Abstract
Health workforce development is a public health priority for the World Health Organization. Public Health training programs need to be relevant in a public health perspective and efficient in and educational perspective. This implies evaluating the programs: in this regard student’s perception might be interesting, or the opinion of external experts, or the experience of alumni. To study the perception of alumni of a master’s program in public health in order to reevaluate the goals and objectives of the program, a cross-sectional survey through a self-administered questionnaire among former students that graduated from the Geneva University Master in Public Health program was done. This self-administered questionnaire included closed questions on a Likert five-point scale for regarding the use at work of tools acquired during the course, as well as open questions. Overall the alumni gave a positive evaluation of the course. As strong points were mentioned: networking opportunities, student-centered approach and multi-professional background of the student body. More critically judged were: tutorship, time constraints and costs. As most useful tools in their professional settings alumni mentioned: communication skills, project evaluation competencies and literature search strategies and again networking which in this case seemed to be quite active. Evaluation surveys among alumni allow reevaluation of the program’s goals and objectives in the light of their professional needs.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
WHO. World health report 2006. Working together for health http://www.who.int/whr/2006/en/index.html. Accessed on June 2, 2012.
Pruitt, S., & Epping-Jordan, J. (2005). Preparing the 21st century global healthcare workforce. BMJ, 330, 637. doi:10.1136.
Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Who will keep the public healthy: Educating public health professionals for the 21st century. http://www.iom.edu/report.asp?id=4307. Accessed on April 24, 2012.
HRSA Bureau of Health professions. Public Health Workforce Study 2005.
Council on Linkages between Academia and Public Health Practice. Core Competencies for public health professionals. http://www.phf.org/link/Core-Competencies-for-Public-Health-Professionals-adopted-061109.pdf. Accessed on April 28, 2011.
Guilbert J. J. (1992). Educational handbook for health personnel. WHO (6th ed). WHO offset Publication no. 35, revised and updated, Geneva, p. 335.
Chastonay, P., Brenner, E., Peel, S., & Guilbert, J. J. (1996). The need for more efficacy in medical education. Medical Education, 30, 235–238.
World Federation for Medical Education. (1993). Proceedings of the world summit on medical education. Medical Education, 28(Supplement 1), 140–149.
McNamara C. Basic guide to program evaluation (including outcomes evaluation). http://managementhelp.org/evaluation/program-evaluation-guide.htm. Accessed on June 12, 2012.
Edgar, T., & Hyde, J. N. (2005). An alumni-based evaluation of graduate training in health communication: Results of a survey on careers, salaries, competencies and emerging trends. Journal of Health Communication, 10, 5–25.
Chastonay, P., Guilbert, J. J., & Rougemont, A. (1992). Les besoins institutionnels en matière de santé publique: une enquête dans trois cantons romands et au Tessin. Cahiers Médico-Sociaux, 36, 45–53.
Knowles, M. S. (1990). The adult learner. A neglected species (4th ed., p. 293). Houston: Gulf Publishing.
Chastonay, P., Durieux-Paillard, S., Guilbert, J. J., Brenner, E., & Rougemont, A. (1994). A learner-centred curriculum in public health at the University of Geneva. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 6, 75–85.
Survey Monkey: http://www.paperblog.fr/690658/survey-monkey-creer-des-questionnaires-en-ligne/. Accessed on May 29, 2012.
StataCorp. Stata 10. 25-7-2007.
Bland, J. M., & Altman, D. G. (1997). Cronbach’s alpha. BMJ, 314, 572.
Luke, D. A., & Harris, J. K. (2007). Network analysis in public health: History, methods and applications. Annual Review of Public Health, 28, 69–93.
Delaney, A. M. (1997). Quality assessment of professional degree programs. Research in Higher Education, 38, 241–264.
Abrahamson, S. (1978). Diseases of the curriculum. Journal of Medical Education, 53, 951–957.
Leischow, S. J., & Milstein, B. (2006). Systems thinking and modeling for public health practice. American Journal of Public Health, 96, 403–405.
Semenza, J. C., Apfel, F., Rose, T., & Giesecke, J. (2008). A network strategy to advance public health in Europe. European Journal of Public Health, 18, 441–447.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jeannot, E., Stoll, B. & Chastonay, P. Alumni Evaluation of a Community-Oriented Master of Public Health Program. J Community Health 38, 357–359 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-012-9624-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-012-9624-2