University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Problem:

MCH programs in the 21st Century will have to address the unfinished agendas of the MCH field, as well as be prepared to undertake new challenges. New skills, embedded in a rich knowledge base, will be needed to strengthen our best efforts to improve the lives of women, children, and families.

Goals and Objectives:

Goal 1: Refine and continue our Master's and Doctoral programs for training interdisciplinary public health professionals for leadership in MCH through exposure to MCH competencies. Objective 1: Develop and enhance departmental resources by adding at least two tenure track faculty, at least two clinical or research faculty, and at least five adjunct faculty during the next four years. Objective 2: Admit approximately 50 new students, enrolling approximately 35 (30 Master's students, 5 Doctoral students) per academic year. Objective 3: Continue/refine our MPH, MSPH, PhD and DrPH programs during the five-year training cycle. Goal 2: Advance the evidence base for MCH practice through research and the dissemination and translation of new knowledge. Objective 1: Obtain at least $8 million per year in research funding and cover at least 50% of faculty salary through contracts and grants. Objective 2: Publish at least 30 scientific publications per year, at least 50% of them in peer-reviewed journals. Objective 3: Give at least 30 presentations at scientific meetings per year. Goal 3: Provide technical assistance, professional consultation, and continuing education in North Carolina, in Region IV, and the U.S. with strong student involvement. Objective 1: Provide at least 2,500 hours per year of professional consultation and technical assistance to MCH agencies. Objective 2: Facilitate and supervise at least 95% of student field placement projects per year in state and local Title V and/or other agencies that serve the MCH population. Objective 3: Provide a minimum of 10 FTE's per year of continuing education through the Department and MCH faculty, including training 50 child health care consultants annually. Goal 4: Develop mechanisms to more systematically integrate family participation, family centered practice, and the principles of cultural competency into Department teaching, practice and research. Objective 1: Work with the UNC MCH Leadership Training Consortium to define individual project and consortium-wide objectives and activities relative to MCHB National Performance Measures #07 and #11. Objective 2: Include cultural competence as a core value in our Department mission statement and develop a written departmental cultural competence plan by Spring 2006. Objective 3: Complete MCH recruitment of a qualified applicant for the Carolina Post Doctoral Program for Faculty Diversity by Spring 2005. Goal 5: Enhance our capacity for assessment and quality improvement in achieving MCH training objectives through benchmarks, increased efficiency in collecting data, and participatory progress monitoring. Objective 1: Complete benchmarks in excellence in teaching, practice and research by August 2005, consistent with 2005 through 2009 MCH training grant outcomes. Objective 2: Establish a shared advisory structure for all five UNC MCH Leadership Training Programs to be designed by the UNC Consortium and convened by Winter 2005. Objective 3: Develop a formal process for periodically surveying SPH MCH trainees post graduation (that build on the MCH exit interview) and implement by Spring 2006.

Methodology:

The MCH Department Master's and Doctoral curricula are designed to achieve the MCHPH training program's goals and objectives. The Department of MCH offers four graduate degrees, the MPH, the MSPH, PhD, DrPH. The Department takes pride in being one of the most culturally diverse departments in the SPH, a characteristic also reflected in the curriculum. Our Department will continue to serve the field through professional consultation and technical assistance; activities highly valued by tTitle V in the State, region, and nationally, as well as by our faculty and students. We will conduct needs assessments for training, continuing education (CE), and other assistance with states and local communities and provide CE responsive to the needs identified. With all our objectives, the MCH Department relies on it's core of competent faculty that has extensive professional ties to MCH organizations and varied research and service activities that enable us to advance our objective related to improving the practice of MCH. Over and above current efforts to develop and refine a training program that promotes family-centered and culturally competent practice, we will explore how to even further institutionalize and reflect this commitment on an organiational level.

Coordination:

UNC's MCH program has the active support of NC DHHS and the State Title V/CSHCN Program. Established relationships with a rich network of state/local MCH agencies assures coordination and links our training and educational programs with current MCH practice. Work with the UNC MCH Consortium promotes an interdisciplinary approach to leadership development and training innovation. Advisory structures, including professionals and parents, further ensure our training program's linkage to practice.

Evaluation:

We will develop benchmarks to assess the degree to which we achieve our departmental objectives for excellence in teaching, research and practice as part of our MCH Department's strategic plan. These will be consistent with those proposed in our MCH training program and will be monitored by the faculty and advisors annually. Activities are planned to improve our capacity to more efficiently and systematically collect and monitor key indicators for our teaching, research and practice programs.

Experience to Date:

During the project period covered in this report several notable accomplishments have been achieved including: increasing the size of the faculty through the addition of one new tenure track and four new research track positions; establishing the new UNC Center for Infant and Young Child Feeding and our Department’s first endowed professorship; redesigning the Core courses for both our MCH Master’s and Doctoral programs, integrating curricula and teaching approaches that support critical thinking and leadership development; collaborating with the UNC MCH Leadership Consortium in launching a new curriculum on cultural competence for our interdisciplinary trainees; and continuing to work closely with our Title V partners in advancing the field through research, teaching and practice.