An Experiential Service-Learning Project on Observed Smoking Behavior to Teach Practical Epidemiologic Skills to MPH Students, Philadelphia, 2015

In 2001, the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health (hereinafter, Council on Linkages) adopted a set of core public health competencies that described the practical skills necessary for an effective public health workforce. The Council on Education for Public Health requires that schools and programs of public health meet certain subject competencies for accreditation, such as those identified by the Council on Linkages. For the subject of epidemiology, the Council on Linkages competencies include describing factors affecting the health of a community, assessing the validity and reliability of data, and collecting, analyzing, and interpreting quantitative and qualitative data that can be used to assess the health of a community. Traditionally, epidemiology classes in master of public health (MPH) programs address these competencies through didactic lecture, example-based activities, and group discussion, all of which can be effective for introducing and explaining epidemiologic concepts. However, the bridge from the classroom to practice is not always achieved. MPH students have difficulty grasping methodologic concepts and how they apply to their future professions. After taking epidemiology classes, students might understand epidemiologic theory and concepts but struggle with how to use epidemiology to solve real-world problems. MPH programs can bridge that experiential gap through activities that allow students to apply public health concepts to community health issues. Although MPH programs often require students to undertake an internship or clerkship to gain experience in public health practice, experiential learning does not commonly take place in the classroom. Academicians have called for an integration of experiential learning activities in epidemiology and other methods classes. Although the literature documents several successful practice-based applications of epidemiologic methods in the classroom, these examples are exceptions rather than the rule. Studies show that experiential learning and service learning are successful in teaching public health, medicine, and other health-related disciplines. Experiential learning is a teaching approach that gives students an opportunity to apply theory and concepts learned in the classroom to a setting outside the classroom. Experiential learning activities connect students directly to the subject being studied rather than merely thinking about or reading about the actions of others. This approach teaches through experience and reflection rather than through didactic information transfer from teacher to student. Decades of pedagogical theories by John Dewey, Kurt Hahn, and Paulo Freire support this model as an effective teaching technique. Service learning is a type of experiential learning that not only engages students in a practical learning experience but also focuses students’ efforts on a community-based issue. Service learning was identified as a promising learning technique that should be used more by programs of public health in the 21st century to teach students about real-world public health issues. In the classroom, the service-learning model promotes application of information learned in the classroom to a community issue to obtain a deeper understanding of the learning objectives. This article describes the Observed Smoking Behavior Project, which is an experiential service-learning project performed by students in the Advanced Epidemiology course in the Jefferson College of Population Health MPH program at Thomas Jefferson University. We provide an overview of the project, describe student feedback on the project, reflect on lessons learned, and offer suggestions for epidemiology