Leveraging academic-community partnerships to teach high school students public health

The University of Washington (UW) Public Health Undergraduate Major, Public Health – Seattle & King County, and three King County schools partner to introduce public health to high school students.  The partnership involves undergraduate public health majors teaching a 10 contact hour curriculum in high school classes.  This partnership serves the diverse yet overlapping needs of each organization on multiple levels.  The UW School of Public Health commitment to academics, teaching and community engagement is met because: 1) UW MPH graduate students participate in curriculum design, implementation and mentorship 2) UW undergraduate students, as part of their Senior capstone service learning experience, deepen their knowledge of heath equity, develop health education skills, work with diverse populations, and empower high school students to advocate for their communities. The health department meets their mission to incorporate equity lens into their work in response to the 2010 King County Equity and Social Justice Initiative.by contributing to the development of the public health curriculum and the identification of high schools partnerships.  Finally, the high schools meet their goals of content, mentoring and serving their communities through their students learning about public health issues, health careers, social determinants of health, the socio-ecological model, and development of advocacy skills. 

This innovative program represents a multi-tiered approach to addressing community needs and raising awareness about equity issues. In this presentation, we will discuss the pre- and post-test quantitative findings evaluating high school students’ learning, self-assessment of undergraduates’ learning, and lessons learned from this academic-community partnership.