The Landscape of US Undergraduate Public Health Education

Developing curriculum that is more than a collection of courses necessitates articulating philosophy and principles that undergird curricular decisions. While faculty are accustomed to expressing ideas within their realms of content expertise, building consensus around educational philosophy and pedagogy may be less common but equally important to assure coherent curriculum. Such discussions lead to intentional curriculum. When attuned to intent and combined with high impact practices, curriculum is likelier to result in student success and engagement. Since public health by nature entails community interaction, opportunities to think and work in a variety of communities reflects the work in the public health arena. Building a community of learners in the context of a highly diverse urban campus requires very deliberate curriculum planning and design. The likelihood that learning communities will emerge spontaneously is reduced when only a small proportion of students live on or near campus, and most spend considerable time commuting. Virtually all undergraduate public health students have responsibilities beyond academics, including employment, family caregiving, religious obligations, etc. Since most undergraduate students in this setting are first generation to higher education, learning communities and other high impact practices become even more important to provide meaningful baccalaureate education. Such communities evolve most efficiently when integrated into the curriculum design. By implementing a cohort model, not only can faculty participate and facilitate the evolution of a community of learners, they can employ other high impact practices designed to enhance and compound public health content and processes. Undergraduate public health students in this setting take all of their core courses (32 semester hours) together in a prescribed sequence. Faculty have clear understanding about what preceded a course and what follows. Every course entails both individual work and group collaboration. Students come to understand each other's strengths and needs, and with rare exception, they support each other on the journey and share some mutual successes. Both expected and unintended outcomes of this approach are conveyed in this article along with a few cautions for those considering these strategies for undergraduate public health education.

Section: Institutional Challenges To Cohort Model/learning Communitiementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Institutional Challenges To Cohort Model/learning Communitiementioning

confidence: 99%

A Cohort Model and High Impact Practices in Undergraduate Public Health Education

Opacich

2019

“…The Task Force provided actionable guidelines to improve education in public health (8). By 2016, 271 institutions in the USA were offering undergraduate public health curricula (9). Correspondingly, the number of public health degree conferrals had also increased from 1,484 in 2004 to 13,605 in 2017 in the USA (10).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Integrative Approach to Needs Assessment and Curriculum Development of the First Public Health Major in Singapore

Lim

Teng

Azfar

et al. 2020

Although public health undergraduate education is increasingly popular in the West, studies describing the needs assessment and curriculum development of public health undergraduate education programs are lacking in the Asia Pacific. The objective of this study was to describe the needs assessment and curriculum development of a second major in public health for undergraduates in the National University of Singapore, the first in Singapore. We used the integrated framework for curriculum development in higher education, which consisted of five stages. In Stage 1, the environment was assessed on the need for a new curriculum. Externally, there was a demand for public health workforce in Singapore based on a review of reports from the Ministry of Health and the job portals. Internally, there was a demand from existing students of the university, along with support from the faculty to offer a new curriculum. There was no university in Singapore offering an undergraduate major program in public health. In Stage 2, competencies to be developed were identified from public health job descriptions using job portals, the needs of public health stakeholders, and competencies listed in the public health curriculum accreditation frameworks such as the Council on Education for Public Health. In Stage 3, based on data triangulation, the curriculum was designed as a second major that is offered to all students of the university from year 2 onward. Students have to complete a total of 12 modules, of which 6 are core and 6 are elective. The capstone module is a 320-h internship module where students will be attached to public health-related agencies, organizations, or non-governmental organizations. Our curriculum is generally aligned with undergraduate public health programs in other established universities in the United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia, and Hong Kong. In Stage 4, various pedagogical strategies were identified for the core modules. We are currently at Stage 5 where implementation, monitoring, and evaluation are still being carried out. We hope that the lessons learnt will serve to inform other universities in the Asia Pacific that are considering implementing such programs and broadening their offerings in public health education.

“…This is especially the case for the health science fields, like public health, that have formalized, accredited undergraduate programs with objectives that mirror the IPE competencies. Public health education emphasizes areas like communication, teamwork, values, and health promotion (3). IPE curricular materials tailored for undergraduate education are designed to improve knowledge about interprofessional collaboration and care and to shape attitudes, behaviors, and values that support this practice in graduate training and professional practice (4–7).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Herein, we describe a pilot and evaluation of an online, asynchronous IPE module, tested with public health undergraduate students. This module is timely, with conferred undergraduate public health degrees increasing by 11% from 2003 to 2016 (3). The module provides a didactic overview of what IPE is and how public health plays an integral role in an interprofessional team.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing a Framework for Population Health in Interprofessional Training: An Interprofessional Education Module

Anderson

August

Goldberg

et al. 2019

Interprofessional education (IPE) is based on the concept that health professional students are best trained on the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that promote population health when they learn with and about others from diverse health science fields. Previously, IPE has focused almost exclusively on the clinical context. This study piloted and evaluated an IPE learning experience that emphasizes population health in a sample of public health undergraduate students. We hypothesized that students who completed the 2-hour online asynchronous module would better understand the value of public health's role in interprofessional teams, the benefit of interprofessional teamwork in improving health outcomes, and the value of collaborative learning with other interprofessional students. Students engaged in pre- and post-training assessments and individual reflections throughout the module. Sixty-seven undergraduate public health students completed the module and assessments. After completion, a greater proportion strongly agreed that students from different health science disciplines should be educated in the same setting to form collaborative relationships with one another (19 vs. 39% before and after completion, respectively). A greater proportion also strongly agreed that care delivered by an interprofessional team would benefit the health outcomes of a patient/client after the training (60 vs. 75% before and after, respectively). Mean scores describing how strongly students agreed with the above two statements significantly increased post-training. A greater proportion of students strongly agreed that incorporating the public health discipline as part of an interprofessional team is crucial to address the social determinants of health for individual health outcomes after taking the training (40 vs. 55% before and after, respectively). There was little change in attitudes about the importance of incorporating public health as part of an interprofessional team to address social determinants of health for population health outcomes, which were strongly positive before the training. Most students reported being satisfied with the module presentation and felt their understanding of interprofessional practice improved. This training may be useful for students from all health disciplines to recognize the benefits of engaging with and learning from public health students and to recognize the important role of public health in interprofessional practices.