Promoting public health through community engagement: Embracing the journey

Abstract

This case study recounts and analyzes the journey graduate students, enrolled in an experiential, interdisciplinary health promotions course, took with a diverse, urban, Black, Midwest community. Community members, faculty, and graduate students in social work and public health were fellow travelers on this voyage into uncharted territory. A major goal of the journey was to teach students how to recognize community strengths and to facilitate the community in using those strengths. The learner's stance is used as the guiding principle for this reflective journey that generated serendipitous benefits and challenges. The article concludes with recommendations for interdisciplinary education and curriculum development.

An Evaluation of an Experiential Learning Program in Global and Indigenous Health: The University of Manitoba’s Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship Program

“…We have documented the focus and evaluated student experiences and learning outcomes of an experiential learning program centered on community engagement in global and Indigenous health research settings. Many of our findings align with previous evaluations and support the global movement toward increasing experiential learning opportunities in public health training, 8 , 16 - 21 formal education in community engagement, 6 , 16 , 20 , 22 interprofessional learning in public health, 19 , 23 and in international education experiences, generally. 17 , 24 Throughout the discussion reflections of directing, teaching in, and coordinating the program have been integrated in making meaning of the students’ experiences, further documenting the lessons learned, and finally, providing recommendations for other global and Indigenous health experiential learning programs ( Table 3 ).…”