Service Learning on the U.S./Mexico Border: Transforming Student Paradigms

Abstract

The purpose of our evaluation is to provide an example of how public health schools can use service-learning courses to teach students about health equity. By ensuring that the future workforce has a comprehensive understanding of regions such as the U.S./Mexico border, students will be better equipped to provide public health services. Specifically, our objectives were to (1) understand how student perceptions of the border evolve during the 1-week Border Health Service-Learning Institute (BHSLI) course and (2) understand how the service-learning experience impacted students’ proposed personal and professional goals. Using BHSLI student journals collected over 9 years, we conducted a qualitative investigation to evaluate students’ experiences of the service-learning course. Our findings suggest that BHSLI offered opportunities for advancing dialogue about health equity. Because BHSLI is immersive, it showed students a reality that they would not normally encounter. In reflecting on these new experiences, students were not only encouraged to question systems and policies but also made accountable to act upon the insights they gained. We found that BHSLI was a space for critical consciousness building, for shifting paradigms. Students learned how to intervene in real time to make change around public health issues. Service learning could be a practice-based solution to help public health students learn about health equity, especially in historically marginalized regions such as the U.S./Mexico border.

Celebrating 10 Years of Pedagogy in Health Promotion: An Invitation to Advance the Field of Community Engagement and Service-Learning

“…Gren et al (2020) point out that “debriefings and reflection are critical mechanisms for students to connect new knowledge to previous experience, broaden their world view, and consider how to use this information in their professions” (p. 45). Lohr et al (2022) found that class time designated for talking about and processing assigned readings and SL experiences led to students developing critical consciousness and a deeper understanding of health inequities and strengthened students’ intentions for advocacy work.…”

Message from the Editor-in-Chief: Celebrating 10 Years of Pedagogy in Health Promotion: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

“…Students worked with community organizations to develop an approach to address a selected issue and to identify potential policy solutions. In another program, public health students participated in a Border Health Service Learning Institute, designed to help them question systems and policies affecting border community health and to act on insights gained (Lohr et al, 2022). Felter and Baumann (2019) prefer the term "community-engaged classrooms" to emphasize the importance of partnership and community ownership elements of community-based educational projects.…”

“…Students worked with community organizations to develop an approach to address a selected issue and to identify potential policy solutions. In another program, public health students participated in a Border Health Service Learning Institute, designed to help them question systems and policies affecting border community health and to act on insights gained (Lohr et al, 2022).…”

Service Learning in Public Health: A Critical Assessment of Potential Benefits and Unintended Consequences

“…Service learning can enable students to gain real-world experience, increase career readiness, contextualize topics taught in class, and improve perceptions of their ability to link theory to practice ( Brown, 2017 ; Gasparis et al, 2017 ; Hart, 2015 ; Salam et al, 2019 ). Service learning in allied health fields has also been shown to increase students’ cultural competence and perceptions of civic responsibility, aid in their professional development, improve their understanding of the delivery of ethical care, and increase their ability to intervene on health equity related issues ( Bill & Casola, 2016 ; Lohr et al, 2022 ; Ylitalo & Meyer, 2019 ). However, one study found that adding a service learning component to a class did not improve test scores, compared to the class without the service learning component ( Lambright, 2008 ).…”