Unit: Public Health Studies
Program: Public Health (DrPH)
Degree: Doctorate
Date: Fri Oct 14, 2011 - 6:06:35 am

1) Below are your program student learning outcomes (SLOs). Please update as needed.

Upon completion of the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program at the University of Hawai‘i, the graduate should master the following competencies:

DrPH Competencies

Planning and Evaluation

  1. Integrate evidence and community experience to describe, anticipate, and mediate public health needs and problems.
  2. Identify and apply appropriate theory to inform the design and evaluation of public health interventions.
  3. Integrate theory, empirical knowledge, and community needs with financial planning and infrastructure design in the context of acquiring external funds.

Advocacy and Policy Development

  1. Serve as a liaison and advocate to the policy community for the diverse pressing public health issues.
  2. Interact productively with stakeholders and decision-makers to have an impact on public policy.
  3. Identify, develop, and apply policies, laws and regulations for public health improvement.
  4. Translate policy into organizational plans, structures and programs.

Ethics

  1. Demonstrate and apply high ethical standards to all activities, including the communication and interaction with diverse populations, the general conduct of research, and the handling of information and data.

Culturally Sensitive Community Collaboration

  1. Facilitate and expand collaborative relationships among a variety of entities (e.g., governmental, non-governmental, public, private, and academic).
  2. Apply appropriate skills to integrate community entities into the planning, implementation, evaluation and interpretation of PH projects.
  3. Utilize the integrating concepts and skills involved in culturally appropriate community engagement and empowerment with diverse communities.

Research

  1. Promote co-learning between researchers, public health professionals and communities.
  2. Critique research appropriateness, including the ethical aspects of research designs, subject recruitment and data collection.
  3. Select appropriate research designs and methods to address questions of PH importance.
  4. Review and synthesize a body of research literature.
  5. Select and apply appropriate approaches for evaluation and quality improvement to assess program implementation.

Teaching

  1. Teach, advise, and mentor to enhance the capacity of students, peers, and community members.
  2. Identify, develop and implement engaged teaching methods that are appropriate for the respective audiences and conditions.

Leadership

  1. Develop strategies to promote collaborative problem solving, decision making and evaluation.
  2. Engage stakeholders and manage teams, groups, and organizations to work toward a defined goal.

Communications

  1. Demonstrate effective written and oral skills for communicating with persons from diverse cultural, socioeconomic, educational, racial, ethnic and professional backgrounds and persons of all ages and lifestyle preferences.

Informatics

  1. Collaborate with communication and informatics specialists in the process of design, implementation and evaluation of PH programs.

Critical Analysis and Systems Thinking

  1. Critically analyze, use and synthesize information from multiple sources to address public health problems/issues.
  2. Analyze and evaluate the impact of inter-relationships among systems that influence the quality of life of diverse populations in their communities.
  3. Analyze the impact of local, national, and global trends and interdependencies on PH related problems and systems.

2) Your program's SLOs are published as follows. Please update as needed.

Department Website URL: http://hawaii.edu/publichealth
Student Handbook. URL, if available online: http://www.hawaii.edu/publichealth
Information Sheet, Flyer, or Brochure URL, if available online:
UHM Catalog. Page Number:
Course Syllabi. URL, if available online: http://www.hawaii.edu/publichealth/academics/courses.html
Other: DrPH Handbook URL:www.hawaii.edu/publichealth
Other:

3) Below is the link(s) to your program's curriculum map(s). If we do not have your curriculum map, please upload it as a PDF.

No map submitted.

4) For your program, the percentage of courses that have course SLOs explicitly stated on the syllabus, a website, or other publicly available document is as follows. Please update as needed.

0%
1-50%
51-80%
81-99%
100%

5) For the period June 1, 2010 to September 30, 2011: State the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goals. Include the SLOs that were targeted, if applicable.

All DrPH students are on track to mastering the 25 DrPH competencies by graduation.

6) State the type(s) of evidence gathered to answer the assessment question and/or meet the assessment goals that were given in Question #5.

  • Competencies are linked to specific courses.
  • At the end of 2nd semester (if student enters with MPH) or 4th semester (if student enters with other masters), DrPH students present a qualifying paper and take a qualifying exam, testing their mastery on MPH and Year-1 DrPH competencies. Of the 6 students entering in Fall 2009, all 6 were “qualified” by the end of the 4th semester.
  • In the required Teaching Practicum, the faculty member with whom the DrPH student teaches provides a written assessment of student mastery of teaching-related competencies.
  • In the required Research Practicum, the faculty member with whom the DrPH student is conducting research provides a written assessment of student mastery of relevant research-related competencies.
  • Starting in their 2nd year, DrPH students complete an Annual Review. In this, they report completed and planned coursework, completed and planned portfolio elements, and a self-assessment of mastery of the DrPH competences.  Annual review data are discussed between the student and his/her Chair and also presented to the DrPH Committee. Suggestions are provided to students/Chairs on how students can further their mastery of competencies rated “low” or “mid” (vs. high).  For example, a student “low” in leadership was given a supervisory role through her Graduate Assistantship job and a student “mid” in teaching (even after Teaching Practicum) was scheduled to lead some workshops for MPH and DrPH students.

7) State how many persons submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.

100% of DrPH students who have been in the program at least 1 year.

8) Who interpreted or analyzed the evidence that was collected? (Check all that apply.)

Course instructor(s)
Faculty committee
Ad hoc faculty group
Department chairperson
Persons or organization outside the university
Faculty advisor
Advisors (in student support services)
Students (graduate or undergraduate)
Dean/Director
Other: Grad Chair of DrPH Program and Health of UH graduate Division

9) How did they evaluate, analyze, or interpret the evidence? (Check all that apply.)

Used a rubric or scoring guide
Scored exams/tests/quizzes
Used professional judgment (no rubric or scoring guide used)
Compiled survey results
Used qualitative methods on interview, focus group, open-ended response data
External organization/person analyzed data (e.g., external organization administered and scored the nursing licensing exam)
Other: Score qualifying exam & teaching practicum. Professional judgment with qualifying paper, research practicum and annual review.

10) For the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goal(s) stated in Question #5:
Summarize the actual results.

Standard

Actual percent

100% will pass “qualifying phase” by the end of the 4th semester

Entering 2008 = 6/6 = 100%

Entering 2009=6/6 = 100%

Entering 2010=3/3 = 100%

70% will be hired as GA or linked to funding if requested

100%

60% will have first-authored peer reviewed publication upon graduation

Graduated Spring 2011 = 2/2 = 100%

Graduating Fall 2011 = 1/3 = 33%

Graduating Spring 2012 = 2/2 = 100%

Total = 5/7 = 71%

100% will complete portfolio of set accomplishments by graduation

Graduated Spring 2011 = 2/2 = 100%

Graduating Fall 2011 = 3/3 = 100%

Graduating Spring 2012 = 2/2 = 100%

Average graduation time < 6 years

Graduated Spring 2011 = 2 individuals in 3 years

Graduating Fall 2011 = 3 individuals in 3.5 years

Graduating Spring 2012 = 1 individual in 4 years and 1 in 3 years

Ave time to graduation for 7 individuals = 3.3 years

70% of graduates will have positions in public health leadership or academia within 4 years of graduation

Of the 2 who graduated in May 2011, 1 is an Assistant Professor of Public Health and the other is a Researcher with the Kaiser-Permanente Center for Healthcare Research.

11) State how the program used the results or plans to use the results. Please be specific.

  • Student Annual Review data are reviewed by student, advisor, DrPH chair and DrPH Committee to guide student progress
  • DrPH program data (shown in item 10) are reviewed by DrPH Committee and UH Graduate Division to guide the program

12) Beyond the results, were there additional conclusions or discoveries?
This can include insights about assessment procedures, teaching and learning, program aspects and so on.

Findings from the Qualifying Exam and Paper, Course Evals, and Annual Reviews also help us modify and improve the DrPH curriculum.

13) Other important information.
Please note: If the program did not engage in assessment, please explain. If the program created an assessment plan for next year, please give an overview.

None at this time.