Promoting allied health profession careers to school students: a case study evaluation of a widening participation outreach intervention

Background Against a backdrop of chronic staff shortages, a situation that is amplified in rural and coastal regions of England, the NHS workforce plan expresses ambitions to increase the number of Allied Health Professional (AHP) training places. It also aims to enhance the scope of some AHP roles to enable them to improve the sustainability of service provision. The East Suffolk & North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) has recently implemented a trial intervention programme to engage directly with school pupils and offer them experiential learning about AHP careers, in order to support local recruitment efforts and widen participation. This study aimed to explore participants’ experiences of the programme, to evaluate its relevance, coherence, effectiveness and impacts. Methods This study is an evaluation of the intervention programme. We adopted a case study approach using both qualitative and quantitative data sources to explore how participants experienced and interpreted the intervention programme. We generated qualitative data from in-depth interviews, and quantitative data from a participant survey to explore their experiences. Results We found that a substantial proportion of participants had little or no prior knowledge of AHPs before joining the programme. Participants particularly appreciated the interactive nature of the programme and the exposure to clinical settings and equipment. They were also very engaged with, and impressed by, the AHPs who delivered the content. Having taken part in the programme, participants reported increased likelihood of considering an AHP career in the future. Conclusions We conclude that by offering authentic exposure to clinical environments and practitioners, the programme engaged participants positively with AHP professions. This may in turn increase their interest in AHP careers. We point to the role of exposure to professional role models, which may foster participants’ development of possible future selves as AHPs, in these positive outcomes.