Pedagogy to Guide the Next 70 Years of SOPHE and 150 Years of American Public Health

This is an anniversary season for the Society for Public Health Education (founded as the Society for Public Health Educators in 1950 and incorporated as SOPHE 70 years ago in 1952) and the American Public Health Association (APHA, founded 150 years ago). Both organizations play major leadership roles in promoting the health of communities and populations and in cultivating the development of professionals to carry out this purpose. An agenda for educating the next generation of public health professionals is suggested in the Public Health 3.0 initiative (DeSalvo et al., 2017). Developed to address contemporary health issues, Public Health 3.0 explicitly prioritizes health equity and social determinants of health as the means to promoting population health. Cross-sector collaboration, community engagement, and partnerships are key strategies for achieving public health goals. Producing meaningful and accessible data to support public health action is also an important priority. Training the public health workforce to develop the capacity to address social determinants and drive social change is essential for implementing Public Health 3.0 (DeSalvo et al., 2017). SOPHE’s strategic commitments and priorities complement the Public Health 3.0 agenda, and also chart the direction for health promotion pedagogy. Key SOPHE strategies to date include promoting efforts to achieve health equity, supporting professional development, and stimulating research on the theory, practice and teaching of health promotion (Alber et al., 2020). Reflecting on these accomplishments upon the organization’s 70th anniversary, SOPHE leadership recognized the need for the association and the entire field of health education to evolve to be able to address health promotion issues presented by such challenges as changing demographic trends, social determinants of health, expansion of digital technology, and globalization of health (Alber et al., 2020).

The current issue of Pedagogy in Health Promotion presents a collection of papers focused on innovative educational frameworks and practices addressing many of the Public Health 3.0 and SOPHE recommendations for dealing with contemporary and future public health priorities and challenges. We open the issue with four papers that help frame the big-picture focus for teaching and learning. These articles are all concerned with helping students understand and confront health inequities. James et al. (2022) make the important point that health promotion pedagogy based on a Philosophically Grounded Practice perspective provides a far-reaching foundation and context for students to critically examine health and social conditions, and is needed to undergird and shape development of professional competencies and skills. Studying public health history can be an important means to understanding origins and drivers of racism and social determinants of health, as well as potential intervention approaches (Talley et al., 2022). Demographic changes call for a diverse public health workforce capable of practicing among a diversity of communities. Mentoring is a critical element of supporting diverse student bodies in professional preparation programs. Samari et al. (2022) conducted a scoping review of mentorship programs in public health schools and programs, and used the findings to develop a model curriculum called Mentoring of Students and Igniting Community (MOSAIC), focused on increasing equity and educational justice. Luquis et al. (2022) report findings from their survey of accredited public health, health education, and health promotion programs regarding coverage of cultural and linguistic competence in curricula. The authors note that most programs have made progress in including various facets of diversity but further attention is needed, particularly in the areas of linguistic competency, faculty training, and faculty diversity.

The following group of papers describes innovative approaches to educating the next generation of the public health workforce. The educational programs and curricula described emphasize comprehensive, integrated, and systems approaches along with partner collaboration and the use of digital pedagogy. Systems Approaches to Healthy Communities is a web-based program for training public health and health promotion practitioners to develop comprehensive initiatives focused on policy, systems, and environmental change, and to work with local partners to promote community health (Bohen et al., 2022). Carroll et al. (2022) describe the Transdisciplinary Education and Community Health Collaboratory (TEaCH CoLab), a global teaching co-op established by health promotion and humanities faculties at three universities. The program promotes use of digital technology to enhance global learning and problem-solving among future community and public health practitioners. Hands-on integrated workshops, incorporating the perspectives of multiple disciplines, sectors, and stakeholders, are used to train public health students to synthesize and apply knowledge in order to solve public health problems in real-time (Sibbald et al., 2022). The need to convert to online education during the COVID pandemic provided the opportunity for one school to redevelop its MPH introductory biostatistics course into an asynchronous data analysis course employing problem-based learning, helping students develop holistic approaches to using data for public health decision making (Ellis, 2022).

The final three papers in this issue address some of the workforce development goals for Public Health 3.0 and SOPHE. They present informative snapshots of the state of training among public health schools and programs regarding important professional competencies. Managing projects is a fundamental skill expected of public health graduates by employers, yet, as found in a survey conducted by Haynes et al. (2022), 75% of responding public health schools and programs did not offer applied project management training. While public health and health education students receive training in evaluation methods, a study based on a convenience sample of public health practitioners conducted by Hemingway et al. (2022) found a disconnect between academic preparation and community-based practice. Approaches such as empowerment evaluation, transformative evaluation, or culturally responsive evaluation were rarely discussed by interviewees, even though program evaluation was often a part of their efforts to promote social justice and health equity. Pedagogical training for public health doctoral students is essential in light of current and future teaching responsibilities. A study of public health doctoral programs in the social and behavioral sciences by Reisinger Walker et al. (2022) found that just over half offered a pedagogy course in their curriculum. The authors identify a number of important facilitators and barriers to providing doctoral students with formal training in pedagogy.

As we embark on the next 70 years of SOPHE and 150 years of APHA, the collection of papers in this issue of Pedagogy in Health Promotion demonstrates that professional education in public health and health promotion is evolving to meet new challenges, priorities, and paradigms, although several important areas require further attention. Many educators in our field are creating innovative curricula and programs focused on providing public health and health promotion professionals with the frameworks and tools needed to address complex, real-world health issues based on values of equity and social justice. I encourage our readers to disseminate, reflect on, and adapt the rich offerings found in this journal, and to share your contributions to advancing pedagogy in health promotion in the 21st century.