PUBLIC HEALTH PROFESSION TEAM PRACTICE
Overview
The SF State MPH program includes a faculty-supervised public health profession team practice experience. The experience is an opportunity for students to put into practice the theory and concepts of an ecological approach to health. The public health profession team practice experience (PH 821 & 822) aims to provide students with:
- a firm understanding of how to plan, apply and present a community health education project, and
- training & development in professional public health practice skills.
Process
The team practice involves collaboration with community partners to develop and conduct a community health education project (typically spring and summer of the first year, but subject to change). Students work in small teams on various tasks and activities. Depending on the project, roles may include conducting literature reviews, data collection, analysis and reporting. Future team practice experiences will continue to expand collaboration with community partners and focus on critical public health equity issues in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Past Team Practice Projects
For many years, SF State Department of Public Health (formerly Health Education) and the Health Equity Institute at SF State have supported the MPH Team Practice and the Community Assessment for Change course and implementation of community assessments focused on housing and health. From 2012 to 2016, the assessment done had been part of a multi-year collaboration with HOPE SF - an effort led by the Mayor's Office and SF Foundation. Its aim is to transform some of the most distressed public housing sites in San Francisco.
The entire class, in collaboration with the instructor and community partners, developed all aspects of the assessment and implemented the selected assessment methods. The class then analyzed the collected data and developed findings and recommendations. The practice courses culminate in the development of an assessment report, a user friendly community brief, and a formal presentation of assessment findings and recommendations to key stakeholders.
The following details the most recent community assessment projects:
- 2019 MPH Community Assessment Project: An Examination of Housing Insecurity Amongst SF State Students (Collaboration with SF State's Basic Needs Initiative and Health Promotion & Wellness
- 2018 MPH Community Assessment Project: Conducting Data About Living Circumstances - Challenges & Opportunities (Collaboration with the County and City of San Francisco's Whole Person Care Initiative)
- 2017 MPH Community Assessment Project: Housing, Pregnancy & Preterm Birth in SF (Collaboration with UCSF's Preterm Birth Initiative)
The following details the titles of the community assessment projects from 2012-2016. For more information, please visit the Health Equity Institute: The HOPE SF Learning Center Website to access the community briefs and final reports that resulted from these efforts.
- 2012 MPH Community Assessment Project: Peer Health Strategies in HOPE SF Communities
- 2013 MPH Community Assessment Project: Mental Health of Children and Their Families Living in HOPE SF Communities
- 2014 MPH Community Assessment Project: The Health and Well-Being of Youth Living in HOPE SF Communities
- 2015 MPH Community Assessment Project: Art and Healing in HOPE SF Communities
- 2016 MPH Community Assessment Project: Assessment of HOPE SF Onsite Health and Wellness Activities
What Students Say About The Team Practice Experience:
- "The team practice is a wonderful opportunity to learn a skill-set in real time."
- "I love being in the field, working with people, and working in groups."
- "I have been able to work with a community that I haven't had the opportunity to work with before."
- "The team practice is professional development. It is so hands on, and builds critical practical skills that you know you will use once you leave the university setting."
CULMINATING EXPERIENCE
PH 890 Master of Public Health Culminating Experience Seminar
The MPH culminating experience seminar provides students the opportunity to integrate, synthesize, apply, and demonstrate mastery of the MPH competencies acquired in the program. Through a review of the professional literature, class readings and assignments, critical discussion, and instructor, advisor, and peer feedback, students develop professional products that showcase MPH competency mastery, as well as their unique interests and passions within the field of public health.
Student Learning Outcomes:
- Examine critical issues in the field of public health
- Demonstrate application and integration of MPH core competencies through the development of professional products appropriate for use in the field
- Demonstrate skills in graduate level writing competencies
- Practice formal presentation skills