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Dragonfly
Summer 2003 -- Volume 34, Number 3 |
by Brendan L. Ashby, MPH, CHES, Program Director
Area Health Education Center (AHEC) of Southwest Oregon
This project was to provide high school youth and educators with a regional health career and medical issues information repository using the Internet and online resources.
Engaging youth in health careers discovery is critical for the future of health care. Fortunately, on-site opportunities exist where youth can meet health care professionals and learn about prospects in health care. However, for several youth in our region, access barriers presented themselves in the form of cost, transportation, and time restrictions. An average of 22.3% of children in our region live below the poverty level as compared to 16.3% for the rest of the state. Three counties in our region (Coos, Curry, and Josephine) have child poverty levels exceeding 22.3% (US Census Bureau 2000). Initial research from a 2001 Oregon Progress Board study, demonstrated that 63% of homes in Oregon had Internet access. A need assessment with our regional partners resulted in the concept of utilizing the Internet and our online presence as an appropriate method to connect with youth that were not being served by traditional approaches. Specifically, Cyber Health Camp sought to assist students from disadvantaged backgrounds with opportunities to develop skills and access information necessary to become health professionals. Cyber Health Camp seeks to do this by responding to the identified need for the development of comprehensive, culturally appropriate Internet educational resources for students and educators.
Through the culmination of multiple collaborative relationships including partners from high schools, universities, hospitals, and other community based organizations, the AHEC sought to accomplish training, marketing, development of online resources, and evaluation.
The AHEC conducted twenty-two outreach sessions for 364
participants in five counties. Half of the sessions involved had
more than fifty percent minority student populations. The
majority of the training took place at high schools and at Oregon
Health & Science University. Marketing the online site was
critical and the AHEC made every effort to highlight this program
throughout southwest Oregon. Through marketing, the AHEC was able
to display this project to over 522 individuals. All contacts
were very curious and most expressed enthusiasm about the
project.
The actual web site development created the greatest challenge
since there exists an unlimited number of quality resources to
filter for appropriate content and relevance to the AHEC Cyber
Health Camp. In addition, identifying superior and reliable web
designers was a constant effort.
Evaluation consisted of administering pre- and post-surveys to students and soliciting student feedback on all aspects of the web site development. Student volunteers worked with AHEC staff to identify resources and share opinions on the program. After accessing the AHEC informational session on Health Information on the Internet, more than 30% of the outreach students were able to identify appropriate online health information resources. More than one-third of the students rated the Internet as an essential resource when searching for health information. More than one-third of the students were able to identify appropriate evidence-based literature web sites. At least one third of the students were able to identify the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINEplus and PubMed as appropriate health information web sites.
The AHEC is currently planning on program expansion as the budget allows and is working with our board and community partners to deepen and strengthen the program for continued access by student populations. Through the collection of qualitative and quantitative results, the AHEC has surmised that the overall perception of the Cyber Health Camp and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) is very positive.
NLM provided the AHEC with a wonderful learning opportunity to explore the means to increase the utilization of online health related resources for diverse student populations in rural areas. To access the Cyber Health Camp go to: http://www.healthyoregon.com/cybercamp.html and http://12.231.173.93/CareerCamp/. For further information, contract Brendan L. Ashby, MPH, CHES, Program Director bashby@healthyoregon.com.
Other articles in the "Network Members Conclude Outreach Projects" series:
Dragonfly,Summer 2003 - Volume 34 Number 3
(posted on PNRNews on July 22, 2003)
This publication is funded in whole with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, under Contract No. N01-LM-1-3516.
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NN/LM | UW HSL | NN/LM PNR | Contact us: nnlm@u.washington.edu | Revised: July 21, 2003