. Pari Moradi; . Athar Omid; . Nikoo Yamani
Volume 10, Issue 11 , November 2020, , Pages 1-7
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: After graduation, public health students should be able to work as health caregivers providing first‑level health care services. Therefore, the educational objectives ...
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INTRODUCTION: After graduation, public health students should be able to work as health caregivers providing first‑level health care services. Therefore, the educational objectives of public healthbachelor’s programs should ensure that they acquire the capabilities necessary for this purpose.This study identified the educational objectives that are essential for these students and comparedthem with the current curriculum in Isfahan, Iran.METHODS: This needs assessment study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, theessential educational objectives were identified using a qualitative approach, which involved eightfocus group discussions held by a group consisting of experts of the public health headquarters andpublic health network administration offices of Isfahan province and the public health graduatesworking in the province’s comprehensive health service centers, who were chosen using the purposivesampling method (n = 59). In the second phase, a comparative study was performed by turning thelist of essential educational objectives into a checklist and using it to compare these objectives withthe objectives in the current course plan in the examined curriculum. In the end, a list of educationalobjectives not included in the current curriculum of the public health bachelor’s program was created.RESULTS: The focus group discussions produced 433 educational objectives in the cognitivedomain, 79 objectives in the affective domain, and 179 objectives in the psychomotor domain, whichwere arranged in eight competency categories. Comparison of the essential educational objectiveswith the current curriculum showed that the current curriculum does not cover any of the essentialobjectives regarding care for the age groups of 18–29 and 30–59 and the first aid and only partiallycovers essential objectives in other competency categories.CONCLUSION: This study found that considering the requirements of first‑level health servicesand the tasks expected from public health graduates to be providing these services, the currentcurriculum does not cover all essential learning objectives and should be revised to meet additionalessential educational objectives.
