A common issue among MCH faculty it how to address the learning needs of new MCH graduate students, because they are entering the field from such diverse background. Prior to the 1990s, the MCH faculty could accurately assume that MCH students were entering graduate programs with health care backgrounds. This assumption is no longer true. This study reviews 15 years of MCH student data including gender, ethnicity, undergraduate degrees, GPA, GRE scores, numbers of years in graduate school, and degree completed (MPH, MSPH, PhD). The few of the selected results indicate that there were statistically significant shifts from health profession undergraduate degrees to social science undergraduate degrees (p<.05) and the number of minority students has increased significantly. In addition, these results are compared to other MPH programs and other master's degrees at the same university and across the nation. The results illustrate that the MCH student demographics of the past no longer apply to today's students. These data suggest a need for MCH faculty to reexamine the issue of prerequisites along with how to best meet the needs of the current MCH students.
Learning Objectives: a) At the end of the session, the participant will be able to identify the trends in MCH graduate education. b) At the end of the session, the participant will be able to discuss what program changes may be beneficial to today's MCH students.
Keywords: Education,
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.