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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Christine L. Pistella, PHD, MPH, LSW and Wilfred E. Johnson, MPH. Health Services Administration, University of Pittsburgh, 130 DeSoto Street, 216 Parran Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, 412-624-3162, chrisp+@pitt.edu
Distance learning is an emerging tool that can be effectively used by public health social workers to increase cultural and community competency and to address health disparities for both national and international health concerns. This presentation describes the methods and resources to develop and implement web-based learning modules for addressing health disparities through a distance learning methodology that has been used for a graduate course completed by more than 300 students since 1998. The objective of the course is to increase awareness of health disparities, increase cultural and community competency, and create awareness of social and behavioral etiologies and interventions addressing health issues impacting socially disadvantaged national and international populations. Adult learning principles, problem-based learning methods, and the selection, use and assessment of instructional materials will be presented. Instructional materials consist of public health resources including Healthy People 2010, online journal articles, scientific, professional and advocacy online resources, online resources for minority health, social and behavioral data sets, and web casts. Instructional methods and issues will be described including: 1) student-instructor and student-student communication, 2) the creation, communication and assessment of online student interdisciplinary groups, 3) encouraging and using student input, and 4) the development, assessment and selection of various student online evaluation methods. Since more than 30 percent of the students are international, global implications are addressed in course materials, design, and assignments.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Cultural Competency, Minority Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.