142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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A values based approach to public health ethics education

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014

Jennifer Tripken, Ed.D., CHES , Health and Human Performance Department, Marymount University, Arlington, VA
Background:  There is a general acceptance that ethics education is challenging to teach and assess with the example of providing outcomes for what is often seen as an intangible subject.  The limitations that educational institutions may face with ethics education includes student difficulty translating theory to real situations, ethics teachers may not have had first-hand experience in the health care field, and quiet students and those that are from different cultures may feel intimidated by the theoretical format of ethics education.  The use of technology is commonly utilized in the public health curriculum.  Recent studies show no significant differences between classroom and the online settings in terms of the effectiveness of instructional methods and most students view it as an acceptable and valuable learning tool.

Purpose:  The aim of this study was to describe the scope of ethics in the current public health curriculum and to explore the impact of an online software decision making program as an educational tool to improve and enhance student learning.

Methodology:  Students enrolled in an undergraduate public health course utilized the decision making software program in the Fall 2013.  After completing two case studies using the program, the students took a 10-item open-ended survey regarding their experience.

Results:  The results of this study showed that 100% of respondents viewed the online software decision making program as an educational tool that enhanced their understanding of concepts related to public health ethics.  The majority of respondents also indicated that the software tool challenged their thinking and allowed them to increase their understanding of their own values and ethical positions.  Respondents also agreed that the online environment was an appropriate medium for ethics education.

Conclusion:  This study provided comprehensive descriptions of the experience of using an online educational software to teach public health ethics. The majority of respondents felt that the online software tool was beneficial to their comprehension of ethics education in public health.  It is recommended that the online software decision making program be used interdisciplinary to enhance student learning and offer opportunities to broad student’s view of the world.

Learning Areas:

Ethics, professional and legal requirements
Other professions or practice related to public health
Public health or related education
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe the current context of public health ethics education Explain the Ethics educational software tool and how it contributes to classroom learning of public health ethics Evaluate the quality of an educational technology software tool for public health ethics education from an instructional and student perspective. Analyze the Ethics education software Decision Making Framework as a viable educational tool in public health ethics. Demonstrate the use of the Ethics education software tool given a public health ethics topic

Keyword(s): Health Promotion and Education, Ethics

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to be an abstract Author on the content I am responsible for because I have been an Assistant Professor at Marymount University for two years. During this time, I have been certified by the IRB committee to conduct research and have been the lead researcher on several other research projects. In addition, I have experience as a researcher on federally funded grants focusing on EHR workforce development.
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.

Back to: 3301.0: Public health ethics poster session