In 2009 the American Public Health Association approved the policy statement, "The Role of Public Health Practitioners, Academics, and Advocates in Relation to Armed Conflict and War." Despite the known health effects of war, the development of competencies to prevent war has received little attention. Public health's ethical principles of practice prioritize addressing the fundamental causes of disease and adverse health outcomes. A working group grew out of the American Public Health Association's Peace Caucus to build upon the 2009 policy by proposing competencies to understand and prevent the political, economic, social, and cultural determinants of war, particularly militarism. The working group recommends that schools of public health and public health organizations incorporate these competencies into professional preparation programs, research, and advocacy.

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This article reports key findings from in-depth interviews with undergraduate students returning from international service trips (ISTs). These interviews examined students’ perceptions of social change activities and assessed students’ affinity toward service and activism independently as well as the perceived relationship and interaction between the two. Using an identity project model, we argue that far from being complementary, service and activism may act as competing identities with service being preferred. We further argue that ISTs can incorporate and model a broader range of civic engagement activities to help students better understand the different approaches taken to enacting social change. In particular, we call for the deliberate incorporation of strategic activist skill-building, and discussions of the history and ideology of activism within ISTs.

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