Resnick Beth, Selig Suzanne, Riegelman Richard
1University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health, 1603 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612 USA.
2Department of Health Policy & Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, Rm. 457, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA.
Public Health Rev. 2017 Feb 1;38:4. doi: 10.1186/s40985-016-0048-x. eCollection 2017.
With over 10,900 public health bachelor's degree graduates conferred in 2015, public health undergraduate education in the USA has become mainstream. However, with the recent establishment of a majority of the programs, the impact of the undergraduate programs remains largely unknown. This study examines a sample of undergraduate programs in public health to further elucidate the undergraduate landscape.
Semi-structured interviews and a review of program websites from a sample of 39 institutions across the USA with undergraduate majors labeled as public health were conducted in 2015 to examine program content and operations.
Findings from the 39 programs reviewed demonstrated growing and diverse undergraduate public health programs rapidly evolving. While program enrollments, infrastructure, and curriculum varied among the individual programs, collectively, findings indicated increasing numbers of undergraduate students gaining knowledge and experience in matters related to the health of societies locally, nationally, and globally.
Study findings suggest it is an opportune time for the field to offer guidance, support, and vision to these burgeoning undergraduate programs. Such engagement offers opportunities to advance the programs as well as increase the number of students attuned to societal health in whatever life roles they assume.
2015年有超过10900名学生获得公共卫生学士学位，美国的公共卫生本科教育已成为主流。然而，由于近期大多数项目才设立，本科项目的影响在很大程度上仍不为人知。本研究对公共卫生本科项目的一个样本进行考察，以进一步阐明本科层面的情况。
2015年，对美国39所设有公共卫生本科专业的院校样本进行了半结构化访谈并对项目网站进行了审查，以考察项目内容和运营情况。
对39个项目的审查结果表明，本科公共卫生项目正在迅速发展且日益多样化。虽然各个项目的招生人数、基础设施和课程设置各不相同，但总体而言，结果表明越来越多的本科生在本地、国家和全球层面获得了与社会健康相关事务的知识和经验。
研究结果表明，对于该领域来说，现在是为这些新兴的本科项目提供指导、支持和愿景的恰当时机。这种参与为推进这些项目以及增加无论在何种生活角色中都关注社会健康的学生数量提供了机会。
