Start Date
10-8-2010 10:30 AM
End Date
10-8-2010 12:00 PM
Description
In 2005, the International Honors Program, a longstanding organization that runs comparative study abroad programs, launched its “Health and Community” (HC) Program. The program is offered to upper-level undergraduates from across the US and from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds. It travels to four countries in one semester and uses lectures, site visits, case study research and homestay experiences to engage students in critical and comparative thinking about health and illness at both the global and community levels. The interdisciplinary curriculum combines the perspectives of political economy, medical anthropology, and public health and each country program focuses learning around three themes: health and the environment; the social life of infectious diseases; and family health through the life cycle . Students live and study in the homes of host families in city neighborhoods and rural villages and gain practical knowledge about how globalization, health systems, health governance and policy, and public health interventions are experienced and transformed at the local level. They also gain confidence in engaging across often difficult lines of social, cultural and political difference in both personal and professional settings. In this paper, we will describe the program's educational philosophy and structure and present findings from an evaluation with current and previous program participants (including students, staff and homestay families) that examines the impact of the program on health career decision-making, perceptions of global and public health practice, and the ability to negotiate cultural and disciplinary difference in the practice of health work in a global context.
Comparative Experiential Education in Global Health for Undergraduates: A Platform for Careers and Lifelong Learning in Public Health
In 2005, the International Honors Program, a longstanding organization that runs comparative study abroad programs, launched its “Health and Community” (HC) Program. The program is offered to upper-level undergraduates from across the US and from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds. It travels to four countries in one semester and uses lectures, site visits, case study research and homestay experiences to engage students in critical and comparative thinking about health and illness at both the global and community levels. The interdisciplinary curriculum combines the perspectives of political economy, medical anthropology, and public health and each country program focuses learning around three themes: health and the environment; the social life of infectious diseases; and family health through the life cycle . Students live and study in the homes of host families in city neighborhoods and rural villages and gain practical knowledge about how globalization, health systems, health governance and policy, and public health interventions are experienced and transformed at the local level. They also gain confidence in engaging across often difficult lines of social, cultural and political difference in both personal and professional settings. In this paper, we will describe the program's educational philosophy and structure and present findings from an evaluation with current and previous program participants (including students, staff and homestay families) that examines the impact of the program on health career decision-making, perceptions of global and public health practice, and the ability to negotiate cultural and disciplinary difference in the practice of health work in a global context.