Practice-Based Teaching and Public Health Training: Bringing Real-World Projects to the Classroom to Teach Intervention Planning and Communication Strategies

Abstract

In 1988, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommended that schools of public health in the United States improve student training for practice-based work through collaborations with local public health practitioners (IOM, Committee for the Study of the Future of Public Health, & Division of Health Care Services, 1988). Ensuring that Master of Public Health (MPH) courses have students work on real-world problems is even more essential now (Hilliard & Boulton, 2012), with the move to competency-based education (Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, 2013; Council on Education for Public Health, 2011) and incoming students who are younger and have less professional experience (Kennedy & Baker, 2005). One approach to ensuring student competency achievement through practical application is practicebased teaching (PBT), which is fundamental to nursing and medical education (Koh, 2002; Wass, 2011) but less often used in public health education (Hartwig, Pham, & Anderson, 2004). PBT is best accomplished through formal relationships between schools and public health agencies, as schools alone cannot fully simulate realworld experience in class (Frenk et al., 2010). PBT can be resource-and time-intensive for faculty and others, but its potential for training a highly prepared workforce makes it a worthwhile investment.

Embedding experiential learning in undergraduate health promotion curriculum

“…The experiential learning component that necessitated interactions and collaboration with agencies, peers and university professional staff allowed students to build workplace attributes, professional behaviour and identity, acquaint themselves with and explore the health promotion sector and strengthen teamwork abilities. This corroborates with evidence that hands‐on learning in real‐world settings benefits students academic development, relationship building with peers, academics and community stakeholders while strengthening problem‐solving and decision‐making skills 1,22–24 . The set of knowledge and skills CHP students obtained are further applied when students undertake the third‐year subject “Health Promotion Planning and Evaluation” and field placement in the final semester of their course.…”

Competency Focused Versus Philosophically Grounded Health Promotion Practice: Impacts on Innovation and Addressing Health Inequities

“…Exposing students and professionals to a variety of philosophical paradigms and frameworks provides a foundational understanding of when to use certain strategies. Idealism provides methods to encourage our students to focus on what makes us good (e.g., James et al, 2020); realism provides methods to help us understand our material world (e.g., Greece et al, 2019); pragmatism uses techniques to help us understand life itself (e.g., Hemingway et al, 2020); behaviorism gives us the tools to make positive changes in our actions (e.g., Gainforth et al, 2021); phenomenology gives us the space to create learners that are perceptive and open to possibilities; constructivism provides techniques for actively involving students in the process of developing meaning and knowledge (e.g., Hunt et al, 2020); and so on (Ozmon, 2011). Philosophical perspectives and ethical thinking appropriately enable students and professionals to identify and critique systems of power and oppression impacting health behavior and health outcomes.…”

Community-Based Education in Global Low-Resource Settings: A Unique Interprofessional Collaborative Experience in Primary Care Delivery

“…Furthermore, evidence shows that learning by doing is the best way to acquire requisite skills (Greece, DeJong, Schonfeld, Sun, & McGrath, 2019). The teaching-learning model described in this article provides students with ample opportunities to do the work and practice primary care in environments that need it the most.…”