Learner-Centered Teaching to Educate College Students about Rural Health Disparities

Abstract

Geographically, rural U.S. communities have higher rates of disease and health problems, compared to urban areas. This encourages development of effective, learner-centred curricula to enable students to address disparate health outcomes as future health professionals. This three-year study evaluated the effect of an undergraduate rural public health course on health disparities-related perceptions among students at a rural Midwestern U.S. university. Students reported statistically significant increases in mean scores for several survey items pre- to post-survey. Post-survey response rate was 90%. This paper details the processes, outcomes, and lessons learned from incorporating learner-centred strategies to teach health disparities material in a rural public health course.