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Published
2025-12-04
Section
Feature Articles
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Copyright (c) 2025 Stephanie Robinson
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright of all articles published in JCOTR belong to the author(s) and are published under a CC BY-NC license.
How to Cite
An Empirical Review of Retention: Student-Instructor Relationships with First-Generation Medical Assistant Students
Stephanie Robinson
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24926/jcotr.v32i2.6151
Keywords: Retention, Student-instructor relationships, Medical assistant
Abstract
Instructor engagement with first-generation medical assistant students is minimal, resulting in decreased graduation rates. This qualitative descriptive study described instructor perceptions of how student-instructor relationships influence program completion with first-generation medical assistant students. Ten medical assistant instructors participated in semi-structured interviews. Two research questions were addressed questioning instructor perceptions of how student-instructor relationships influence program completion and perceptions of influential engagement strategies supporting program completion with first-generation students in medical assistant programs. The results included college readiness concerns, dynamics of health science education, unique challenges of first-generation students, engagement strategies, and complex factors influencing student engagement.
