ADVANCEMENT OF THE PRACTICE
Community-Based Approach
nation and briefing from the lecturer are needed for them to know what is required. Other students echoed this comment for assignments across all modules, noting that assignments were given as just the topic with little guidance on what was required. This need for more explanation is espe- cially true if PBL is new to students and they are unfamiliar with the concepts and categories within the report. • It’s just that some of the assignments we did without understanding what we were supposed to do. I think some they did try to give us a mind map, but it wasn’t clear about what we were supposed to do, so we were confused. (P3) This approach may be an ideal way to achieve long-term learning so that students can remember how to solve environmental health problems in the field. • We do learn the modules and we do grasp the concept of each module, but when we work in the field it’s not like, “Oh, on Tues- day, we learned this and now I’m going to apply it,” whereas if you say I was given this scenario before, I’m familiar with this type of scenario and this is what I did, so I am able to apply it to my work field. (P6) • I think that if lecturers used the problem- based solving method it would be better, because it would help students under- stand the EHP’s scope of practice better. It would help students know how they can face real-world problems and help them develop skills. (P1) Students once again highlighted the dis- connect that exists between the content and the environmental health field. One stu- dent explained that there is a lack of clarity between the scope of practice and the duties of EHPs. • I think when they are teaching, they should also redirect us more to the duties of EHPs more than the scope of practice, because I think the scope of practice is broad. Like we went to abattoir and I thought we are the ones who are supposed to ooad pigs but that is not the case, we only inspect. So, it wasn’t clear. (P3) It can be concluded that PBL oered an array of benefits and was enjoyed by the stu- dents. PBL oers a promising opportunity to academics as a pedagogy that is eective in achieving desired outcomes, particularly in environmental health.
the environmental problem and analyze the situation, considering the social and health implications for community members. This approach also ignited a sense of ownership and passion for the profession. Students developed confidence in seeing the project through to the end. Students were leaders of their own community project—from incep- tion in discussion with communities and local government ocials to providing envi- ronmental education to communities. • I also got to understand being an EHP is more than just a profession. You also have to be able to empathize with the commu- nity and their situations. You have to be there and understand their situation, how they deal with their situation, and how it aects them. (P9) • I think I have learned that if you go into the community, you have to put yourself in their shoes so they know you are listening to them. (P10) Theme 2: Gaining Professional Identity Students engaged with either community members or ocials from local government in completing previous assignments; how- ever, they had not been trained on how to communicate with these individuals before- hand. This lack of training contributed to the low confidence that they reported when communicating with community members or professionals. Further, CBL helped students gain confi- dence when providing environmental educa- tion to communities, which while challeng- ing, helped students to learn. •Based on our group assignment—our problem was on burning pollution—for us to be able to try and explain the risk and problems with pollution to the people in that community, it wasn’t easy, but we tried our best to tell people to reduce burning trash because of the sicknesses associated with pollution. (P6) • For me, I would say what was amazing was me gaining confidence in actually carrying out this project. Like now, I’m the real EHP, that’s how I felt [with] the confidence and the leadership skills. (P2) After completing their 4-year degree, stu- dents embark on community service, dur- ing which they are expected to function as an EHP. Thus, it is imperative that students are trained with the skills that enable them to
Theme 1: Significant Learning Experiences There were several skills that students men- tioned having gained from CBL. Students discussed how time management was a cru- cial skill needed to complete the assignment within the allotted time. Being in their final year of study, coupled with the demand from other modules, time management was key to ensuring that the students completed all their tasks on time. As with any profession, an individual’s time management abilities directly aect their productivity. Furthermore, the ability to communicate well is a skill that EHPs must possess, as their role is to work with community members and other key people. One student (P8) noted gaining experience communicating with other EHPs and members of local government to arrange meetings and source information. • We gained communication skills as well as communicating with dierent people within the community. It was also a challenge because some residents couldn’t really under- stand us, but we managed to get through to them, so we gained communication skills. And we worked with senior EHPs. (P3) EHPs engage with dierent people (e.g., from industry, government, academia, health organizations) in performing duties within the scope of practice and must be able to effectively and confidently communicate with these groups. Eective communication was identified as central to eective team- work in a study that evaluated the eects of multidisciplinary training performance and eciency (Murphy et al., 2016). Students also began to understand that messages to community members need to be tailored to the audience, and the approach taken with community members is not the same as it is with professionals. Health com- munication should be culturally sensitive and align with the norms, values, preferences, and beliefs of the population to enhance the impact and relevance of the message (Grith et al., 2024). Students need to be aware of these core principles of public health. • We had to stop using “science words” so the community members could under- stand us. (P5) Students gained the ability to understand community problems from a holistic point of view. They were able to think beyond
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Volume 87 • Number 9
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