• Wanlass P
• McCallum A
• Miller M

• Education, Chiropractic
• Integrative Medicine
• Open Access Document
• Surveys and Questionnaires

Objective: To investigate the development of scholarship skills among students enrolled at an integrative healthcare university. Scholarship skills encompass the ability to retrieve, appraise, and apply scientific literature, which are essential for fostering evidence-based practice and preparing competent integrative healthcare professionals.

Method: An IRB-approved survey and cross-sectional study of trimester 3, 6, and 9 students was conducted. The questions included students’ opinion of their scholarship skills and whether those skills have changed during their educational experience. The skills assessed were retrieving, appraising, and applying scientific literature. Students were also asked about the influence of course assignments, and the faculty in modeling scholarship skills. The survey was pretested for face validity prior to its administration. All data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for descriptive statistics.

Results: The survey was distributed to 220 students and 206 responded: a response rate of 94%. A majority of the respondents indicated that they had prior experience retrieving scientific literature (64%), but fewer had experience appraising (47%) and/or applying scientific literature (38%). As the students progressed through their education, the respondents indicated that they gained more scholarly skill especially in accessing (1st year: 45%, 2nd: 58%, 3rd: 53%) and applying (1st year: 43%, 2nd: 61%, 3rd: 65%) scientific literature. Instructors and course work played a major role in the development of student scholarship skills.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates that students’ perception of developing their scholarship skills at an integrative healthcare university tend to develop and improve as they progress through their education.

Author keywors: Chiropractic; Education; Curriculum; Scholarship Skills, Integrative Healthcare University, Student Research Development.

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