The "101" Approach to Undergraduate Public Health Education—What is It?
The "101" Approach provides what every college student should know about public health. It is an integrated core curriculum for minors, majors and associate degrees. The three "101" courses: "Public Health 101", "Epidemiology 101" and "Global Health 101" are central to the education of future health professionals as well as all those who will become educated citizens.
The "101" Approach grew out of the 2003 report of the Institute of Medicine which recommended that "...all undergraduates should have access to education in public health." At the time the Institute of Medicine report was published, many people thought that "all" was a typo since only a small fraction of the nearly 2,000 four-year institutions and over 1,000 community colleges offered even an introductory course in public health. Today the vision of core courses in "Public Health 101", "Epidemiology 101" and Global Health 101" offered by all colleges and universities is rapidly becoming a reality.
In 2004 Jones & Bartlett Learning initiated the Essential Public Health series with Richard Riegelman MD, MPH, PhD as series editor. The Essential Public Health series set out for the first time to develop a coordinated set of introductory public health textbooks. Today the series includes a full spectrum of introductory public health texts and ancillary materials. View a complete list of series titles >>
In November 2006 the Consensus Conference on Undergraduate Public Health Education brought together public health and arts and sciences educational associations to make recommendations for the development of undergraduate public health education. Public health organizations included the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) and the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR). Arts and Sciences organizations included the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS).
Recommendations for Undergraduate Public Health Educationwere subsequently published by AAC&U and APTR. These recommendations provide curricular frameworks for "Public Health 101", "Epidemiology 101" and "Global Health 101" to permit these courses to fulfill general education distribution requirements. The Recommendations include learning outcomes and enduring understandings reflecting what public health knowledge and skills students should carry away and utilize for many years to come.
The recommendations also include a framework for public health minors which builds upon the three "101" courses, all of which should be taken by those who minor or major in public health. Those developing undergraduate minors and majors will find a broad range of useful textbooks as part of the Essential Public Health series as well as three textbooks that were written to fulfill the AAC&U and APTR recommendations i.e. Public Health 101: Healthy People-Healthy Populations (Riegelman), Epidemiology 101 (Friis) and Essentials of Global Health: Global Health 101 (Skolnik).
The increase in public health minors and majors has been dramatic. By 2008 nearly 50% of institutions offering graduate degrees in public health also offered undergraduate minors and/or majors. However, overall only 16% of four-year institutions were offering minors or majors in public health in 2008. Thus there was still much more to do.
To keep the momentum going, in 2009 the American Public Health Association (APHA) endorsed a resolution encouraging all undergraduate institutions, 2-year as well as 4-year colleges, to develop undergraduate public health course work including introductory courses in public health, epidemiology and global health. In early 2010 Jones & Bartlett Learning Publishers signed an agreement with APHA that includes efforts to disseminate information on the "101" texts and the Essential Public Health series as a whole.
Community Colleges are now providing additional growth for introductory public health curricula. "Public Health 101", "Epidemiology 101" and "Global Health 101" courses at 2-year or community colleges are being encouraged and should utilize the same curricula as four-year colleges thereby providing students the opportunity to transfer general education course work to 4-year colleges. In its April-May 2010 issue, the Community College Journal published recommendations on the development of prototypes public health associate degrees built upon the three core public health "101" courses.
In the fall of 2010 Healthy People 2020 is expected to announce objectives to increase the number of 2-year as well as 4-year colleges that provide introductory course work as well as minors, majors, and associate degrees in public health. It is expected that Healthy People 2020 will encourage 2-year and 4-year colleges to achieve the 2003 Institute of Medicine recommendation that "...all undergraduates should have access to education in public health."
The "101" approach to undergraduate public health education and the Essential Public Health series the Jones & Bartlett Learning way of contributing to this national public health agenda.
Next: 2-year Colleges: Associate Degrees and Certificate Programs in Public Health »
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