Influence of the university campus environment on sociocultural engagement and satisfaction of health professions education students: role of the sense of belonging

Background Sociocultural competence is essential for health professions education (HPE) students. However, the relationships between university campus environment, sense of belonging, and sociocultural engagement of HPE students remain unclear. We hypothesized that a university environment promoting students' participation in social activities enhances their sociocultural engagement, which is mediated through the students' sense of belonging, ultimately increasing their satisfaction with university experience. Methods The study included undergraduate HPE students (n = 638) at Gulf Medical University. We used a validated questionnaire for measuring sociocultural engagement of students (13 items). In addition, we used scales for measuring the supportive campus environment (8 items), quality of student relationships (4 items), students' sense of belonging (5 items), and student satisfaction with university experience (one item). We examined the relationships between the study variables using path analysis. Results The campus environment had direct significant effects on the two dimensions of sociocultural engagement: sociocultural interactions and sociocultural adaptation (beta = 0.18 and 0.24, P < .001, respectively). Similarly, the quality of student relationships had direct significant effects on sociocultural interactions and sociocultural adaptation (beta = 0.29 and 0.26, P < .001, respectively). In addition, a supportive campus environment and student relationships had direct significant effects on the students' sense of belonging (beta = 0.41 and 0.35, P < .001, respectively). Furthermore, the sense of belonging directly affected student's satisfaction with the university experience (beta = 0.50, P < .001), and indirectly mediated the relationship between the supportive campus environment, student relationships, and student satisfaction (beta = 0.33 and 0.26, P < .001, respectively). However, there was no direct significant effect of either supportive campus environment, student relationships, or sociocultural engagement of students on their satisfaction with university experience. Conclusions A supportive campus environment and positive student relationships significantly affected sociocultural engagement and sense of belonging among HPE students. Moreover, the sense of belonging serves as a partial mediator, linking the campus environment and the quality of student relationships to overall satisfaction with the university experience. While student satisfaction is primarily driven by the sense of belonging, sociocultural engagement did not have a significant direct impact on student satisfaction with university experience.