Public health education in Ege University Medical Faculty: developing a community-oriented model.
BACKGROUND
Ege University Medical Faculty (EUMF) introduced a community-oriented curriculum in 2001.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the new public health education program in EUMF curriculum.


METHODS
The study adopted triangulated methods. Quantitatively, a comparison of the students who were exposed to a community-oriented curriculum (Year 4 in 2007) was made with the students who were exposed to the traditional curriculum (Year 4 in 2005) in terms of their assessment of their achievement of our learning objectives. A total of 255 students in 2005 (80.7%) and 243 students in 2007 (81.5%) were surveyed using a questionnaire. Qualitatively, five focus group- and five individual interviews were performed with the 2007 cohort.


RESULTS
Except the one related to teamwork (p > 0.05) all learning objectives yielded significantly higher scores in the 2007 cohort than in the 2005 cohort (p < 0.05). The qualitative analysis supported the achievement of objectives in the 2007 cohort. The students appreciated the relevance of public health education with clinical subjects and interactive methods, but criticized didactic lectures and written assignments.


CONCLUSIONS
A community-oriented approach is more effective in achieving a holistic approach to health problems. Improving community-based activities and assessment methods would be more successful in integrating population health into medical training.
Ocek
Zeliha A
ZA
Ege University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health, Izmir, Turkey. zeliha.ocek@ege.edu.tr
Ciceklioğlu
Meltem
M
Gursoy
Safak Taner
ST
Aksu
Feride
F
Soyer
Meral Turk
MT
Hassoy
Hur
H
Ergin
Isil
I
Sayiner
Abdullah
A
Kandiloğlu
Gülsen
G
D003153:Community Health Services; D003479:Curriculum; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D018794:Problem-Based Learning; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education*; D019035:Rural Health Services; D012577:Schools, Medical; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey