Student Practicum as a Bridge to Governmental Public Health Practice

• Published in: Public health reports (1974) 2017-01, Vol.132 (1), p.110-114
• Main Authors: Burke, Emily M, Biberman, Dorothy A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accreditation; Certification; Criteria; Education; Graduate students; Health behavior; Health education; Public health; Public health education; Public schools; Schools; Skills; Specialization; Students
• ISSN: 0033-3549; 1468-2877
• DOI: 10.1177/0033354916680610

The student practicum is an essential and required component of accredited public health education that provides students with hands-on experience in public health practice. In a 1999 report from the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health’s (ASPPH’s) Council of Public Health Practice Coordinators, academic public health practice was defined as “the strategic, organized, and interdisciplinary application of knowledge, skills, and competencies necessary to perform essential public health services and other activities to improve the population’s health.”1 As such, schools and programs of public health accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) emphasize the student practice experience, which CEPH describes as a planned, supervised, and evaluated project that should take place in various professional settings and “should include local and state public health agencies to the extent possible and appropriate.” As the voice of accredited academic public health, ASPPH represents domestic and international CEPH-accredited schools and programs of public health. Schools and programs of public health that are accredited by CEPH must go through a rigorous accreditation process to assure students of a high-quality education. The accreditation process requires schools and programs of public health to complete a comprehensive self-study and submit a report to CEPH.3 This report must address a number of criteria, including but not limited to the institution’s mission, governance, resources, faculty members, academic offerings, and practice offerings. CEPH criterion 2.4 states that “all graduate students must develop skills in basic public health concepts and demonstrate application of these concepts through a practice experience that is relevant to the students’ areas of specialization.”2 Criterion 2.4 is the basis of the research performed by ASPPH to examine the student practicum and its role in public health education. To our knowledge, little has been done to measure the collective work and geographic reach of students from schools and programs of public health who are working in governmental public health agencies in the context of the practice experience, or practicum. ASPPH therefore conducted a study to gather information on the practice experiences of students placed in governmental public health agencies, including state and local health departments. The objectives of this research were to (1) improve ASPPH’s understanding of the