The use of clinical practice to facilitate community engagement in the Faculty of Health Science

Aim: This article seeks to describe how clinical practice can be used to facilitate community engagement in the Faculty of Health Science. Design: The study followed a qualitative exploratory, descriptive and contextual design. Methods: The study was conducted in the Faculty of Health Science at a public university in Namibia, Southern Africa. A total of 19 academic staff were purposively selected to participate in the focus group interviews. Thereafter, Giorgi's method of phenomenological data analysis was used to analyse data. Lincoln and Guba's strategies were used to establish trustworthiness. The ethical considerations followed Dhai and McQuoid-Mason's four principles. Results: The three themes that emerged as findings were: facilitation of community engagement through home visits as part of clinical practice; facilitation of community engagement through clinical rural placements; and facilitation of community engagement through interprofessional education and practice. Conclusions: It is concluded that health science students and academic staff should conduct home visits, students’ placement should also include rural based facilities and allow inter-professional education and practice in clinical practice. However, there remains an overall need to explore for community engagement projects that may be conducted in rural settings. Additionally, a generic service-learning course for all undergraduate health science students may help facilitate community engagement through interprofessional education and practice.