LI Course
CE Hours: 3 contact hours

Partnership: Center for Learning and Global Public Health, MCH

Statement of Purpose and Institute Overview: The purpose of the Maternal and Child Health Community Leadership Institute is to assist MCH program coordinators, program managers, and MCH advocates in developing and honing their leadership skills to effectively address the health concerns of women and children. The Institute will help build capacity within each team (participants) in order to strengthen the MCH infrastructure within their community. This course will provide a forum for the exploration of new paradigms, and new ways of approaching some of the complex and long-lasting issues related to improving maternal and child health for all populations. Overall the Institute is a part of APHA's continuing efforts to address one of its key priority areas--eliminating racial/ethnic health disparities. Despite efforts in MCH, research still shows that the healthcare needs of women and children are not being met. In order to address these issues of inadequate care faculty members will employ an intersectoral approach that addresses a community's "social and human capital," to assist leaders, citizens, and communities become active participants by diffusing and applying acquired social and scientific knowledge and integrate this new information into evidence-based public health practice. MCH leadership and its key attributes will be defined and methods to apply these skills will be reviewed as well as real time application (framed by the MCH Leadership Competencies). The necessary skills both from theory and practice such as such as their ability to promote the health and well being of women and children or their genuine commitment will be assessed. How to be an effective MCH leader will be discussed and participants will be shown ways to hone or improve their skills. MCH Leadership competencies: working with communities and systems will also be incorporated in order to promote community engagement. This is to include reciprocated relationships and dialogue between community members and those in leadership roles. This collaborative process should promote exchange of information, ideas, and resources. This course will provide participants with the knowledge to adequately define “what is a community” and demonstrate the necessary skills needed to engage the community. Participants will not only be exposed to best practices but they will be given the opportunity to learn practical skills and develop an action plan to implement once they have returned to their communities. Ultimately, through their collaborative work, these teams will create sustainable and replicable efforts that improve the quality of life for mothers and children in communities worldwide.

Session Objectives: Upon completion of the MCH Institute participants will be able to: 1. Employ and integrate skills in social capital, community building 2. Integrate community building into their practice 3. List components of effective MCH leadership 4. Define what a community entails 5. Apply leadership skills to promote evidence based MCH practice.

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing