Open AccessLearner-Centered Teaching to Educate College Students about Rural Health Disparities
Author(s) -
Anuli Njoku
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of university teaching and learning practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.258
H-Index - 8
ISSN - 1449-9789
DOI - 10.53761/1.16.5.6
Subject(s) - health equity , curriculum , medical education , public health , rural area , perception , psychology , medicine , gerontology , pedagogy , nursing , pathology , neuroscience
Geographically, rural U.S. communities have higher rates of disease and health problems, compared to urban areas. This encourages development of effective, learner-centred curricula to enable students to address disparate health outcomes as future health professionals. This three-year study evaluated the effect of an undergraduate rural public health course on health disparities-related perceptions among students at a rural Midwestern U.S. university. Students reported statistically significant increases in mean scores for several survey items pre- to post-survey. Post-survey response rate was 90%. This paper details the processes, outcomes, and lessons learned from incorporating learner-centred strategies to teach health disparities material in a rural public health course.