Interprofessional Collaboration:
Exploring Universality and Diversity in Promoting Health

Summer 2010: June 28 to July 23 (tentative dates)

Program Location

Pura Vida! Costa Ricans often use this expression in their greetings and farewells. Pura Vida conveys Costa Rica values of living a full life, enjoying community, and celebrating caring relationships. Costa Rica is a strikingly beautiful country where you can zip-line through the rain forest, stand on the rim of an active volcano, and relax on the beach all in one day.

Academic Program

The purpose of this 4-credit dual-level course (undergraduate and graduate) is to integrate knowledge of individual, family, and community health needs in the context of interprofessional project-based learning. This innovative and intensive course will provide students an opportunity to compare United States and Costa Rican cultural beliefs, government policies, and service delivery systems (for example, the types of hospital, school, or clinic services available) for supporting individual, family, and community health needs. Project-based learning is a central component of this course. Project-based learning is "a comprehensive instructional approach to engage students in sustained, cooperative investigation". In this method, students learn and develop interprofessional and discipline-specific knowledge, skills, and competencies through active participation in organized service that is conducted in and meets the needs of community needs.

Instructional methods include team field work, guided tours, lectures, self-reflection, and the development of a project that is responsive to community.

Tentative course offerings:
HHS 490/HHS 590: Exploring Universality and Diversity in Promoting Health, 4 credits

Accommodations

Students will reside with host families in San Jose, Costa Rica. Meals and transportation to field/clinical sites will be provided.

Program Costs

For the current projected costs for this program, please click on the following link to the Fees for JMU Study Abroad Programs page.

Application

For more detailed instructions and to download the application, please click on the following link to the Applications and Forms section for JMU Short-Term Programs.

In addition to the Short-term Application, interested students must submit an essay describing their academic and personal goals. A personal interview will also be required. Students should have:

• demonstrated an interest in individual, family, and community health issues,
• completed the equivalent of two semesters of college-level Spanish (preferred).

Priority enrollment will be given to students who have completed 12 credit hours of coursework in their professional major (for undergraduate students) or who are enrolled in a post-graduate program of study (for graduate students).

For More Information

For additional information about this program, please contact the program directors:

Dr. Anne Stewart
Professor
Department of Graduate Psychology
Tel.: 540-568-6601
E-mail: stewaral@jmu.edu

Dr. Merle Mast
Professor and R.N.
Department of Nursing
Tel.: 540-568-6314
E-mail: mastme@jmu.edu