Women's Health

PREFACE

The Congressional appropriations report for Fiscal Year 1993 requested that the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) examine women’s health in the medical school curriculum. The following year, the appropriations report broadened to include curricula of all the health professions. The first report was released in June 1997, entitled Women’s Health in the Medical School Curriculum: Report of a Survey and Recommendations. This report was then followed by two reports: Women’s Health in the Dental School Curriculum, Report of a Survey and Recommendations and Women’s Health in the Baccalaureate Nursing School Curriculum. In order to continue the work cited in the appropriations, the Association of Schools of Public Health, supported by NIH ORWH; the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Office of Women’s Health (OWH); Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office on Women’s Health (OWH); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Office of Women’s Health (OWH); and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Senior Advisor on Women’s Health, supported the analyses and preparation of a curriculum review study in 2003 of women’s health in the core courses for the Masters of Public Health (MPH) degree at accredited schools of public health (SPH).

The primary recommendation of the project was that MPH core curricula incorporate the following educational components:

• Knowledge of the major sex and gender differences in health and disease across the life span,
particularly in terms of physiological, behavioral, and societal factors that influence health
behaviors and health status among culturally and socio-economically diverse populations;

• Understanding of the similarities and differences between men and women concerning
interaction and communication with the health care system, and the impact of multiple social
roles and life cycle events on shared health care decision making for self and family; and

• Knowledge of the historical and contemporary social and cultural determinants of health and
wellness across the life span, particularly with respect to sex and gender roles.

Study participants agreed that women’s health should be included in public health education through incorporation of content specific to the health of women but also to include sex and gender differences in health problems and health behavior across the life span. By providing students at SPH with training that is relevant to sex and gender differences, and that also is appropriate to the different life stages, students will further increase the use of preventive services and reduce health disparities as they venture into the public health field. We are grateful for the dedicated assistance to this effort from ASPH to continue the work of previous curricular reports addressing women’s health in the health professions training. Without ASPH’s efforts, this report would not have been possible.

This document contains important information regarding “what should be taught” and “what is taught” in the MPH curriculum. We hope public health education institutions will use this information to develop curricula to improve the health of women and men across their life span.