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

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacey A. Greece ◽  
William DeJong ◽  
Jonina Gorenstein Schonfeld ◽  
Ming Sun ◽  
Donna McGrath
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Real World ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Communication Strategies ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Health Training ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
Public Health Training ◽  
Health Agencies ◽  
Intervention Planning

Master of Public Health (MPH) courses can strengthen competency-based education by having students work on real-world problems in collaboration with public health agencies. This article describes practice-based teaching (PBT) and illustrates its importance for coursework in intervention planning and health communications. With a PBT course, community agencies benefit by receiving high-quality deliverables at no cost, such as intervention plans, policy proposals, and communication strategies. For faculty, PBT results in potentially richer practice and scholarship opportunities, plus a deeper understanding of local public health issues and exposure to new topics. Importantly, PBT allows students to expand their professional networks, explore potential careers, obtain teamwork experience, and develop a broader set of professional skills. PBT in public health training is a pedagogy that has immense benefit to students, public health agencies, communities, and faculty, particularly in the areas of intervention planning and communication, which often require innovative solutions and thorough understanding of various modes of technology and social media to effectively address a public health problem. The example presented in this article demonstrates the immense utility of the pedagogy in public health. With the growing demand for skilled public health workers, PBT warrants more extensive application in schools of public health and specifically in courses focused on basic skills for developing and implementing programs and policies to address public health problems.

Responsibility and Blame

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua M. Sharfstein
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Agency ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Difficult Situation ◽  
Health Training ◽  
Health Response ◽  
Public Health Training ◽  
Health Agencies ◽  
Sincere Apology

Issues of responsibility and blame are very rarely discussed in public health training, but are seldom forgotten in practice. Blame often follows a crisis, and leaders of health agencies should be able to think strategically about how to handle such accusations before being faced with the pain of dealing with them. When the health agency is not at all at fault, officials can make the case for a strong public health response without reservation. When the agency is entirely to blame, a quick and sincere apology can allow the agency to retain credibility. The most difficult situation is when the agency is partly to blame. The goal in this situation is to accept the appropriate amount of blame while working quickly to resolve the crisis.

scholarly journals Assessing Knowledge and Application of Emergency Risk Communication Principles Among Public Health Workers in China

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Cope ◽  
Melinda Frost ◽  
Li Richun ◽  
Ruiqian Xie
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Risk Communication ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
International Health ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
Health Agencies ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
Public Health Practitioners

AbstractObjectiveSince 2003, the Chinese National Health and Family Planning Commission (formerly the Ministry of Health) has implemented changes to more effectively communicate risk during public health emergencies. In spite of ongoing improvements, provincial and sub-provincial leaders face barriers, such as established modes of operation, lack of training, shortage of trained risk communicators, and limited understanding and willingness of recipients to mitigate risks.MethodsWe assessed the current status of and barriers to risk communication knowledge and practice among public health practitioners in China. We designed the survey questionnaire to capture information related to the risk communication core capacities required by international health regulations and common risk communication principles.ResultsOur findings showed that risk communication training has successfully developed an awareness of risk communication principles and the ability to implement those principles in practice in China.ConclusionsFuture efforts should focus on areas such as a dedicated risk communication workforce, requirements that public health agencies develop a risk communication plan, and additional training for public health practitioners and their partners. It is critical that the infectious diseases prevention and control law be amended to grant provincial and local public health agencies more autonomy to release information. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2014;0:1-7)

The Public Health Learning Network: Strengthening the Public Health Workforce of Today to Meet the Challenges of Tomorrow

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 13S-16S ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer McKeever ◽  
Dorothy Evans
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Workforce ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Health Resources ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Years Of Life Lost ◽  
Health Training ◽  
The Public ◽  
Learning Network ◽  
Public Health Training

In 2013, the Health Resources & Services Administration redesigned the long-standing Public Health Training Center program to meet the training needs of the modern public health workforce and to implement parts of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which sets the training, recruitment, and retention of public health workers as a priority. Understanding that today’s most significant public health threats are socially constructed, resulting in chronic disease and significant years of life lost, the Health Resources & Services Administration laid the groundwork for the creation of a nationally unified network of training centers—the Public Health Learning Network (PHLN). The PHLN is the nation’s most comprehensive system of public health educators, health experts, thought leaders, and practitioners working together to advance public health training and practice. The system comprises 10 regional public health training centers, 40 local performance sites, and a National Coordinating Center for Public Health Training. The PHLN strengthens the workforce in state, local, and tribal health departments, as well as community health centers and primary care settings, to improve the capacity of a broad range of public health personnel to meet the complex public health challenges of today and tomorrow.

Direct Contract Public Health Training between an Asian Government and a U.S. University: 1984–1988

1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-351
Author(s):  
George P. Cernada ◽  
E. Ching-Ching Cernada ◽  
Ching-Chuan Yeh ◽  
J. F. Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Specific Training ◽  
Health Training ◽  
Public Health Training ◽  
Health Agencies ◽  
International Projects ◽  
University Of Massachusetts ◽  
Asian Government ◽  
Operation Cost

A one-semester, non-degree public health training program for staff of various levels of health agencies in Taiwan conducted at the School of Public Health, University of Massachusetts, Amherst during 1984–88 is described. The project's evolvement, organization, specific training objectives and methodology, operation, cost, and evaluation are reviewed. Attention is paid to training feasibility and the advantages of avoiding third-party sponsoring agencies in international projects.

Disaster Relief: Restricting and Regulating Public Health Interventions

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (S2) ◽  
pp. 45-48
Author(s):  
Browne Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Real World ◽  
Law Students ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Health Law ◽  
Public Health Interventions ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
Health Agencies ◽  
Legal Constraints ◽  
Real World Situation

The information contained in this teaching module and the accompanying PowerPoint slides is appropriate for use in a survey public health law course or seminar. The purpose of this lesson is two-fold. The first objective is to provide law students with an overview of the authority public health agencies have to set and enforce policies necessary to keep the population healthy. The second objective is to inform law students about the legal constraints courts have placed upon the actions of those agencies. The module ends with a project designed to give law students the opportunity to apply the law to a “real world” situation.

scholarly journals Improving Public Health Readiness for Sea Level Rise: A New Initiative in Coastal Virginia

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-91
Author(s):  
Steven M. Becker
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Health Training ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
New Public Health ◽  
Public Health Training ◽  
Training Effort

AbstractSea level has been rising around the world, and in recent decades, the rate has been accelerating. Because rising seas have the potential to directly or indirectly affect the health of vast numbers of coastal communities and inhabitants, public health agencies and professionals—in conjunction with other fields—have a pivotal role to play in helping to protect populations, reduce and prevent health impacts, and foster resilience. This article discusses a novel effort that has been undertaken in Coastal Virginia to help prepare the next generation of public health professionals to grapple with sea level rise issues. The effort grew out of discussions of the importance of public health issues that took place through the Hampton Roads Sea Level Rise Preparedness and Resilience Intergovernmental Pilot Project. The new training effort focuses on public health graduate level training and incorporates both classroom and practice-based components. Though still in its early stages, the sea level rise and public health training effort has already achieved significant successes and continues to grow. The article begins by examining sea level rise as a public health issue. This is followed by a discussion of the new public health training initiative in Coastal Virginia. The article closes by exploring future directions.

scholarly journals Examining Tweet Content and Engagement of Canadian Public Health Agencies and Decision Makers During COVID-19: Mixed Methods Analysis (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E Slavik ◽  
Charlotte Buttle ◽  
Shelby L Sturrock ◽  
J Connor Darlington ◽  
Niko Yiannakoulias
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Risk Communication ◽  
Communication Strategies ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
Health Agencies ◽  
Medical Health ◽  
Health Accounts

BACKGROUND Effective communication during a health crisis can ease public concerns and promote the adoption of important risk-mitigating behaviors. Public health agencies and leaders have served as the primary communicators of information related to COVID-19, and a key part of their public outreach has taken place on social media platforms. OBJECTIVE This study examined the content and engagement of COVID-19 tweets authored by Canadian public health agencies and decision makers. We propose ways for public health accounts to adjust their tweeting practices during public health crises to improve risk communication and maximize engagement. METHODS We retrieved data from tweets by Canadian public health agencies and decision makers from January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2020. The Twitter accounts were categorized as belonging to either a public health agency, regional or local health department, provincial health authority, medical health officer, or minister of health. We analyzed trends in COVID-19 tweet engagement and conducted a content analysis on a stratified random sample of 485 tweets to examine the message functions and risk communication strategies used by each account type. RESULTS We analyzed 32,737 tweets authored by 118 Canadian public health Twitter accounts, of which 6982 tweets were related to COVID-19. Medical health officers authored the largest percentage of COVID-19–related tweets (n=1337, 35%) relative to their total number of tweets and averaged the highest number of retweets per COVID-19 tweet (112 retweets per tweet). Public health agencies had the highest frequency of daily tweets about COVID-19 throughout the study period. Compared to tweets containing media and user mentions, hashtags and URLs were used in tweets more frequently by all account types, appearing in 69% (n=4798 tweets) and 68% (n=4781 tweets) of COVID-19–related tweets, respectively. Tweets containing hashtags also received the highest average retweets (47 retweets per tweet). Our content analysis revealed that of the three tweet message functions analyzed (information, action, community), tweets providing information were the most commonly used across most account types, constituting 39% (n=181) of all tweets; however, tweets promoting actions from users received higher than average retweets (55 retweets per tweet). When examining tweets that received one or more retweet (n=359), the difference between mean retweets across the message functions was statistically significant (<i>P</i>&lt;.001). The risk communication strategies that we examined were not widely used by any account type, appearing in only 262 out of 485 tweets. However, when these strategies were used, these tweets received more retweets compared to tweets that did not use any risk communication strategies (<i>P</i>&lt;.001) (61 retweets versus 13 retweets on average). CONCLUSIONS Public health agencies and decision makers should examine what messaging best meets the needs of their Twitter audiences to maximize sharing of their communications. Public health accounts that do not currently employ risk communication strategies in their tweets may be missing an important opportunity to engage with users about the mitigation of health risks related to COVID-19.

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