Description:

Youth global health (GH) leaders continue to seek safe and ethical experiences in which they can hone their cultural and advocacy skills. However, despite recent international focus on effective pre-departure training (PDT), debriefing sessions continue to show that ethical and safety concerns are frequent, and that negative impact on the host communities continues to be of concern. To address these factors, a new Experiential Learning (EL) course, Cross-Cultural Determinants of Health (CCDH), was developed and evaluated at Queens University. The goals of the course were to explore ethical, bi-directional ways to provide students the opportunity to build competencies in cultural humility, advocacy and the determinants of health, without causing negative community impacts often reported in typical volunteer activities, or even structured clinical electives. This symposium will guide participants through the process of developing ethical international EL opportunities for future GH leaders.

Participants will learn to:

1. Identify the ethical and safety challenges associated with traditional international volunteerism and electives

2. Understand the role of structured non-volunteering EL in fostering cultural humility, advocacy, and professional competencies among students.

3. Understand the impact of PDT, immersive learning, simulation role-plays and reflective debriefing on student preparedness and ethical engagement.

4. Discuss strategies for ensuring equity, accessibility, and sustainability in global health EL programs.

5. Develop similar educational learning experiences, using the provided guidelines.

This symposium will feature presentations by course instructors and student participants, followed by an interactive panel discussion. Topics include:

1. The need for structured global health EL.

2. Course design and implementation: Overview of the CCDH course including ethical, bi-directional community engagement, participatory PDT, and examples of learning activities conducted with Tanzanian collaborators.

3. Important results from course: PDT effectiveness; impact on student competencies and future career paths; Equity and accessibility; Assessment of perceived impact on host community

1. Unstructured international experiences pose safety risks and ethical challenges for students and host communities.

2. The CCDH course provides a scalable model for EL that prioritizes ethical engagement and mutual learning.

3. Structured EL fosters cultural humility, advocacy, and professional competencies in future global health leaders.

4. Findings from this course can inform best practices for universities developing GH programs that are safe, ethical, and impactful.

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