title: What impact does community service learning have on medical students' appreciation of population health?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The Bar Ilan Faculty of Medicine places public health as a priority in its medical curriculum, emphasizing its importance by strategically placing the required course as first on entry into medical school. Students are introduced to the importance of population health and community engagement through participatory community learning experiences. This study aims to examine how participatory community teaching methods impact students' understanding and attitudes towards community health.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mixed quantitative and qualitative design.
  
  
  METHODS
  75 first year students completed the required public health course utilizing participatory community methods, including community visits, Team Based Learning, an ethnic forum, and lifestyle medicine. Evaluation comprised skills assessment through project work, analysis of reflective notes and comparison of assessment scores with students in the previous year who experienced a formal lecture-only based curriculum.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Students acquired public health skills, including conducting a needs assessment, searching for research evidence and designing an evaluation framework. Reflective notes revealed in-depth understanding not only of course aims, but an appreciation of the social determinants of health and the local community. Test marks indicated public health knowledge reached a comparable standard (83 ± 7.3) to the previous year (85 ± 9.3; P = 0.431).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Participatory community learning equips students with public health skills, knowledge, and enhanced understanding of communities. It offers a way to effectively teach public health, while emphasizing the extended role and societal responsibilities of doctors.
authors.affiliation: Bar Ilan Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee, Department of Population Health, POB 1589, Henrietta Szold 8, Safed 1311502, Israel. Electronic address: jamanh.essa-hadad@mail.biu.ac.il.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Essa-Hadad
authors.affiliation: The Medical School, University of Sheffield, Beech Hill Road, Sheffield S10 2RX, UK. Electronic address: d.murdoch-eaton@sheffield.ac.uk.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Murdoch-Eaton
authors.affiliation: Bar Ilan Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee, Department of Population Health, POB 1589, Henrietta Szold 8, Safed 1311502, Israel. Electronic address: mary.rudolf@biu.ac.il.
authors.forename: M C J
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Rudolf
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003153:Community Health Services; D003479:Curriculum; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D007858:Learning; D008875:Middle Aged; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education*; D012577:Schools, Medical; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Curriculum development community oriented learning; Medical education; Public health; Social accountability