Structural Competency: Curriculum for Medical Students, Residents, and Interprofessional Teams on the Structural...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Public Health
• Health Equity

Background:

• Health disparities are driven by social, economic, and political factors.
• Medical training has unevenly incorporated the impact of structural forces on health.
• Structural competency provides a framework for health professionals to address these upstream factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of a brief, interprofessional structural competency curriculum.
• To assess how the curriculum influences health professionals' understanding and practice.
• To identify key themes from participant feedback on the curriculum.

Main Methods:

• A brief, interprofessional structural competency curriculum was implemented 32 times (2015-2017).
• Open-ended, written-response surveys were used for qualitative evaluation.
• Directed thematic analysis was applied to qualitative data from 15 curriculum iterations.

Main Results:

• Participants valued the curriculum's focus on applying structural competency in clinical, community, and policy settings.
• Clinically experienced participants reported reframing their perspectives on patients.
• Participants felt reconnected to their initial motivations for pursuing health professions.

Conclusions:

• The structural competency curriculum addresses a gap in health professional education.
• It equips learners to understand and respond to structural determinants of health.
• This training can improve patient and community health outcomes.