Multicultural education must inform students and create an appreciation for diverse cultures throughout the world, not just those cultures present in the United States. In many undergraduate health curricula, the health issues of people from other countries, especially women from underprivileged or third world countries, are seldom studied in any depth. To close this gap in multicultural education, the authors developed a brief, web-based curriculum to introduce third world women's health issues to undergraduate students. The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate this curriculum and evaluate its effectiveness in encouraging cultural competency.
The curriculum was designed to increase knowledge and awareness about health issues and concerns, and to facilitate discussion about the effects of an American perspective on the health of people in other countries. The web-based curriculum is centered around interviews with health professionals who have worked in third world countries. The researchers interviewed health professionals about their experiences working in other countries, and audio excerpts of the interviews are included in the web-based portion of the curriculum. Health promotion undergraduate students in six classes reviewed the curriculum and completed a pre- and post-test to assess changes in knowledge, attitudes, and cultural sensitivity about third world women's health.
In this presentation, the major curriculum components developed for this project will be demonstrated. Results from both qualitative and quantitative analyses of the evaluation data will presented. Recommendations for future use of multicultural curricula with undergraduate health students will be made.
See www.arches.uga.edu/~haneydaw/twwh/Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to: 1. Discuss the importance of including third world women's health into the undergraduate health curricula. 2. Describe the major components of a curriculum about third world women's health. 3. Evaluate effectiveness of the curriculum in encouraging cultural competency in undergraduate health students.
Keywords: Cultural Competency, Women's Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
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.