HBHE Skills-Based Workshops
By: Monica Lyle, HBHESA 2nd Year Curriculum ChairFor the second year, HBHE students had the opportunity to participate in a series of interactive, skills-based workshops designed to introduce particular topics and professional skills that currently receive little or no exposure in the general curriculum. Workshops took place for 4 hours on a Saturday or two 3-hour sessions on weekday evenings during the winter semester. While the short sessions do not allow for comprehensive coverage of a given topic area, they do allow students to learn some relevant professional skills and provide a foundation for further development in a given skill area. Priority was given to MPH and dual degree students graduating in Winter and Fall 2008, but a number of first year students had the opportunity to participate in the workshops.
The HBHESA Curriculum Chairs (Monica Lyle, Tracy Patterson, Jaime Hughes) organized the series, which kicked off in February with Community-Based Participatory Facilitation. Armando Matiz Reyes, a Research Associate in HBHE, introduced strategies for working with communities to develop action plans around public health and social issues. The second workshop was GIS in Public Health, taught by Dan Kruger and Kathryn Youra of the Prevention Research Center. Participants in this workshop were introduced to the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in public health research and program planning, and learned some basic mapping and spatial analysis techniques using ArcGIS software. HBHE Assistant Professor Melissa Valerio presented a Needs Assessment Methods in Public Health workshop. She described the process of community needs assessment and the use of primary and secondary data to inform public health program development. The series will wrapped up in early April, with Analyzing Health Behavior/Health Education Data in Real World Settings. Professor Vic Strecher introduced students to the statistical and visual analysis program JMP and its utility for organizing and analyzing data for health education program planning and evaluation.
These workshops are especially beneficial for graduating students as they begin or continue their work as public health professionals, as well as for first year students preparing for summer internships. The HBHESA Curriculum Chairs greatly appreciate the faculty who generously gave their time to prepare and present the workshops for students, and the HBHE Curriculum Committee and Marc Zimmerman for their roles in helping identify instructors for the workshops. We hope HBHE will build upon the success of these workshops and continue to offer students exposure to skills that will be relevant to their work as public health professionals.