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Connecting For Change: Opportunities for Integrating New Curricular Activities

Mary K. O'Brien, PhD1, Lucia Beck Weiss, MS2, and Sabine Eustache, MPH, MBA1. (1) Community Health, Drexel University School of Public Health, 1505 Race St. MS 660, Philadelphia, PA 19102, 215-762-6121, mary.obrien@drexel.edu, (2) Women's Health Education Program, Drexel University College of Medicine, 2900 Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19129

Research shows that integrated, comprehensive educational programs are most effective in reaching many people. The Drexel University College of Medicine and the School of Public Health have implemented and evaluated the impact of several integrated and comprehensive educational programs throughout Philadelphia communities using a successful, replicable model. Most of these programs have taken place in school systems including elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as undergraduate and graduate level programs, including medical schools. We present a new model called INTEGRATE that provides program staff with a step-by-step procedure for effectively integrating new topics into already existing curricula. INTEGRATE is an acronym for the steps involved in comprehensive program planning, development, implementation and evaluation. INTEGRATE helps to organize and manage the presentation of new materials with little disruption to the existing educational or cultural milieu. We offer examples of two successfully integrated programs into two different settings: 1) an intimate partner violence curriculum within an existing medical school curriculum, and 2) an intimate partner violence and communications skills curriculum within a police department.

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will be able to