Pilot Study of a Cross-Sector Partnership to Integrate Inner-City Community College Students into a School Based Health Promotion Program

While overweight and obesity continue to be significant public health problems in the United States, especially among minority and disadvantaged youth, there are also many initiatives in the school environment that aim to combat these concerns. The effectiveness of these interventions is of course a major point of interest. This paper describes issues raised in an early-stage cross-sector partnership between a community-based organization (CBO) and an urban community college for tackling obesity in public school children. Seven college students worked as paid interns in the CBO�s New York City Public School-based health promotion program located in the Bronx. As part of the program, college students paired with chefs to educate schoolchildren about healthy eating. This study examines the successes, challenges and lessons learned from the themes that arose in the college students� pre and post surveys and logs, faculty journal entries and notes from a debriefing session with CBO staff. The college students reported multiple successes such as applying their nutrition knowledge, an interest in working in their community and positive changes in some of the schoolchildren�s and college students� eating behaviors. Challenges included a short and chaotic lunch period, which discouraged healthy eating, and a lack of buy-in from the school staff and parents. This study highlights the issue of cultural relatability and the effectiveness of role models originating in the community. When this factor is taken into account, crosssector partnerships, which develop programming to expose individuals to healthy, affordable food, may have a long-term impact on the participants and the community in which they live

Engaging Health Care Employers to Develop an AS in Health Sciences Degree With Stackable Credentials

Many pre-clinical nursing students at Bronx Community College (BCC) of the City University of New York fail to sustain momentum, resulting in derailed or prolonged paths to graduation. To help increase students’ chances of graduating, and finding careers within the health professions, BCC is developing a new Associate of Science (AS) in Health Sciences with embedded “stackable” certifications. This paper will describe how faculty hosted a round table discussion with employers to obtain information regarding growing health sectors and needed skills, the salient themes that arose from the event, and how these findings are being used to create the degree’s curriculum

Promoting Faculty Scholarship – An evaluation of a program for busy clinician-educators

Background: Clinician educators face barriers to scholarship including lack of time, insufficient skills, and access to mentoring. An urban department of family medicine implemented a federally funded Scholars Program to increase the participants’ perceived confidence, knowledge and skills to conduct educational research.Method: A part-time faculty development model provided modest protected time for one year to busy clinician educators. Scholars focused on designing, implementing, and writing about a scholarly project. Scholars participated in skill seminars, cohort and individual meetings, an educational poster fair and an annual writing retreat with consultation from a visiting professor. We assessed the increases in the quantity and quality of peer reviewed education scholarship. Data included pre- and post-program self-assessed research skills and confidence and semi-structured interviews. Further, data were collected longitudinally through a survey conducted three years after program participation to assess continued involvement in educational scholarship, academic presentations and publications.Results: Ten scholars completed the program. Scholars reported that protected time, coaching by a coordinator, peer mentoring, engagement of project leaders, and involvement of a visiting professor increased confidence and ability to apply research skills. Participation resulted in academic presentations and publications and new educational leadership positions for several of the participants.Conclusions: A faculty scholars program emphasizing multi-level mentoring and focused protected time can result in increased confidence, skills and scholarly outcomes at modest cost

Promoting Faculty Scholarship – An evaluation of a program for busy clinician-educators

Background Clinician educators face barriers to scholarship including lack of time, insufficient skills, and access to mentoring. An urban department of family medicine implemented a federally funded Scholars Program to increase the participants’ perceived confidence, knowledge and skills to conduct educational research. Method A part-time faculty development model provided modest protected time for one year to busy clinician educators. Scholars focused on designing, implementing, and writing about a scholarly project. Scholars participated in skill seminars, cohort and individual meetings, an educational poster fair and an annual writing retreat with consultation from a visiting professor. We assessed the increases in the quantity and quality of peer reviewed education scholarship. Data included pre- and post-program self-assessed research skills and confidence and semi-structured interviews. Further, data were collected longitudinally through a survey conducted three years after program participation to assess continued involvement in educational scholarship, academic presentations and publications. Results Ten scholars completed the program. Scholars reported that protected time, coaching by a coordinator, peer mentoring, engagement of project leaders, and involvement of a visiting professor increased confidence and ability to apply research skills. Participation resulted in academic presentations and publications and new educational leadership positions for several of the participants. Conclusions A faculty scholars program emphasizing multi-level mentoring and focused protected time can result in increased confidence, skills and scholarly outcomes at modest cost