Pedagogy in Health Promotion

Previous research studies have found that audience response systems or “clickers” provide significant classroom, learning, and assessment benefits in higher education. However, there are few to no research studies that have pitted popular clicker systems against each other using data collected from a sample of millennial students in public health–related professions. As a result, the purpose of this study was to compare two popular audience response systems in the college classroom with undergraduate students, specifically those studying public health. The study was implemented using a mixed methods quasi-experimental crossover design with three observation points over one academic year. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Findings suggest that undergraduate students prefer using a dedicated “clicker” system to respond to questions from an audience response system than a system that requires them to use their personal cell phones.

Background. Service learning is a pedagogical tool that involves students delivering a service, linked to course learning outcomes, to the community and measured through acquisition of knowledge, attitudes, and skills along with overall satisfaction of the experience. Undergraduate students enrolled in a peer health education course, collaborated with campus health promotion staff, in a semester-long service learning project to plan, implement, and evaluate a campus-wide health fair. Purpose. The purpose of the study was to examine how participation in a service learning project affected students’ self-efficacy aligned with the seven Areas of Responsibilities (AoR) of Certified Health Education Specialists. Method. The multimethod design used pre- and posttest results and reflective writing samples to evaluate changes in students’ (n = 58) self-efficacy related to the seven AoR of Certified Health Education Specialists. Students completed semistructured reflective journals responding to overall satisfaction, barriers to implementation, and significance of the learning experience and health fair on their professional development. Results. Results indicated students’ self-efficacy increased across all AoR, with the largest improvements reported in Areas III, V, and VI. Students described feeling competent responding to questions and directing attendees to available on- and off-campus resources. Results emphasized overall satisfaction with the service learning health fair project, uniquely the importance of applying information from the classroom setting to the real world. Conclusions. Service learning opportunities in classroom settings and professional preparation programs aid in preparing future leaders within the field of health education to exemplify the seven AoR with competency and confidence.

While academic internships can play irreplaceable roles by providing students hands-on learning opportunities, allowing them to collaborate with faculty, and strengthening ties between colleges and their communities, continued assessment of these experiences is still imperative. An academic internship has been described as a three-way partnership among a college or university, the internship site, and the student, but the role the institution plays can differ significantly. Several years ago, the Association of Schools of Public Health included field experience (such as internships) as a Critical Components Element of an Undergraduate Major in Public Health. Hence, this study investigates not only how Public Health students evaluate their internship site but also their experience with their school during the internship process. Survey data from 219 undergraduate students, on completion of their internships from Fall 2012 to Spring 2016, were collected. Results posit that public health students report the academic institution provided support and guidance, while their internship site provided a valuable learning experience both interpersonally and professionally. Also, students recommend this experience and provide valuable feedback for future internship partnerships. Considering internships are integral parts of many preprofessional degree programs, it is imperative that programs develop and implement systematic ways to assess these programs. This study provides valuable insight into this process along with identifying students’ perceptions of the academic internship and the role that both the site and the institution played in facilitating their learning.

Background: Predictive Evaluation (PE) uses a four-step process to predict results then designs and evaluates a training intervention accordingly. In 2012, the Sustainable Management Development Program (SMDP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used PE to train Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) program volunteers. Methods: Stakeholders defined specific beliefs and practices that volunteers should demonstrate. These predictions and adult learning practices were used to design a curriculum to train four cohorts. At the end of each workshop, volunteers completed a beliefs survey and wrote goals for intended actions. The goals were analyzed for acceptability based on four PE criteria. The percentage of acceptable goals and the beliefs survey results were used to define the quality of the workshop. A postassignment adoption evaluation was conducted for two cohorts, using an online survey and telephone or in-person structured interviews. The results were compared with the end of workshop findings. Results: The percentage of acceptable goals across the four cohorts ranged from 49% to 85%. In the adoption evaluation of two cohorts, 88% and 94% of respondents reported achieving or making significant progress toward their goal. A comparison of beliefs survey responses across the four cohorts indicated consistencies in beliefs that aligned with stakeholders’ predictions. Conclusions: Goal statements that participants write at the end of a workshop provide data to evaluate training quality. Beliefs surveys surface attitudes that could help or hinder workplace performance. The PE approach provides an innovative framework for health worker training and evaluation that emphasizes performance.

Conducting engaging experiential learning exercises is an exceptional strategy for teaching multidisciplinary teams of public health students. The objective of this article is to present an experiential student-driven exercise through a simulated food-borne outbreak. Through this process, students gain an understanding of the steps of an outbreak investigation, Incident Command Systems; identify and calculate appropriate measures of association; develop a questionnaire; and refine their communication techniques. This exercise is also unique in that it was codesigned by graduate teaching assistants who had previously taken the course. These targeted learning objectives created for students, and by students, allow for the development of peer-based training and also serve as a learning experience for student alumni. The authors provide all the needed teaching materials to provide an easy-to-follow guide for others to conduct similar exercises with their students.

The objective of this article is twofold: (a) demonstrate the utility of cooperative–experiential learning within the health sciences curriculum and (b) diversify student classroom experiences through a health campaigns project that challenged students to creatively and strategically develop health messages. Cooperative–experiential learning is a hybrid pedagogy that exposes students to many of the complexities they can expect to face within their career, thus bridging the gap between the classroom and workplace. The health campaigns project used to appraise the value of cooperative–experiential learning in this article tasked upper-level undergraduate student groups from two unique college courses (Health Promotion and Visual Communication) to design, launch, and analyze health-relevant campaigns on the authors’ college campus. At two points throughout the semester, students independently completed reviews (cooperation reports) of their group dynamics and progress—these reports became the data set for our analysis of cooperative–experiential learning. Using a grounded theory approach (open, axial, and selective coding), the results that emerged from our analysis point to four significant themes of cooperative–experiential learning: development of communication skills, problem solving and critical thinking through cooperation, workplace preparedness, and student satisfaction. Student quotes are used to help extrapolate these four outcomes. Suggestions are offered for how to effectively incorporate cooperative–experiential learning into curriculum.

Service learning allows health sciences students to connect what they learn in the classroom with real-world experiences. The goal of this article was to examine the experiences of students in a nutrition course who completed their service learning assignment at a community food bank before or after a large natural disaster—the October 2015 flood in South Carolina. Sources of data included an online survey and a qualitative content analysis of the service learning assignment reflection papers. Students (n = 106 completed the course) equally valued their service learning experience at both pre- and post-flood periods; however, significantly more post-flood students (44%) rated the training they received prior to volunteering as inadequate than pre-flood students (7%, χ² = 7.55, p < .01). From the reflection papers, themes that emerged more often in post-flood papers were related to altruism (e.g., mentions of wanting to volunteer in the future, include others in their volunteer experiences, or donate food) as compared to pre-flood papers, which tended to mention more of the technical aspects of volunteering, such as comments around sorting or bagging food. Analysis of the reflection papers also revealed several students who volunteered pre-flood but returned to volunteer again after the flood. The results of this study indicate that students can familiarize themselves with volunteer opportunities through service learning that enable them to return to their volunteer location at a time of community crisis and need; however, additional training regarding the impact of natural disasters would be beneficial.

A key skill for the health education specialist is mastery of instructional strategies, especially as they relate to program implementation. Providing classroom experiences for undergraduate public health and health education students to be able to creatively and appropriately match methods to learning objectives is essential to successful future programs and initiatives. By completing the Slapjack Shuffle activity, students experience different teaching methods and match them to appropriate learning objective domains. Using decks of playing cards and guided by the instructor, students experience five different teaching methods (verbal instructions, demonstration, lecture, audiovisual, and peer instruction) to determine the advantages and disadvantages of using each when teaching a psychomotor skill. The lesson concludes with a game designed to create a physiological stress response to illustrate how a health educator could introduce the topic of stress management to a target population. Suggestions for assessing student mastery of the concepts taught include traditional assessment and student teaching demonstration. Student feedback for the activity is positive, with most reporting the activity as effective and memorable.

Public health courses that provide opportunities for applied learning to develop students’ understanding of health disparities and methods for achieving health equity are of critical importance. Contemplative pedagogy can cultivate among students personal skills such as open awareness, introspection, nonjudgment, and compassion as students engage with communities across class, race, and other lines of difference. This article describes how contemplative practices are introduced and aligned with learning objectives in an undergraduate community-engaged course on health parity at a public liberal arts university in North Carolina, with the intent of contributing to the growing literature on contemplative education and how it may be appropriate in public health education. Contemplative pedagogy in this course offers opportunities for students to learn with their minds, bodies, and hearts. This article presents course context and structure, introducing contemplative practices to students, and two specific examples of contemplative activities that may help students better understand diversity and their role in sustainable health equity. The article concludes with a discussion and resources for instructors interested in contemplative pedagogy. As contemplative pedagogy gains ground in college instruction, it may also provide critical skill-building for students of public health.