Practicum

Practica permit students to:

Synthesize and integrate one’s area of substantive expertise with competencies in program design, implementation, management, and evaluation; research data collection, analysis, and reporting; and policy analyses and advocacy;
Apply this learning to distinct, coherent practicum projects focusing on sexuality and health; and
Provide host sites with valuable materials, services, analyses, and/or research that relates directly to the ongoing activities and mission of the site, and that meets the defined health care needs of the site’s surrounding community.

HDPFH requires students to spend a minimum of 140 hours engaged in their practica, although more hours or additional work/internships are strongly encouraged. Please see below for a list of possible, established international practica sites.

Within SMS, students devote no less than 280 hours in a planned, supervised, and evaluated practicum. For students who are working full-time in the field of public health, in an area related to sexuality and health, the practicum time requirement is decreased to 140 hours.

For more information:

HDPFH Cohort Capstone Experience Overview

SMS SH Track Practicum Information

International Pracitca Sites:

Ghana Health Service Program

The Ghana Health Service will provide students with opportunities to contribute to strengthened communications related to health systems. Professional staff of the Dodowa Health Research Centre will be coordinating students in this practicum.

In Ghana, students participate in a short of orientation in Dodowa (about one hour away from Accra), with opportunities to visit the various research operations currently underway there. Each student will develop a Scope of Work that may incorporate specifics, such as the delivery of cell phone and text messaging technology to: pregnant women link services to their requests for care; nurses so that they can transmit and receive data; and community health workers to assistant with health education and emergency referral.

International Family AIDS Program in La Romana, Dominican Republic

The International Family Aids Program (IFAP) supports clinical services, research, and education services that focus on improving direct care and treatment for HIV-infected children, mothers and fathers. Possible practica site locations include a regional referral family AIDS clinic (Clínica de Familia MIR), the largest provider of AIDS treatment in the Dominican Republic serving a diverse population of clients including female sex workers, immigrants, and non-HIV positive family members of clients; a major urban public hospital (Hospital Provincial Francisco Gonzalvo); an adolescent prenatal and comprehensive care center; a sugar cane company owned health center (Centro Médico Central Romana), and a rural HIV, primary health care, and health promotion outreach project with migrant Haitian sugar cane workers (Buen Samaritano Hospital and various Bateyes). Past projects have included participation in a newborn HIV seroprevalence study; studying ways to remove obstacles to prenatal HIV counseling and testing; identifying predictors of adherence to complex regimens of anti-retroviral therapy; field testing taste-masking products to improve the palatability of liquid anti-retrovirals for children; and determining HIV knowledge and attitudes.

Ntataise, South Africa NGO Program

Ntataise, meaning “to lead a young child by the hand” in Basotho, is an independent NGO founded in South Africa in 1980 that trains women in disadvantaged rural communities to gain the knowledge and skills needed to establish effective early childhood development (ECD) programmes for young children, including child development, health, nutrition, HIV-AIDS education, management/budget development, and community empowerment.

NGO’s need systems, strategies, and curricula (prenatal-to-3) that are sensitive to the cultural context of rural South Africa, and a vehicle for grassroots community engagement, adult development, organizational capacity building and support, monitoring and evaluation, advocacy, and policy change on local, provincial, and national levels. Students will work with PI’s to: further develop the community-based participatory research/evaluation agenda; collect reliable data and develop storage strategies; conduct 10-day training of trainers, preschool practitioners, parents, and community stakeholders in prenatal-to-3 development, education and care; monitor implementation after training; develop and support local community systems for sustainability and advocacy; conduct evaluation of the project; and develop and produce a community resource guide.

Rakai Health Sciences Program in Uganda

This program provides public health students in the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health opportunities to participate in a comprehensive HIV education, prevention and treatment program in a high-risk setting in Africa. Students spend their time in an assigned department, working an average of 25-30 hours a week, applying skills acquired through their public health training. In cases when students work directly with the target population, they broaden their understanding of cultures and health issues of the population of Rakai and its surroundings. In addition, the student projects contribute to the work of the Rakai Health Sciences Program.

The Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (DR)

This program provides public health and health students of Columbia University with opportunities to gain understandings of the culture, and the social and health factors affecting Latinos on both side of the “Air Bridge” (NYC and Santo Domingo). Columbia students work in an NGO or health facility in Santo Domingo for nine weeks, for an average of 25-30 hours a week. This experience enables students to apply the various skills acquired through their public health training. By working directly with the target population, students broaden their understanding of the lifestyles, culture, and health issues of the population of Santo Domingo and its surroundings. The goal of this collaboration is to prepare the next generation of health professionals to better serve Latinos.