The Development of a Team-Based, Hybrid Inter-university Graduate Certificate Program Focused on Maternal Child...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Maternal and Child Health
• Health Disparities

Background:

• Healthy People 2030 prioritizes maternal and child health (MCH).
• New Mexico faces challenges in MCH healthcare access due to its rural/frontier geography.
• A need for MCH education in New Mexico led to a graduate certificate program.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a graduate certificate program in maternal and child public health.
• To provide accessible MCH education to professionals in resource-poor settings.
• To address MCH issues in diverse rural, tribal, and underserved communities.

Main Methods:

• A hybrid graduate certificate program utilized a public health approach.
• Grant funding covered tuition, books, and travel for students.
• Two cohorts were recruited, educated, and evaluated over four years.

Main Results:

• All students demonstrated increased competency knowledge scores.
• The program successfully delivered graduate-level public health education.
• Evaluations indicated enhanced knowledge and skills among MCH practitioners.

Conclusions:

• The MCH graduate certificate program effectively increased practitioner knowledge and skills.
• A flexible educational model, responsive to community needs, improved MCH outcomes.
• The program provided tools to reduce health disparities in rural and underserved populations.