Online Program

290558
Increasing international communication through health promotion education and research


Monday, November 4, 2013

Barbara Speck, PhD, School of Nursing, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
Kefang Wang, PhD, School of Nursing, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
Background and Issues: A school of nursing in a large city in Northeast China invited a United States school of nursing faculty member to teach a health promotion and disease prevention course to Chinese nursing students. University objective was to increase the number of courses taught in English. Description: The primary goal was to teach a graduate and undergraduate course on health promotion and disease prevention (HPDP) to nursing students. Content in both included traditional HPDP, behavioral theories, environmental health, prevention interventions, complementary therapies, and comparisons of US and China risk factors and risk behaviors. Lessons Learned: Strengths of the experience were students' eagerness to learn, their sound scientific education, and strong support from the School of Nursing and a Chinese faculty mentor. Obstacles were students' difficulty in comprehending spoken English and English scientific words and American versus Chinese culture of learning. The experience was positive for students who were exposed to health promotion which is not a prominent theme in Chinese nursing education or practice. Both faculty (US and Chinese) learned at least as much, if not more, from the close contact and teaching process about healthcare, culture and history in each other's country. Recommendations: Specific strategies will be identified that assisted Chinese students in understanding and adapting to US teaching methods. However, the experience surpassed the basic objective suggesting similar opportunities may have the potential to increase understanding of health promotion and disease prevention as well as facilitate communication in nursing faculty and students around the globe.

Learning Areas:

Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Diversity and culture
Public health or related education
Public health or related nursing
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Discuss how the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention course resulted in improved international communication.

Keyword(s): Communication, International Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have an earned doctoral degree, my education focus is community/public health, my research area is health promotion/disease prevention with a focus on increasiing physical activity levels in low-income women, I have completed multiple research projects including an NIH funded grant, and I have presented at multiple scientific conferencs and published results of my research. Also, I spent one semester teaching health promotion/disease prevention to university students at Shandong University.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.