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Learner-Centered Teaching To Educate College Students About Rural Health Disparities, Anuli Njoku

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

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 …