Effects of Interdisciplinary Training on MCH Professionals, Organizations and Systems
Project Number: R40 MC 08558-02 Project Date: 9/1/2007 Grantee: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department/Center: Maternal and Child Health
Final Report
Pending
Principal Investigator
Lewis Margolis MD, MPH, Associate Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Maternal and Child Health, 404 Rosenau Hall, CB# 7448 S. Columbia Street Chapel Hill, NC 27599 lew_margolis@unc.edu
Abstract
Interdisciplinary practice is a collaborative approach among professionals, consumers, and community partners, applied in the organization and delivery of health and human services, training, policy, and research. Interdisciplinary practice is essential in the field of maternal and child health given the complex issues and needs of this diverse population that require the synergy created by multiple disciplines acting in concert toward a common goal. This approach includes: (1) a supportive environment which values and utilizes the skills and expertise of collaborators to arrive at outcome-driven joint decisions; (2) mutual respect among disciplines; and, (3) shared leadership, incorporating accountability and responsibility for outcomes.
Building on our six years of experience as an interdisciplinary consortium of five MCHB-funded training programs (Public Health, Nutrition, Social Work, Pediatric Dentistry, LEND), the purpose of this research is to examine the effects of interdisciplinary training on three aspects of MCH: (1) six cohorts of MCH professionals from five MCHB-supported training programs at UNC-Chapel Hill; (2) their academic and practice organizations/agencies; and, (3) the systems of care in which they are engaged during and post-training. Specifically, this project will explore three hypotheses:
1. The interdisciplinary planning process and curriculum has enhanced the capacity of participants to engage in interdisciplinary research and practice. Specifically, this project will examine the effects of our planning process and curriculum on the capacity of trainees/fellows and faculty to address core MCH strategic goals. Further, the project will investigate the impact of various components of our curriculum as it has been developed over the past six years.
2. The interdisciplinary planning process and curriculum has enhanced the capacity of the departments, agencies, and organizations that work with our fellows and faculty, while enrolled and after completion of the program to effectively meet the needs of their clients, inclusive of academia and Title V.
3. An interdisciplinary planning process and curriculum will enhance the capacity of participants, either directly or through their organizational work to affect change at the societal/community level through policies, practices and programs.
Using EvaluLead, an open-systems approach to evaluating leadership development, this study will have two major components. Working under the leadership of the Evaluation Director, first, we will engage a large sample of the nearly 200 fellows from five MCHB-funded training programs who have participated in our Interdisciplinary Leadership Curriculum beginning in 2001. Using interviews and web-based surveys, participants and their supervisors and colleagues will reflect on individual, organizational, and systems effects of their interdisciplinary experience. Second, using the same techniques, we will examine the impact of this curriculum on those fellows who will participate in our 2007-08 and 2009-10 cohorts. Both of these components will lead to instruments for possible adoption for the assessment of the effectiveness of other MCH training programs that share the goal of interdisciplinary leadership.
