Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH)
Grant Status: Completed
Training Category: Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) Program
Project Director(s):
Tina Simpson, MD, MPH
University of Alabama at Birmingham
1600 7th Avenue South, CPPI-310
Birmingham, AL 35233-1711
Phone: (205) 939-9345
Email: tsimpson@peds.uab.edu
Problem:
Today's adolescents struggle with a wide range of health care needs related to a variety of social, economic, and environmental factors. For youth with disabilities, these problems are compounded. Adolescents in the southeastern (SE) US are particularly plagued by these health concerns. When a teen is poor, minority, rural, lower educated and uninsured, health outcomes are worse. The SE region remains the poorest region in the US, and teens in the South have higher rates of obesity, adverse reproductive health outcomes, and unmet mental health care needs. A need exists for leaders to be trained, in the South, to address these significant health disparities.
Goals and Objectives:
Goal 1:Train health professionals, at the graduate and post graduate levels in the 5 core adolescent health disciplines as well as MCH pipeline students to become MCH leaders in the field of adolescent health, through an interdisciplinary, theoryinformed approach; Goal 2: Develop and implement continuing education programs for health professionals in the region and nation as well as providing consultation and technical assistance; Goal 3: Develop, provide and/or enhance exemplary, interdisciplinary, comprehensive clinical care services in environments that are adolescent-centered, community-based, culturally and linguistically competent; Goal 4: Provide for the conduct of collaborative research and policy development by faculty and trainees.
Methodology:
The UAB LEAH curriculum incorporates biological, developmental, mental health, social, economic and environmental issues that foster development of leadership attributes in trainees and fellows while improving services for adolescents. The curriculum utilizes the Life Course Framework of building on protective factors and critical periods of life. Faculty and trainees/fellows develop, implement, and evaluate an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) designed to meet learning objectives and program goals.
Coordination:
Alabama MCH Network, State Title V agencies, Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center
Evaluation:
The evaluation uses both process and project outcome measures to evaluate and track the project goals and objectives across all program components including progress on PM and quality of care. CE and TA are evaluated by participants, with advisory boards feedback. Trainees assessed at 2, 5, 10 years after training to document leadership experience.