Facilitating an Interprofessional Course on Climate Change and Public Health Preparedness

Heidi Honegger Rogers (), Megan Tucker, Mary Pat Couig and Vanessa Svihla
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Heidi Honegger Rogers: Office of Interprofessional Education, University of New Mexico Health Sciences, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Megan Tucker: Organization, Information & Learning Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Mary Pat Couig: Organization, Information & Learning Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Vanessa Svihla: Organization, Information & Learning Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 10, 1-15

Abstract: In this paper, we share the theories that guided the design of an interprofessional education course on Climate Change and Public Health Preparedness and how the course supported students’ professional interest and action competence as they move through their education and into their professional work in the context of our unfolding climate crisis. The course was guided by the public health emergency preparedness domains and was built to allow for students to explore applications of the content for themselves and their own profession. We designed the learning activities to support personal and professional interest development and help students move into perceived and demonstrated action competence. For the evaluation of our course, we asked the following research questions: What kinds of personal and professional commitments to action did students propose by the end of the course? Did these vary in depth and specificity and by the number of credits they enrolled in? In what ways did students develop personal and professional action competence over the course? Finally, how did they show personal, professional, and collective agency related to the course content on adaptation, preparedness, and mitigation of the health impacts from climate change? Using qualitative analysis guided by action competence and interest development theories, we coded student writing from course assignments. We also conducted comparative statistical analysis to assess differential impacts for students who enrolled for one versus three credits. The results show that this course design supported students’ progression of knowledge and perceived ability in specific individual and professional collective actions to reduce the health impacts of climate change.

Keywords: climate change; health education; interprofessional education; action competence framework; interest development theory; public health preparedness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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