Advancing the Healthy People 2010 Objectives through Community-Based Education: A Curriculum Planning Guide

The preparation of this Guide was made possible in part by support from the Corporation for National and Community Service, and Pfizer Public Health

Rationale and motivation for the CCPH Healthy People 2010 Curriculum Planning Guide

Health professional schools across the country are constantly encouraged to participate in curriculum reform efforts that are responsive and relevant to the changes taking place in our health care system, and local communities. Dr. David Satcher, former U.S. Surgeon General, has specifically called upon health professional schools to be essential partners in achieving the Healthy People 2010 goals and objectives. In the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, Dr. Satcher's former deputy Dr. Nicole Lurie has recommended that community service experiences be a required component of health professions education, writing that "projects that focus on one or more of the leading health indicators, or other Healthy People objectives, are great places to start. Through such experiences students learn to see their roles more broadly, and can facilitate sustainable relationships with others in the community."

Since health professional educators are central to the adoption and implementation of new curricular innovations, they must be empowered to promote prevention curricula, and the Healthy People 2010 Objectives, in partnership with the community. In an effort to equip health professional educators with the necessary skills and knowledge to expand the prevention content in their curriculum, CCPH is pleased to announce the development of Advancing the Healthy People 2010 Objectives through Community-Based Education: A Curriculum Planning Guide

The goals of the Curriculum Planning Guide are to:

• Demonstrate effective community-oriented curriculum strategies to facilitate the achievement of the Healthy People 2010 objectives by future health professionals in partnership with their communities;
• Demonstrate effective community-oriented curriculum strategies to equip future health professionals with competencies in health promotion and disease prevention;
• Facilitate awareness about health disparities and solutions for addressing them through community-oriented curriculum strategies;
• Facilitate awareness about community-campus partnerships as a tool for curriculum reform and improving community health; and
• Contribute to a national effort to improve student education and the overall health of communities.

Intended audience

The curriculum guide is presented as a partnership planning tool for use by health professional faculty representing diverse health disciplines including medicine, nursing, public health, dentistry, and allied health. Faculty representing other disciplines will also benefit from this guide. The guide recognizes that faculty are primarily responsible for curriculum design, however it also expects that faculty will rely on and meaningfully incorporate the perspectives of their community partners and students into the development of the curriculum. While the material presented in this guide is intended for use by faculty, the guide might also be viewed as a tool for community leaders interested in establishing partnerships with leaders of health professions schools. This guide is intended for all skill levels.

Format of the guide

The Curriculum Planning Guide centers around 8 planning units that are supported by case studies, worksheets, handouts, resources and reflection questions. These 8 units include:

1. Establishing community partnerships and involvement
2. Establishing course outcomes and objectives
3. Selecting texts and other learning resources
4. Planning course instruction and activities
5. Designing course assessment and improvement plans
6. Sustaining and maintaining courses and activities
7. Practicing culturally competent approaches
8. Building course/program infrastructure

Recommendations for how the guide may be used

While this guide is intended to provide faculty with the information to design a course directly linked to the Healthy People Objectives, it can also be used to:

• Assist faculty in other curriculum reform efforts and community activities;
• Provide leaders in the community-campus partnership movement with the tools to build and sustain their partnership efforts;
• Provide direction to students and residents on strategies for improving community service activities; and
• Equip community leaders and students with insight into the curriculum planning process and the important role each plays in student education and improving community health;
• Equip faculty with new directions for evaluation and assessment of community-based courses and activities; and
• Foster possible collaboration and sharing of resources with other leaders in the field around health, health disparities and the Healthy People Objectives.

Related CCPH publications

Readers of the Guide are encouraged to use the Summer 2000 issue of Partnership Perspectives Magazine and A Toolkit for Faculty, Students and Community Leadership Committed to Achieving the Nation's Health Objectives Through Community-Campus Partnerships as companion documents to this Guide. For more information on these publications, click here.

Advancing the Healthy People 2010 Objectives through Community-Based Education: A Curriculum Planning Guide

The preparation of this Guide was made possible in part by support from the Corporation for National and Community Service, and Pfizer Public Health.

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