College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.
Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, United States.
Front Public Health. 2022 Nov 14;10:1044487. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1044487. eCollection 2022.
As public health expands its role in global settings, the need to develop intercultural competency for public health students also grows. One initiative being applied to promote global awareness is the use of virtual exchange (VE) programs. VE programs promote collaborative online international learning (COIL) and allow students from different countries to connect and work together on projects related to their field of study; however, there is little research around the long-term impacts of these programs.
Undergraduate pre-health students from the United States who participated in a VE program a year prior were interviewed about their experiences engaging with undergraduate medical students in Egypt. They were asked if the experience impacted their current behaviors, skills, or knowledge, and what improvements could be made to the program. Mezirow's Transformative Learning Theory (TLT) served as the theoretical framework, grounding interview instrument development and directed content analysis procedures. Researchers also engaged in inductive analysis to capture other salient themes.
Ten students were interviewed with a majority engaging in either of the two final stages of Mezirow's TLT: "building of self-confidence and self-competence" (60%) and "reintegration" (50%). Other salient themes found were intercultural interactions, VE appreciation, and VE improvements. When describing their experience in one word, students overwhelmingly provided words with positive connotations (80%), with the negative responses being explained by the structure and presentation of the VE.
Students were able to apply lessons they learned during the VE within a 1-year follow-up period. This is beneficial, as health professionals require intercultural competency to promote and provide improved health outcomes. Results from this study indicate the need for structure when conducting a VE, addressing the need to increase the number of direct interactions and thereby promoting more intercultural exchanges. Likewise, the interviews demonstrated that changes in course instruction need to be implemented gradually to allow for students to adjust to unfamiliar teaching methods.
随着公共卫生在全球范围内发挥更大的作用，公共卫生学生也需要培养跨文化能力。虚拟交流（VE）计划就是促进全球意识的一项举措。VE 计划促进合作式在线国际学习（COIL），让来自不同国家的学生在与他们的学习领域相关的项目上进行合作；然而，关于这些计划的长期影响的研究很少。
一年前参加过 VE 项目的美国本科预医学生接受了关于他们与埃及本科医学生互动经历的采访。他们被问到这次经历是否影响了他们目前的行为、技能或知识，以及可以对该项目进行哪些改进。迈泽罗的转变性学习理论（TLT）作为理论框架，为访谈工具的开发和指导内容分析程序提供了基础。研究人员还进行了归纳分析，以捕捉其他突出的主题。
对 10 名学生进行了采访，其中大多数人处于迈泽罗 TLT 的最后两个阶段：“建立自信和自我能力”（60%）和“再整合”（50%）。其他突出的主题包括跨文化互动、VE 欣赏和 VE 改进。当用一个词来描述他们的经历时，学生们压倒性地提供了带有积极含义的词（80%），而负面的反应则是由 VE 的结构和呈现方式造成的。
学生们能够在 1 年的随访期间应用他们在 VE 中学到的经验。这是有益的，因为卫生专业人员需要跨文化能力来促进和提供更好的健康结果。这项研究的结果表明，在进行 VE 时需要有结构，需要增加直接互动的次数，从而促进更多的跨文化交流。同样，访谈表明，需要逐步实施课程教学的改变，以便学生能够适应不熟悉的教学方法。
