Change in demand for health-related undergraduate studies in Spain during 2015–2021: a temporal series study
Javier Jerez-Roig,
Dyego L. Bezerra de Souza,
Irene Cambra-Badii,
Jaume-Miquel March-Amengual,
Agustí Comella,
Montse Masó-Aguado,
Anna Ramon-Aribau,
Alejandro Luque-Suárez,
Lydia Feito Grande,
Núria Terribas,
Luis Vivanco,
Ester Busquets-Alibés
Affiliations
Javier Jerez-Roig
Research Group on Methodology, Methods, Models and Outcomes of Health and Social Sciences (M3O), Faculty of Health Sciences and Welfare, Center for Health and Social Care Research (CESS), University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC), Vic, Spain
Dyego L. Bezerra de Souza
Research Group on Methodology, Methods, Models and Outcomes of Health and Social Sciences (M3O), Faculty of Health Sciences and Welfare, Center for Health and Social Care Research (CESS), University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC), Vic, Spain
Irene Cambra-Badii
Research Group on Methodology, Methods, Models and Outcomes of Health and Social Sciences (M3O), Faculty of Health Sciences and Welfare, Center for Health and Social Care Research (CESS), University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC), Vic, Spain
Jaume-Miquel March-Amengual
Research Group on Methodology, Methods, Models and Outcomes of Health and Social Sciences (M3O), Faculty of Health Sciences and Welfare, Center for Health and Social Care Research (CESS), University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC), Vic, Spain
Agustí Comella
Research Group on Methodology, Methods, Models and Outcomes of Health and Social Sciences (M3O), Faculty of Health Sciences and Welfare, Center for Health and Social Care Research (CESS), University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC), Vic, Spain
Montse Masó-Aguado
Research Group on Methodology, Methods, Models and Outcomes of Health and Social Sciences (M3O), Faculty of Health Sciences and Welfare, Center for Health and Social Care Research (CESS), University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC), Vic, Spain
Anna Ramon-Aribau
Research Group on Methodology, Methods, Models and Outcomes of Health and Social Sciences (M3O), Faculty of Health Sciences and Welfare, Center for Health and Social Care Research (CESS), University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC), Vic, Spain
Alejandro Luque-Suárez
Department of Physiotherapy, University of Málaga, Málaga, Spain
Lydia Feito Grande
Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Núria Terribas
Grífols Foundation Chair of Bioethics, Universitat de Vic, Vic, Spain
Luis Vivanco
Platform of Bioethics and Medical Education, Center for Biomedical Research of La Rioja (CIBIR), Logroño, Spain
Ester Busquets-Alibés
Research Group on Methodology, Methods, Models and Outcomes of Health and Social Sciences (M3O), Faculty of Health Sciences and Welfare, Center for Health and Social Care Research (CESS), University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC), Vic, Spain
Introduction The expansion of higher education is a worldwide phenomenon. To our knowledge, there are no studies analyzing the trends in demands of enrollment in health-related studies in Spain. Therefore, the objective was to analyze the change in demand (the number of requests for enrollment divided by the number of offered places) for undergraduate health-related studies in Spain during the period 2015–2021 as well as compare the change by region in the pre (2015–2019) and pandemic (2020–2021) period. Methods This is an observational (ecological type) study with temporal series analyses using data from public (non-for-profit) higher education institutions from the Integrated University Information System. For the analysis by region, we calculated the demand of all twelve undergraduate health-related degrees and the percentages of change between both periods using the Wilcoxon test. The Joinpoint Regression program was used to analyze the trends in demand for each degree during the 7-year period. Results Significant (p < 0.001) increases in demand during the pandemic period were observed in all regions. During the pandemic, medicine, biomedicine, nursing, odontology and pharmacy presented a higher demand in comparison with data collected before the pandemic started. In contrast, this pattern was not confirmed in the following cases: physiotherapy, occupational therapy, podiatry, psychology, social work, human nutrition and dietetics. By regions, Navarra, Asturias, and La Rioja presented the most drastic changes. In regions with the biggest number of universities, such as Catalonia, Andalusia and Madrid, the change observed was smaller.
