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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Community Change in Public Health by Johns Hopkins University

4.7
stars
166 ratings

About the Course

In bringing about behavior change in public health, we often focus on the individual mother, student, or farmer. We should not forget the community structure and norms constrain for encouraging individual health behaviors. This course examines the community context of the changes needed to promote the public’s health. We begin by examining the various definitions of ‘community’ and the processes by which we ‘diagnose’ or seek to understand the structure and characteristics of different types of communities. An appreciation of community similarities and differences is necessary lest we fall into the trap of designing one-size-fits-all interventions. We need to recognize that no matter that outsiders may view a community as poor or neglected, we can find strengths and capacities for improvement in each community. Identifying community capacities and resources is the first step in facilitating community change. Different practical and philosophical approaches to change and therefore, examined. Specific to the change process is our recognition of the need for communities to participate in the design, implementation and evaluation of any intervention. We examine the concept of participation in an effort to see how different levels of involvement may affect sustainability of community change efforts. Finally a case study of a community participatory approach to onchocerciasis control in Africa is presented. Community Directed Intervention has subsequently been successfully applied to providing other essential primary health care services by and in the community, such as insecticide treated bednets, malaria treatment, vitamin A distribution, deworming medicines, and pneumonia and diarrhea case management....

Top reviews

AA

Feb 20, 2017

It was a very insightful course as it showed us how community change is effected in developing countries. The case studies were practical and showed the change that occurs in reality, not just theory

MH

Feb 11, 2019

Very informative and give me the chance to have a new perspective regarding the essential role of community participation in improving and sustaining the health care system.

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1 - 25 of 38 Reviews for Community Change in Public Health

By Okediji I O

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Sep 26, 2020

I was able to have several perspective on community health and I saw a vision that there is hope for Africa.

By Mundih N N

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May 15, 2020

This was an intriguing and though-provoking course. I really enjoyed it and learnt a lot from it. I absolutely recommend it to anyone with interest in public health.

By Scherine C

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Feb 27, 2018

You will likely find this course to be very useful and that it requires a lot of effort on your part to show that you've in fact gained knowledge & the right understanding. It encompasses video lectures, extensive reading material, MCQs, scenario reviews, essays, and a gateway to sharing/discussing content with other students & mentors which should enhance your experience. I highly recommend it.

By Maung M K

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Sep 26, 2018

The theories were well delivered along with example cases and the best part is the assignment and peer review which can help the course the taker to learn much more ideas from peer as well as getting feedback from them. If you are interested in making changes for the better future, I believe this one is for you. The assignments may be challenging but worth taking.

By Sara P

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Oct 17, 2016

The course is extremely comprehensive in regards to coverage of the subject matter and the professor employs a certain mixture of academic as well as practical knowledge, which is second to none. The material is quite approachable for a range of students who may have little or extensive experience with public health/community change models of healthcare.

By Akshita R

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Jul 15, 2020

Definitely learned a lot about communities and how to bring about a transformation by means of community activities, what are the necessary models, tools, and approaches. Totally worth all the time and energy. The case studies are really good. A very helpful course for those interested in policy and market strategy.

By Shirley O N

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Nov 4, 2017

Great course worth recommending to others. I am a community development advocate. i have gained much insight from this course which leaves me more than motivated to keep working with communities for communities. it was never a mistake enrolling for this course. great thanks course instructor.

By Denita B U

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Jul 23, 2019

Great course, very applicable for me. The materials provided theories as well as real-life practice. The case study assignments also allow students to think critically and integrate theories and knowledge from each lectures.

By Tommy G

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Jun 11, 2019

This course is excellent! It provides information on the different measures which can be used to improve healthcare systems, also provides real life examples on the subject and the teachers are awesome people!

By Adetoyeke A

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Feb 21, 2017

It was a very insightful course as it showed us how community change is effected in developing countries. The case studies were practical and showed the change that occurs in reality, not just theory

By Mohammed S M H

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Feb 12, 2019

Very informative and give me the chance to have a new perspective regarding the essential role of community participation in improving and sustaining the health care system.

By Sanghamitra B

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Jun 16, 2020

This course is worth the time and effort. The modules have been well designed and highly enriching.

By Yasmin S

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Jun 30, 2019

Good course, but apparently not enough students to complete the peer review in a timely manner.

By Niaoné M

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Nov 23, 2017

This is MUST take course for any public health professional no matter your leadership position

By Ayobami O

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Jul 4, 2019

The course is very relevant to my responsibilities. Highly educative and interesting course

By JAMES B A

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Oct 8, 2018

Very nice course. Many thanks to the team who put the course together and the lecturers too

By Monika M

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Dec 26, 2016

An excellent learning program..a great opportunity to gain knowledge..

By Morah G

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Dec 7, 2016

Great Course with in-depth lectures

By Msema B

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Oct 13, 2016

the course was informative to me

By Elkan R

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Jul 6, 2020

Really great and enjoyable

By Ronei C

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Apr 3, 2019

muito bom!

By prashant s

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Feb 27, 2019

good

By Yurii Z

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May 12, 2019

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By Aurore V

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Oct 12, 2016

Very useful course for those who work in the field and want to better structure their public health activities. Plan for more time than what is written if you really want to benefit from the case study homeworks, especially if you're a non-native (even good level) English speaker, but this should not stop you from taking the course: the topic is very well addressed and the examples tremendously relevant, not to say inspiring J!

By Katherine G

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Apr 27, 2018

If you like learning labels and definitions, this is a great course. If you want to learn about how to create community change, skip it.

The course focuses on defining communities and types of change, which it does very well. However, be aware that it does not cover how to create this change, except with the most cursory of references. I found the assessments (which require you to define various parts of a community and change processes) monotonous, especially as you must complete the same assessment questions twice. Neither myself nor anyone I peer-graded agreed with the course creators on which labels to use for the case studies, so I wonder how useful they are as learning points.

Finally, I was disappointed that the course focuses on a handful of stereotypical communities and change programs (e.g. HIV, malaria, and clean water in Africa). It is difficult to relate the material to other community contexts, such as Western or developed ones.