TESTING A CAUSAL MODEL OF COMMUNITY-BASED EDUCATION IN THE SUDAN

Purpose. To develop and test a model of community-based education. Met hod. In 1995, after developing a hypothesized causal model for communi ty-based education, the authors collected data for 106 students at the University of Gezira, the Sudan, who had participated over three summ ers in an interdisciplinary field training research and rural developm ent course. The students rated each other on leadership, interaction w ith the community, subject-matter contributions, and effort. Teaching staff assessed the readiness of the community to collaborate. The stud ents' achievement was measured by short essays measuring knowledge, su pervisors' assessments of the students' performances in the community, the community's observations of the students' activities, the communi ty's satisfaction, and a group-produced report evaluated by faculty. T he effect of the students' activities on the community was measured by comparing baseline and post-intervention community health data. The s tudents also indicated their levers of interest in the community's pro blems. The authors analyzed the resulting covariances using structural -equations modeling. Results. After minor adaptations, the model fitte d the data reasonably well. The path coefficients were quite high, par ticularly among the peer ratings. Leadership had a potent effect on th e outcome measures, as did, to a lesser extent, the readiness of the c ommunity to collaborate with the students. Conclusion. This study was the first reported attempt to test a model of community-based educatio n. Although the fit of the data to the model in the study was reasonab le, further study is needed to unearth additional important elements o f community-based education. This article also discusses methodologic shortcomings of the present study, such as a possible ''halo effect'' in the peer ratings and the retrospective nature of many of the measur ements.