title: Community-partnered needs assessment: a strategy to teach college students about health disparities.
abstract: Partnering with communities to provide service-learning opportunities for undergraduates can be an effective strategy to teach college students about health disparities. In the current study, undergraduates partnered with a public K-8 school to conduct a participatory needs assessment. College students worked directly with teachers, parents, public school students, and key stakeholders to identify and prioritize health needs, and they awarded the partnership school a grant to address physical activity and bullying. Undergraduates rated the class highly favorably and reported a deeper understanding of health disparities resulting from the service-learning activity. Health disparities research is increasingly becoming a national priority and service learning can attract future talent by providing undergraduates with the opportunity to engage in the material in a meaningful way with clear community benefit.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0376, USA. Farrah.jacquez@uc.edu
authors.forename: Farrah
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jacquez
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghantous
mesh_terms: D058445:Bullying; D003256:Community Participation; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D020380:Needs Assessment; D011593:Psychology, Social / Q000193:education*; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*