240571 A core competency model for masters-level students in global health

Tuesday, November 1, 2011: 10:32 AM

Pierre Buekens, MD, PhD, MPH , School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Harrison C. Spencer, MD, MPH, CPH , Association of Schools of Public Health, Washington, DC
Dorothy Biberman, MPH , Association of Schools of Public Health, Washington, DC
Judith G. Calhoun, PhD, MBA, MA , Medical Education/Office of Education Resources and Research, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI
Elizabeth Ablah, PhD, MPH , Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, Wichita, KS
     
Global health is public health. In the 2003 report, “Who Will Keep the Public Healthy?,” the Institute of Medicine listed global health as a recommended content area for public health education. While this recommendation was welcomed, there has been no agreement on the core competencies required by graduate academic institutions with global health programs. Lacking a consensus set of core global health competencies, universities currently provide varying levels of instruction and practica for their students. Schools of public health and global health programs around the world are exploring how best to prepare their graduates for competence in the current and future workforce.

The Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) initiated the Global Health Core Competency Development Project to build a consensus on the core competencies for masters-level students in global health. Over 150 global health experts from academia and practice, working worldwide, contributed to identifying and specifying the core global health competencies under seven domains. Three rounds of a modified Delphi process were used to ensure a consensus on the competencies from the participants. The results from this process were further refined by project leadership into the final competency model, which was internally and externally vetted. This session will present the competency development process, the final competency model, and suggestions for implementation.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the importance of developing global health core competencies for masters-level students. Describe the methods used to develop the global health core competencies for masters-level students. Identify the seven domains that make up the global health core competency model for masters-level students. Discuss ways in which the global health competencies could be implemented.

Keywords: Competency, Education

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Dean Pierre Buekens chairs the Leadership Group which guided the development of the global health competencies and has been actively involved in all steps of the project.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Innovations in global health education
See more of: Academic Public Health Caucus