Belongingness: a Commentary

Vivekananda-Schmidt and Sandars have carried out a scoping review of the literature in health professions education on belongingness. Whereas the literature suggests a strong role for this concept in student motivation and learning identity formation and in facilitating positive mental health, their work reveals a dearth of research in medical, and particularly in primary care education. We know that embedded contact with primary care learning environments increases the proportion of medical graduates who enter general practice training and it is likely this association is mediated, at least in part, by the opportunity to develop a sense of belonging in the primary care world. By looking closely at belongingness, might we derive practical applications for enhanced primary care teaching? Using the social learning model proposed by Wenger who developed a concept of ‘modes of belonging’ and the connection with learning, this commentary identifies ways in which primary care educators might think about belonging as they develop learning opportunities.