understanding of public health concepts (Chorazy & Klinedinst, 2019; Vyas et al., 2017) play a pivotal role in education, and this holds for public health teaching as well (Chiolero, 2023). Research fosters experiential learning that facilitates the integration of theoretical knowledge with practical skills, offering a hands-on approach that is critical for the development of future healthcare professionals. It emphasizes the importance of active participation in the learning process, fostering critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and a deeper understanding of medical practice (Bates, 2015).

Despite clear potential benefits, there is limited empirical research specifically evaluating the impact of experiential learning on medical students’ understanding of public health concepts. Addressing this gap is crucial for determining effective educational strategies to enhance student engagement and comprehension of public health.

Theoretical Framework

We used Kolb's experiential learning theory (Kolb, 1984) as an overarching framework for guiding the interpretation of the findings of this study. This theory is an important framework for understanding how students learn through undertaking research. It recommends direct, hands-on experience beyond data collection as the best learning method. The theory has a four-stage learning cycle: (i) concrete experience is gained through active experience and performance; (ii) reflective observation involves conscious reflection and concluding; (iii) abstract conceptualization involves conceptualizing a theory or model and using it for further (iv) active experimentation, which reflects “learner-centered” experiences. We used this framework to guide the interpretation of our findings and to contextualize student experiences within the theory's learning stages. By applying this framework, the study contextualizes student experiences within structured learning stages, offering a robust interpretative lens for examining experiential learning outcomes.

Research Questions

This study aims to answer the following research question. Firstly, how does experiential learning through public health data projects impact medical students’ understanding of the social determinants of health? Secondly, what specific research skills do medical students acquire through participation in public health research projects? Lastly, in what ways does involvement in public health research projects influence medical students’ perception of the relevance of public health in clinical practice?

Methods

Setting

The University of Sydney is an Australian university located in the state of New South Wales. The University's Doctor of Medicine (MD) program is a 4-year graduate-entry medical program, and around 300 students graduate with an MD degree every year. The curriculum includes a compulsory research component (MD research project) that requires students to undertake an independent research project under the guidance of a faculty member or affiliated supervisor. Students undertake the research project in a dedicated block of 14 weeks duration during the third year of their MD degree. Students can choose from a variety of project themes, including clinical, biomedical, and epidemiological research, public health data analysis, medical education, information technology, policy, law, and ethics. The majority of students (57%) work on projects based on clinical data (Kaur et al., 2023), and projects based on public health databases are undertaken by a very small proportion of students. In addition to students’ self-selection of public health-based projects, the MD research project team offers optional Public Health database-related projects to students who have either failed their original research project or whose original project is no longer feasible, which was the case for the majority of projects during the COVID-19 pandemic (Hart et al., 2023). The learning objectives of the MD project are: (i) formulate a research question, hypothesis, or issue for investigation, (ii) identify, obtain, and integrate existing knowledge relevant to the research question or hypothesis, (iii) organize and conduct a research project, (iv) collect and analyze data and logically present the findings, (v) prepare a scientific report that draws appropriate conclusions from the findings, recognize the strengths and limitations of the design and methods of the project and consider the findings in the context of current knowledge in the area.

Public Health database projects utilize two primary Australian sources: (i) National Health Survey data and National Disability Survey data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) available at https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/microdata-tablebuilder or (ii) the Public Health Information Development Unit available at https://phidu.torrens.edu.au/about-phidu. Students undertaking these research projects explore the impact of social determinants of health on person-level or population-level data about disease or medical conditions. These research projects are scaffolded with milestone assessment tasks and lead to a 3000-word final scientific report in Introduction-Method-Results-and-Discussion format. There are seven milestone tasks undertaken from weeks 1 to 14. These include (i) writing a project proposal and appraisal of the ethical considerations (week 1), (ii) literature search strategy and literature review (week 2), (iii) final project plan (week 3), (iv) draft results and final reports (week 8), (v) full draft of the project report (week 10), (vi) oral presentation of the project and findings (week 13), and (vii) written scientific report (week 14).

Participants

We invited all students (n = 33) who completed a public health research project between 2017 and 2023 to participate in this study. Of the 33 medical students invited to participate, 12 participated in the interviews. Of these 12 students, seven were male and five were female. Three students were international students, and the rest were domestic students.

Study Design

We used a qualitative description design (Colorafi & Evans, 2016; Sandelowski, 2000) to provide a descriptive summary of medical students’ perceptions and experiences of working on public health databases. The qualitative description aims to provide a comprehensive yet straightforward summary of experiences while staying close to participants’ actual words and perspectives (Neergaard et al., 2009). Given that our objective was to understand how medical students experienced public health research projects, not to develop new theories or deeply analyze subjective meaning, this approach was appropriate. Medical students who worked on these projects were invited to participate in semistructured interviews.

Materials

We used open-ended, semistructured questions to guide the qualitative interviews because they focus on how individuals perceive and make sense of their experiences (Liamputtong, 2022). RK developed the interview guide, and GC and JH reviewed it before finalizing it. Questions explored students’ experiences with the project, skills gained through the project, and positive and negative aspects of undertaking research projects based on public health topics.

Procedures

We invited all 33 medical students who completed a public health data project between 2017 and 2023 to participate in this study to capture diverse perspectives within this specific cohort. We invited students via email communication to take part in semistructured, in-depth interviews. We received written informed consent before interview participation. Researchers (RK and GC) conducted all interviews over Zoom, and they lasted between 25 and 30 min. Participant numbers are cited with the quotes in the results section to protect participant confidentiality. Ethics approval for the project was obtained from the Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of Sydney (HREC approval number 2020/475).

Analytical Strategy

We used a naturalistic and nonexperimental qualitative approach (Patton, 2023). To strengthen the rigor of qualitative research, we used several strategies: credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability (Mays & Pope, 2000). For example, RK and GC kept a research field journal as a method of researcher triangulation that served as an audit trail to optimize the credibility and confirmability of notes taken during the work (Tuckett, 2005). We recorded our reflections during or immediately after interviews, agenda points for discussion meetings with other researchers, and decisions made throughout the study in this field journal. Researcher triangulation was further evident in the use of multiple researchers for data collection and collaborative discussion (Miles et al., 2014) among researchers during analysis to enhance interpretative rigor (Kitto et al., 2008). Initially, a single researcher (RK) undertook a thematic analysis of interview data by using the iterative approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to code the interview data. A subset of the interviews was coded by a second researcher (GC). Coding involved a thorough reading of and immersion into the transcripts to fully understand these data. In the subsequent reading, codes were established for as many potential topics as could be identified. These codes were then placed into context and sorted into categories that were subsequently consolidated to form themes. The themes were refined and labeled, with representative quotes to improve rigor in the analyses. Once all transcripts were coded, the authors (RK, GC, and JH) discussed and analyzed the codes and themes actively developed through this process. After these discussions, RK refined the codes and incorporated complementary codes into the initial version of the codes.

During data analysis, researchers continually reflected on their role in this research project to keep their knowledge of the project and program and any preconceived notions from past cohorts of students separate from the analysis. We used reflexivity throughout the research process to acknowledge the potential influence of researcher backgrounds on data interpretation. The lead researcher (RK) has experience in public health education, which may have shaped initial coding decisions. To mitigate this, RK, GC, and JH held regular meetings to critically examine how individual perspectives influenced theme development, ensuring a balanced and reflexive approach (Miles et al., 2014). We used member checking to build a shared understanding of the findings (Liamputtong & Ezzy, 2005). We carried out member checking toward the end of each interview by confirming the main themes developed from the interview with the interviewee. Taken together, these triangulation approaches underscore credibility and dependability criteria for rigor within this work.

Results

We identified seven themes as follows: experiential learning of social determinants of health, relevance to clinical practice and future public health research, challenging yet do-able, skills acquired, skills not attained, a second choice, and publications: aspirations versus learning experience.

Theme 1: Experiential Learning of Social Determinants of Health

The majority of students believed they gained knowledge about sociocultural determinants of health, which they can utilize in their current and future research. They attributed this to the experiential learning approach that was used throughout these projects. While traditional coursework provided theoretical knowledge, students emphasized that hands-on engagement with public health databases allowed them to internalize these concepts more effectively, as reflected in the quote below:

I think I’ve leveraged a lot of skills and am building on those skills in my current research. Yeah, something really, really valuable was the knowledge of sociocultural determinants of health. I think that perhaps it wasn’t necessarily didactic teaching that provided that, but it's just that experiential learning, so it's more like hands-on learning rather than a lecture. (Participant 1)

One of the key insights gained from the data is that students stated that they did not recognize the relevance of sociocultural determinants of health when taught in a traditional lecture format. They perceived these concepts as academic hurdles rather than applicable knowledge. However, they believed that through analyzing real-world data, they were able to engage with sociocultural determinants of health in a more meaningful and applicable way, bridging the gap between theory and practice.

I have developed a very good understanding of the Australian publicly available databases on public health. I didn’t know publicly available data was a thing before this research project. Although I studied sociocultural determinants of health through population health modules, they were more of a barrier to clear than having any practical use. I gained a deeper understanding of these factors through objectively analysing the data. (Participant 2)

Notably, a few students who had previously struggled with public health coursework reported a complete shift in their engagement with the subject following the research project. They considered a public health database project as a more effective way of learning about public health compared with traditional coursework, as suggested by this quote:

I almost failed population medicine in my second year; it was a barrier. And then, I started this project, and I had no problem with population medicine whatsoever from then on. (Participant 3)

Theme 2: Relevance to Clinical Practice and Future Public Health Research

Many students acknowledged that the project aided in gaining a deeper understanding of the significance of public health concepts in medical practice. A key finding of this study is that participating in public health research projects enhanced students’ understanding of the clinical relevance of public health concepts, motivating them to integrate these insights into both patient care and future research. While public health is often perceived as abstract or separate from clinical medicine, students in this study reported that hands-on engagement with public health data helped bridge this gap, reinforcing the practical importance of epidemiology, disease prevention, and population health in everyday medical practice. The following quote illustrates how the project reinforced the participant's long-standing interest in a specialized clinical area.

It also allowed us to pick a project in public health that aligned with our clinical interests. It has motivated me further to pursue a specialisation I was always interested in. (Participant 2)

Similarly, students noted how gaining practical exposure to public health concepts improved their ability to educate patients about critical aspects of preventive medicine, such as modifiable risk factors, as suggested by the following quote:

The project has helped me to understand the relevance of public health concepts to medical practice. It is easier for me to teach my patients about modifiable risk factors, and I have decided to research more into this in future. (Participant 11)

Beyond an increased appreciation for public health within their medical practice, some students expressed a desire to contribute to public health research in a meaningful way, as noted in the quote below:

I have gained confidence in doing research and application of public health in my clinical practice. So, I worked on a population screening project on colorectal cancer screening, and it has motivated me to not only make my patients aware of the screening but also undertake further research in the field. (Participant 9)

Theme 3: Challenging Yet Doable

Students identified some challenges in undertaking a public health data project. One major challenge was to think of a research question that could be answered using publicly available data. Despite these challenges, students were able to complete these projects as reflected in the quotes below:

It was my first time working with a large data set, so I struggled with formulating a research question that could be answered by the information contained in the data. It was challenging yet do-able. (Participant 12)

This theme demonstrates the process of students grappling with research challenges and overcoming them, contributing to a deeper understanding of scientific inquiry and analytical thinking. The fact that students found the experience “challenging yet doable” suggests that the level of difficulty was appropriate for their learning stage, reinforcing the idea that experiential learning is most effective when students are exposed to tasks that push them just beyond their comfort zone but remain within their capability to master.

Another challenge described by some students was struggling with the technical aspects of scientific writing.

The thing that comes to mind the most is that I've struggled a lot with scientific writing, you know, the scientific way to elaborate and yet be concise. (Participant 9)

Theme 4: Skills Acquired

The majority of students expressed that they acquired many valuable skills from the project. Also, a majority reported increased confidence as they acquired fundamental research skills that enabled them to pursue research in related fields in the future. For instance, the following quote emphasizes how the project enhanced students’ confidence in research engagement and progression from concept development to publication:

One of the main positives I take away from that is just some confidence, you know, in being able to approach research and understand the process involved from creation through to hopefully publication at some point. (Participant 2)

Similarly, the following student described how the project provided them with foundational skills that allowed them to approach future research projects with ease:

This project built my confidence and provided foundational skills such as literature review and using referencing software. I am going to do a similar research project, and I am not worried as I now know how to approach it. (Participant 7)

The majority of the students appreciated the opportunity for “self-directed learning and the autonomy to select their research questions.” The most frequently reported advantage of the project was the guidance provided by supervisors in scientific writing, along with prompt and constructive feedback. This is reflected in the following quote:

Scientific writing was something I improved over my time during this project. My supervisor would send me many resources on scientific writing for journals, but I think it was the feedback I received on my drafts from my supervisor that was most helpful in making the improvements. (Participant 11)

This finding reinforces the importance of feedback loops in experiential learning, while autonomy and self-directed learning are crucial for skill acquisition, structured mentorship and constructive feedback help refine those skills and build confidence.

Theme 5: Skills Not Attained

The students worked with publicly available, de-identified data for which ethics approval for their project was not required. For some students, this had pragmatic value for their available research project timeline. However, one of the students perceived this as a disadvantage, as described in the following comment:

One of the main negatives is that you don’t get exposure to the process of ethics applications. Just thinking about a career in medicine and further research that people might do in their career, they will encounter ethics applications. (Participant 1)

This finding highlights that experiential learning is most effective when students engage in the full research cycle, and for those intending to pursue future research careers, the absence of exposure to a key aspect of research governance was perceived as a gap in their preparedness for independent research.

Theme 6: A Second Choice

A few students felt that public health projects were not given their due importance in medical research and were considered by the student cohort in general as inferior to clinical research projects. Thus, efforts should be made to promote public health research, as expressed in the following student quote, which also alludes to the change in perception they held before exposure to experiential learning:

I think public health project is second choice to clinical research projects. I think you never even think of it in the first year, you know, it's the one you try to stay away from, but towards the end of 4th year, a lot of people wish they had done it. I guess we need to promote the public projects a bit better so that students opt to choose them as opposed to getting them as a second choice. (Participant 3)

Student perception of public health research projects as secondary to clinical research reflects a broader hierarchical perception of research within medical education. Their initial reluctance toward public health projects appeared to be driven by a lack of awareness about their value rather than an inherent disinterest. However, students’ perspectives often shifted after engaging in experiential learning, leading to a greater appreciation for the relevance and applicability of public health research.

Theme 7: Publications: Aspirations Versus Learning Experience

One of the key tensions in students’ experiences with public health research projects was the expectation of publication versus the reality of learning research skills. While some students viewed publication as a crucial outcome, others recognized that the primary goal of the project was skill development rather than producing publishable research.

In some data sets used by students, their access to certain variables was restricted; for example, the marital status of participants for a cancer-related project and the distance of fast-food outlets from a local governance area were required for a childhood obesity-related project. Although these variables were routinely collected in census data, they were not free to use. Due to budgetary constraints, supervisors were unable to request and obtain access to these variables. Consequently, some crucial variables were omitted from adjusted analysis models, rendering certain student projects unsuitable for publication. Students expressed frustration over the lack of publication opportunities, viewing it as a missed opportunity to demonstrate competency in public health research:

I think the main downside is that you cannot put it on your CV as there is no publication from this project, you know, a publication would be nice to show that you have a good understanding of public health research. (Participant 12)

The following quote also highlights that without publication, the research felt less meaningful, emphasizing that research should lead to tangible outcomes beyond fulfilling university requirements:

It was not publishable, and that was kind of disheartening as publishing is the premise of any research. I don’t see the point of research if it's just a tick box for the university and not for anything beyond that. That was the hope and the hope for many other peers, and some of them were able to do so, but some not so much. (Participant 9)

However, publication was not considered the sole aim of the project by all students. For instance, the following participant viewed the project as a learning experience rather than a publication opportunity, demonstrating an understanding of research as a skill-building process rather than purely an academic output:

I don’t think there should be an expectation for the MD project to be published. I think it was pretty clear at the start that this is the project to learn how to do research in the future. If it gets published, great if it is, and if it's not, it's not a big issue! (Participant 10)

Discussion

This study aimed to explore whether public health research projects can foster medical students’ understanding of public health concepts, specifically regarding socially determined influences on health and illness. Our findings suggest that experiential learning through research projects provides medical students with essential research skills, enhancing their appreciation for the relevance of public health in clinical practice. This is in line with the findings of a recent scoping review that assessed the value of applied learning experiences in public health education (Tar Lim et al., 2023). The review found that experiential learning contributed to positive outcomes in student satisfaction, problem-solving, and communication skills (Tar Lim et al., 2023).

One of the main findings of our study is that students gained a deeper understanding of public health and social determinants of health through active engagement in research. Participants who initially perceived public health coursework as an academic requirement reported that their perspective shifted after engaging with real-world data. Students acknowledged that the hands-on nature of the project allowed them to better grasp the impact of social determinants of health on patient outcomes, moving beyond theoretical knowledge toward practical application. Several students mentioned that prior coursework on social determinants of health had felt abstract or difficult to engage with, but analyzing public health data allowed them to see these determinants in action. This finding aligns with the findings of the recent studies reporting that experiential learning helps students contextualize public health knowledge, making it more applicable to future clinical practice (Chorazy & Klinedinst, 2019; Dankner et al., 2018). The broader significance of these findings is echoed in other studies where students gained an appreciation of social determinants of health in Medicine through experiential learning (Ge et al., 2025; Mizumoto et al., 2022). Moreover, some students in our study expressed that their newfound understanding of social determinants of health influenced their career aspirations, motivating them to pursue specializations in public health or research-oriented clinical fields. This demonstrates student engagement with public health concepts.

In addition, our findings indicate that the students gained essential research skills, including scientific writing, data analysis, and literature review techniques. Many students reported that these skills boosted their confidence in conducting independent research, with some stating that they now felt prepared to undertake future research projects with minimal guidance. We reported similar findings in our previous research on three student cohorts, where we found that mandatory research projects in medical education improve students’ research competencies, making them more inclined to pursue evidence-based medicine and contribute to academic research (Kaur et al., 2023). This reinforces the necessity of integrating structured, supportive, self-directed, and experiential learning opportunities within medical curricula.

Despite these benefits, students also reported several challenges associated with public health research projects. One common difficulty was formulating a research question that could be effectively answered using publicly available data. Some students also struggled with scientific writing, particularly in adapting to the concise yet detailed style required for academic publications. These findings suggest that additional support in research methodology and scientific communication, such as targeted workshops or structured guidance in research design, could further enhance the educational value of these projects (Dankner et al., 2018; Roopnarine & Regan, 2021).

Another notable challenge was the limited availability of certain datasets due to restrictions on access to key variables (e.g., socioeconomic indicators and geographic data). Some students expressed disappointment that these limitations impacted their ability to conduct certain analyses, which in some cases made their projects unsuitable for publication. For students who viewed publication as a primary goal, this was a significant drawback. However, others felt that the primary purpose of the research project was to learn research skills, not necessarily to publish findings, reflecting a divergence in student expectations. Similar tensions have been observed in previous studies, where students’ motivation to publish research for career progression sometimes conflicts with the educational objectives of undergraduate research programs (Riiser et al., 2023).

A final theme developed from this study was the perceived secondary status of public health research compared to clinical research, reflecting broader hierarchical perceptions within medical education. Some students acknowledged that they initially viewed public health projects as a “second choice,” only opting for them when clinical research opportunities were unavailable. A similar perspective has been shared in the literature in the past (Thompson, 2015). However, after engaging in public health research, some students changed their perspectives and recognized its relevance to clinical practice. This suggests that institutional efforts are needed to promote public health research within medical education so that students are more likely to consider it a viable and valuable research pathway from the outset (Rao et al., 2020).

This study's findings align with Kolb's experiential learning theory (Kolb, 1984), which offers a useful lens for understanding how medical students engage with and internalize public health concepts through hands-on research. These projects not only facilitate the acquisition of practical research skills and knowledge, as was demonstrated here, but also embody the cyclical process of learning through experience, reflection, conceptualization, and experimentation. Specifically, our findings correspond with Kolb's concept of concrete experience, as students engaged in real-world data analysis and research activities. Many students described a shift in understanding and attitudes toward public health, reflecting the reflective observation stage. Through reflection, students learn not only about public health but also about their preferences, enhancing their capacity for self-directed learning (Lim et al., 2022). Their ability to connect public health knowledge to clinical relevance aligns with abstract conceptualization, and their reported confidence in applying research skills in future projects demonstrates active experimentation.

Implications for Medical Educators

Our findings indicate that by integrating real-world data and research experience into the medical curriculum, medical educators can help medical students gain a deeper understanding of the social determinants of health and their practical application in clinical practice. In addition, participation in research projects enhances students’ confidence in research skills, which is important for evidence-based clinical practice. The findings also support the value of integration of public health research projects into medical curricula to promote active and reflective learning experiences that complement traditional didactic teaching. The medical curriculum should incorporate support for developing research skills, such as scientific writing and formulating research questions, to enhance the value of these projects. Efforts should be made to elevate the status of public health research within the medical community and educational institutions, countering the perception of it being a “second choice.” This study highlights the need for allocating resources that enable comprehensive research, including access to restricted data, which could enhance the potential for student-led publications. Further research is needed to explore the long-term impact of experiential learning on medical students’ career choices, especially in public health-related fields. Medical education programs should consider facilitating pathways to publication for student research projects to enhance their academic and professional profiles.

In conclusion, Kolb's experiential learning theory provides a valuable lens through which to view the educational impact of public health research projects on medical students. Our findings indicate the value of hands-on, research-based learning in enhancing medical students’ understanding of public health concepts. This has implications not only for the improvement of individual patient outcomes but also for the advancement of public health initiatives. These insights encourage medical educators to prioritize and support public health research opportunities within their programs, creating a well-rounded educational experience that prepares students for both clinical and public health challenges.

Limitations of the Study

An important limitation of the study was the reliance on publicly available datasets within which some variables have restricted access. As noted, this hampered some students’ access to critical variables needed for in-depth analysis. This constraint affected the scope of some research projects and, in some cases, limited their potential for publication. There is also potential selection bias as students who completed these projects were only given the option to work on a public health database project and did not necessarily select this option from a range of project types. Moreover, only 12 out of 33 eligible students participated, which could reflect that those with strong opinions or experiences likely participated. This could influence the transferability of the findings to other settings. Lastly, our research does not assess the long-term retention of skills or the impact on students’ career choices in public health or research.

Despite these limitations, the rigor of the findings was strengthened by exploring the lived experiences of information-rich participants. Data saturation was achieved given that the study population is homogenous and we have narrowly defined objectives (Hennink & Kaiser, 2022). Peer review of the themes further helped in assessing data saturation. Although data saturation was achieved with the current sample, additional research could provide further depth and a broader understanding of the implications of experiential learning in different settings. A larger and more diverse sample would have the potential to generate a wider variety of perspectives.

Future Research

Future research could address these limitations by expanding the sample to include students from multiple institutions, thereby providing a more comprehensive perspective on the impact of experiential learning in diverse educational settings. Longitudinal studies would be beneficial in tracking students’ retention of public health knowledge and research skills, as well as assessing how these skills influence their clinical practice and career trajectories.

Further investigation into methods to overcome data access limitations would also be valuable, such as partnerships with institutions that can provide expanded access to comprehensive datasets. Whilst students were not required nor expected to publish their research project findings, research publications are a metric often applied to student research programs (Al-Busaidi & Tarr, 2018) and are a desirable outcome. However, there are barriers to this in the current project offering. Future research could explore ways to encourage the publication of student projects by offering structured support for manuscript development, which may enhance the academic and professional profiles of students, as well as strengthen the appeal of these types of projects.

Finally, there is a need to explore strategies to elevate the status of public health research within the medical curriculum. Addressing perceptions of public health research as a secondary choice could foster greater engagement and interest in public health careers, ultimately strengthening the field and its integration with clinical practice.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr Nicholas Olsen for supervising the initial cohorts of Public Health data projects. Grammarly was solely used for grammar and spelling checks; no GenAI tools such as ChatGPT were employed.

ORCID iDs

Rajneesh Kaur

Genevieve Coorey

Joanne Hart

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Author Biographies

Rajneesh Kaur is the Academic Lead of MD Research at the University of Sydney. Her areas of research are medical education and public health.

Genevieve Cooorey is a research fellow, and her area of research is public health.

Joanne Hart is the Faculty Assessment Lead, and her areas of research are pharmacology and medical education.

Appendix: Interview Guide

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