Health Promotion: Program Planning for the Interdisciplinary Team: Working Backward to Move Forward

The impetus for this textbook and corresponding workbook comes from the authors’ work in higher education teaching separate community health courses to dental hygiene and health promotion students. Public health is at the core of what both professions do. In fact, dental hygiene, as a profession, was started in a public setting – the school system. Of course, health promotion or health education specialists are at the forefront of public health efforts. Both professions emphasize prevention of disease and disability, have equity and inclusion as guiding principles, and educate populations on the importance of wellness. 

In 2016, the authors’ combined dental hygiene and health promotion students so that the year-long sequence of courses could be taught from an interdisciplinary perspective providing students with the opportunity to learn with and from one another. Students worked together and assessed priority populations, designed and implemented health promotion programs, and evaluated and shared those outcomes with stakeholders.

One of the major features of these courses is the Service Learning Portfolio, which is the inspiration for the workbook. The text moves students through the background of health promotion and education, to the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of health promotion programs. Each section of the text has associated workbook pages to support application of the material and guide students in the process of health promotion program planning