Dataset Information

The Extent to Which Menstruation-Related Issues Are Included in Graduate-Level Public Health Curricula.

ABSTRACT: Objectives: Menstruation is increasingly recognized as an issue in domestic and global public health. Public health graduates of U.S. schools of public health must have adequate competencies to address menstruation and its implications for health and well-being in their future endeavors in research, practice and policy. This study sought to understand the extent to which U.S. schools currently integrate menstruation-related content (menstrual health, menstrual hygiene, etc.) and related competencies into their curricula. Methods: We reviewed the course directories of the top 20 US schools of public health as ranked in 2018. Courses were selected based on inclusion of menstruation and adolescent health-related search terms. Syllabi were subsequently obtained and analyzed for inclusion of specific menstruation-related terms. Syllabi including these terms were further analyzed to determine the level of inclusion of menstruation-related topics in relation to public health competencies, and the area of specialization. Results: Of an estimated 5,000 courses assessed, 28 included menstruation-related topics. Most frequently, this inclusion was minimal (e.g., a single reading or assignment), and was limited in scope. Content was typically found within global health, environmental health, and maternal and child health. Conclusions: Given growing attention to menstruation domestically and globally, and the limited current inclusion of this issue in US schools of public health curricula, graduates may not be receiving adequate training on a critically important topic of relevance within population health. Schools should consider reviewing their curricula to assess whether there are opportunities to integrate menstruation-related content in relation to the relevant public health competencies.

SUBMITTER: Sommer M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7491256 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

The Extent to Which Menstruation-Related Issues Are Included in Graduate-Level Public Health Curricula.

Sommer Marni M Lee Christina C Liu Danting D Gruer Caitlin C

Frontiers in public health 20200828

<b>Objectives:</b> Menstruation is increasingly recognized as an issue in domestic and global public health. Public health graduates of U.S. schools of public health must have adequate competencies to address menstruation and its implications for health and well-being in their future endeavors in research, practice and policy. This study sought to understand the extent to which U.S. schools currently integrate menstruation-related content (menstrual health, menstrual hygiene, etc.) and related c ...[more]

PMID: 32984243

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUND:Every person who seeks health care should be affirmed, respected, understood, and not judged. However, trans and gender diverse people have experienced significant marginalization and discrimination in health care settings. Health professionals are generally not adequately prepared by current curricula to provide appropriate healthcare to trans and gender diverse people. This strongly implies that health care students would benefit from curricula which facilitate learning about gender-affirming health care. MAIN BODY:Trans and gender diverse people have been pathologized by the medical profession, through classifications of mental illness in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and International Classification of Disease (ICD). Although this is changing in the new ICD-11, tension remains between depathologization discourses and access to gender-affirming health care. Trans and gender diverse people experience significant health disparities and an increased burden of disease, specifically in the areas of mental health, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, violence and victimisation. Many of these health disparities originate from discrimination and systemic biases that decrease access to care, as well as from health professional ignorance. This paper will outline gaps in health science curricula that have been described in different contexts, and specific educational interventions that have attempted to improve awareness, knowledge and skills related to gender-affirming health care. The education of primary care providers is critical, as in much of the world, specialist services for gender-affirming health care are not widely available. The ethics of the gatekeeping model, where service providers decide who can access care, will be discussed and contrasted with the informed-consent model that ?upholds autonomy by empowering patients to make their own health care decisions. CONCLUSION:There is an ethical imperative for health professionals to reduce health care disparities of trans and gender diverse people and practice within the health care values of social justice and cultural humility. As health science educators, we have an ethical duty to include gender-affirming health in health science curricula in order to prevent harm to the trans and gender diverse patients that our students will provide care for in the future.

Project description:The field of public health includes a wide scope of activities and professional disciplines, ranging from sanitation, health protection, epidemiology, environmental health, financing, health promotion, including supervision, or the provision of clinical care. Each of these disciplines works in systems that face ethical dilemmas, making it important that public health workers have motivation to understand and practice within the ethical guidelines of their profession, thus making ethics an important component of training and practice. The dangers of ethical lapses are overwhelmingly apparent in the case of the Eugenics movement of the early 20th century which metamorphosed from forced sterilizations in many liberal democratic countries into mass murder of physically and mentally handicapped children and adults in Nazi Germany. Between 1939 and 1941, 180 thousand psychiatric patients along with an equivalent number of handicapped children and adults were killed in an organized extermination program in Germany by lethal gassing. This method was then applied to the industrialized murder or Holocaust of six million Jews and millions of other “untermenschen” (sub human) in the greatest genocide in human history. Shortly after World War II ended the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals were conducted including medical doctors, and some were executed for crimes against humanity. This was followed by the 1948 United Nations Declaration on Human Rights and by the World Medical Association’s Helsinki Declaration. Both are widely accepted as cornerstone documents—the latter specifically governing ethical standards related to human experimentation—and are revised regularly since being issued in 1964. But genocide has not disappeared, nor has unscrupulous experimentation such as the Tuskegee experiment on black Americans infected with syphilis and left untreated even after the availability of a cure, penicillin. Ethical standards are now required by “Helsinki Committees”—ethical review boards—in most medical facilities worldwide. Ethical frameworks have evolved in part due to bitter experience of ethical failures later recognized and affecting public health standards of practice. Future generations of public health leaders and staff will face many ethical issues such as mandatory immunization of health workers and school children, and assisted death of terminally ill patients.

Project description:ObjectivesThe objectives of this study are to (1) identify Graduate Public Health (GPH) programmes with an integrated practicum, (2) determine current practice for practicum design and (3) use the information to make recommendations to inform the design of Public Health Graduate programme practicums.DesignScoping review.Data sourcesAcademic Ranking World Universities 2019 was used to identify top 10 institutions in each geographical hub offering GPH programmes. Each GPH programme website was searched for practicum information.Eligibility criteriaGPH programmes offering a practice-based component as a requirement in their curriculum.Data extraction and synthesisOne reviewer screened GPH websites for eligibility and extracted data. Verification of data for accuracy and completeness was done on 10% of the sample by the second author. Data were compiled into an Excel file and were analysed to describe the duration, timing, credit, contact hours, preceptor requirements, prerequisites, objectives, deliverables and methods of evaluation of the practice-based component.ResultsOut of the 108 GPH programmes screened, a total of 35 programmes were included. There was a significant variation in required practicum duration ranging from 4 to 16 weeks. Only 31% specifically outlined prerequisites to be completed before the initiation of the practicum. More than half (57%) had a published list of core competencies. A majority of practicum did not provide criteria for appropriate preceptors (63%) and their responsibilities (66%). All programmes listed assessment criteria however the majority (57%) did not specify if the practicum was graded or a for-credit component.ConclusionsThe integration of practical components into curricula is inconsistent. This research resulted in 14 recommendations intended to guide GPH practicum design. We propose that this study be used as a tool to spark a global dialogue about best practices in GPH education through the identification of common practices and opportunities for improvement.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Professionalism standards encourage physicians to participate in public advocacy on behalf of societal health and well-being. While the number of publications of advocacy curricula for GME-level trainees has increased, there has been no formal effort to catalog them. OBJECTIVE:To systematically review the existing literature on curricula for teaching advocacy to GME-level trainees and synthesize the results to provide a resource for programs interested in developing advocacy curricula. METHODS:A systematic literature review was conducted to identify articles published in English that describe advocacy curricula for graduate medical education trainees in the USA and Canada current to September 2017. Two reviewers independently screened titles, abstracts, and full texts to identify articles meeting our inclusion and exclusion criteria, with disagreements resolved by a third reviewer. We abstracted information and themes on curriculum development, implementation, and sustainability. Learning objectives, educational content, teaching methods, and evaluations for each curriculum were also extracted. RESULTS:After reviewing 884 articles, we identified 38 articles meeting our inclusion and exclusion criteria. Curricula were offered across a variety of specialties, with 84% offered in primary care specialties. There was considerable heterogeneity in the educational content of included advocacy curriculum, ranging from community partnership to legislative advocacy. Common facilitators of curriculum implementation included the American Council for Graduate Medical Education requirements, institutional support, and preexisting faculty experience. Common barriers were competing curricular demands, time constraints, and turnover in volunteer faculty and community partners. Formal evaluation revealed that advocacy curricula were acceptable to trainees and improved knowledge, attitudes, and reported self-efficacy around advocacy. DISCUSSION:Our systematic review of the medical education literature identified several advocacy curricula for graduate medical education trainees. These curricula provide templates for integrating advocacy education into GME-level training programs across specialties, but more work needs to be done to define standards and expectations around GME training for this professional activity.

Project description:BackgroundFood safety in the food market is one of the key areas of focus in public health, because it affects people of every age, race, gender, and income level around the world. The local and international food marketing continues to have significant impacts on food safety and health of the public. Food supply chains now cross multiple national borders which increase the internationalization of health risks. This systematic review of literature was, therefore, conducted to identify common public health risks related to food safety issues in the food market.MethodsAll published and unpublished quantitative, qualitative, and mixed method studies were searched from electronic databases using a three step searching. Analytical framework was developed using the PICo (population, phenomena of interest, and context) method. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using mixed methods appraisal tool (MMAT) version 2018. The included full-text articles were qualitatively analyzed using emergent thematic analysis approach to identify key concepts and coded them into related non-mutually exclusive themes. We then synthesized each theme by comparing the discussion and conclusion of the included articles. Emergent themes were identified based on meticulous and systematic reading. Coding and interpreting the data were refined during analysis.ResultsThe analysis of 81 full-text articles resulted in seven common public health risks related with food safety in the food market. Microbial contamination of foods, chemical contamination of foods, food adulteration, misuse of food additives, mislabeling, genetically modified foods (GM foods), and outdated foods or foods past their use-by dates were the identified food safety-related public health risks in the food market.ConclusionThis systematic literature review identified common food safety-related public health risks in the food market. The results imply that the local and international food marketing continues to have significant impacts on health of the public. The food market increases internationalization of health risks as the food supply chains cross multiple national borders. Therefore, effective national risk-based food control systems are essential to protect the health and safety of the public. Countries need also assure the safety and quality of their foods entering international trade and ensure that imported foods conform to national requirements.

Project description:BackgroundThe limited integration of ethics in nutrition-related public health policies and interventions is one major concern for those who have the task of implementing them. Ethical challenges that are overlooked during the development of such interventions could raise serious ethical issues during their implementation and even after. As a result, these decision makers need technical support and ethical guidance for adaptation of interventions to local (cultural, social, economic, etc.) contexts.AimThe goal of this scoping review is to delineate and "map" the range of ethical issues in nutrition-related public health interventions, as well as the range of the various fields in which they may arise.MethodsA scoping review of empirical research and conceptual literature was conducted following the framework of Arksey and O'Malley. Searches using PubMed with Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) categories and Advanced Search Builder as well as in the Global Health Library were performed. The final sample consists of 169 publications.ResultsThe ethics of public health prevention or treatment of obesity and non-communicable diseases is the most explicitly and frequently discussed subject. In comparison, ethical issues raised by public health interventions in the fields of undernutrition, breastfeeding, vitamin/mineral supplementation and food fortification, food security, food sustainability and food safety are addressed in a lower proportion of the sample. The results illustrate the various natures, types, and scopes of existing public health nutrition-related interventions, and the various ethical issues that may be raised by these interventions, in addition to the numerous and different contexts in which they may be implemented.DiscussionThe ethical issues faced in the development and implementation of nutrition-related public health interventions are varied and cannot be equated with, nor generalized about, when dealing with specific activities in this field. More importantly, these ethical issues cannot be managed without a careful consideration for the complexity of contexts in which nutrition-related interventions are expected to be implemented. These interventions engage a variety of actors with diverse perspectives and interests. We discuss these challenges and also comment on the importance of considering ethical impacts in the monitoring and evaluation of such interventions.ConclusionGeneral ethical frameworks or recommendations-although useful-cannot be expected to provide policy makers, implementators and other public health personnel with sufficient practical ethical guidance as they cannot consider and anticipate the particularities of all specific nutrition-related public health interventions and the complexity of the contexts in which they are implemented. Further research is needed in order to develop more targeted ethical frameworks.

Project description:ObjectivesThe Faculty of Dentistry at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) is planning to develop a master's program in dental public health (DPH). To develop a curriculum for this program, a needs assessment was conducted in order to identify the level of DPH expertise that currently exists in Saudi Arabia, to identify gaps in knowledge, and to explore current perceptions regarding this type of program.MethodsA competency-based survey instrument was administered to private and government affiliated dental practitioners in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Participants' knowledge, attitudes, and competencies in DPH were assessed. In addition, questions were submitted that addressed preferred strategies of teaching, curriculum delivery methods, course content, and prerequisites for DPH. These data were combined with data previously collected from dentists holding academic positions at KAU (n = 146) and were analyzed using Statistical Analysis System version 9.3 software. Mean values and frequencies were calculated for the study variables. Proportional odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated to assess differences in educational preferences and DPH competencies according to age, gender, and qualification.ResultsMost of the participants (95%) reported a need for a DPH graduate program. The respondents had a basic knowledge of DPH and moderate experience in DPH competencies. A variety of preferred educational strategies and methods were identified and differences in educational preferences according to age, gender, and qualification of the respondents were identified. The responses obtained also acknowledged skills and competencies that the participants considered most important for a DPH practice and that would be important for students accepted into a DPH graduate program.ConclusionsThis needs assessment survey represents a preliminary step in establishing a DPH graduate program that addresses current gaps in knowledge and in the practice of public health dentistry. This survey also provided valuable feedback regarding the development of course content for a graduate education program in DPH.

Dataset Information

The Extent to Which Menstruation-Related Issues Are Included in Graduate-Level Public Health Curricula.

Publications

The Extent to Which Menstruation-Related Issues Are Included in Graduate-Level Public Health Curricula.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets