Community Health Assessments: A “Hands On” Approach to Teaching about Health Disparities

Understanding the impact of social determinants of health and health disparities are integral parts of public health education; however, students may not fully appreciate the impact of inequalities when they are described in traditional didactic course presentations. We used a “hands-on” project approach to support students in learning about the impact of disparities on community health outcomes. Students chose a state and county of interest to them. Students used the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation County Health Rankings Database to identify the three most important health disparities in a community of their choice.  They were also required to compare the outcomes in their community of choice with other counties in the state. Students described the factors contributing to these disparities using the database, and had to identify and describe potential policy interventions that could be used to reduce or eliminate the health disparities they identified. The identification of potential policy interventions allowed students to not only consider the causes of health disparities, but potential solutions to these disparities. Students presented their findings to colleagues in small groups throughout the semester in order to get feedback about their work. Finally, students presented their findings and recommendations to the class. This assignment integrated knowledge learned across the public health curriculum, and helped students gain a deeper understanding of the determinants of health and their impact on health outcomes.