Long Term Impact Of Global Health Educational Experiences In Rome: An Attempt Of Measurement

Abstract

Background Global health education (GHE) is spreading in Europe and in other parts of the world. Since 2008, Sapienza University of Rome has offered activities to medical and other health profession students related to global health (GH), which is grounded in the theory of social determinants of health and inspired by social justice. The educational activities included elective courses as well as community and service-learning experiences, referred to as GH gyms. This study attempts to measure the long-term impact of these educational experiences, especially to demonstrate their influence on the perceived social responsibility of future health professionals. Methods A questionnaire was elaborated and validated. It was sent to participants by e-mail. Quantitative results were analysed through descriptive statistics and qualitative answers were carefully read and classified. Results A total of 758 students from different faculties took part to the educational experiences. Only 488 e-mail addresses were available. One hundred and five (25.1%) questionnaires were returned. Participation in GH gyms was perceived to have had a higher influence on future professional and personal choices, when compared to participation in elective GH courses. Conclusions Consideration of health and social issues related with inequities in health and the use of interactive teaching methodologies had important effects on social responsibility of a large number of students. The inclusion of global health education in health and social curricula and the use of interactive methodologies with a correct evaluation of results are the indications that emerge from this research, together with the necessity of a strong involvement of students and professors.

Evaluating the impact of a social medicine course delivered in a local‐global context: A 10‐year multi‐site analysis

“…In the wake of inequities exposed by the COVID‐19 pandemic, recognizing the demeaning impact of the social and structural forces and acting now by equipping health professionals through curricula reform is a matter of urgency. Exposure to topics pertaining to social and structural determinants of health is an important way to increase awareness, motivate action, and inspire personal and social responsibility to redress health injustices (Civitelli et al, 2020). Expanding comfort and familiarity with social and structural determinants among health professionals open the door to sustained, career‐long engagement and is a very worthy goal of introductory courses on such topics.…”

“…Taken together, Metzl et al (2018) and Civitelli et al (2020) suggest that pre‐health students and health workers who participate in health justice courses possess a greater understanding of racism, health disparities, and the relationship between structural factors and health outcomes than their peers who did not participate.…”

“…Furthermore, these authors found that students who participated in the MHS course demonstrated a greater understanding of structural and implicit racism and health disparities than their non‐MHS seeking peers. Civitelli et al (2020) conducted a quantitative questionnaire‐based study measuring the long‐term impact of a health justice course for pre‐health students and health workers in Italy. These authors concluded that participation in their course and the interactive pedagogies used in the course were perceived to activate students to pursue personal and professional opportunities to engage with the social determinants of health compared to students who did not participate in their course.…”

Beyond witnesses: Moving health workers towards analysis and action on social determinants of health

“…Few of the available studies on learning curricula that aim to address these gaps in health worker education have focused on demonstrating its impact by centering their evaluation on knowledge change (Metzl et al, 2018; Wennerstrom et al, 2018), or change in knowledge and attitude (Civitelli et al, 2020; Voller et al, 2021). Very few, if any, have attempted to demonstrate how this knowledge translates into a real‐world action.…”