Education TREASURY DEPARTMENT UNITED STATES PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE HUGH S. CUMMING, SURGEON GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE AND READING COURSES IN PUBLIC HEALTH REPRINT No. 948 FROM THE PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTS AUGUST 22, 1924 (Pages 2140-2146) WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1924 CORRESPONDENCE AND READING COURSES IN PUBLIC HEALTH.! For more than 12 months the Public Health Service has been col-_ lecting from the executive officers of State departments of health and from the universities with which ‘‘ Class A”? medical schools are affiliated, data regarding correspondence and reading courses in public health. Reports received to June 1, 1924, indicate that courses. have been conducted during the past two years by seven State de- partments of health and by six universities. Of the courses given by departments of health, five are for sani- tarians—those conducted in Kansas, Illinois, Ohio, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania. In addition, the Virginia State Health Depart- ment offers a correspondence course for teachers; in both Virginia and Minnesota a course is given in the hygiene of maternity and in- fancy for mothers; and a second course is offered in Pennsylvania, one for persons connected with industries, schools, and with civie and religious organizations. In no case is tuition charged for the courses conducted by State departments of health. Mimeographed or printed lessons are dis- tributed in several instances, and in two cases textbooks are used. Those taking the course are required to answer questions by mail from time to time, in four or five instances in connection with each lesson. The number enrolled varies a great deal, as will be seen in the reports of the various courses; so also does the length of the course. The correspondence courses offered by universities are in five in- stances conducted by the extension division of the university and in one case by the department of hygiene. One university conducts only one course; two conduct two courses; two, four courses; and one conducts seven courses. Most courses appear to be offered pri- marily for those who are now or intend to be engaged in public-health work, although a few courses apparently are for laymen. In all cases tuition is charged, textbooks are used, and examinations are given. Academic credit is granted for all courses, except in one university where credit is given when the student is enrolled in the school of education but not when he is enrolled in the school of medicine. The length of courses varies from 20 to 40 lessons. While the courses offered by universities may have a more dignified status than those offered by State departments of health, the number of students en- rolled, as will be seen, is not so large. 1 Reprint from the Public Health Reports, vol. 39, No. 34, Aug. 22, 1924, pp. 2140-2146. 9 “ 10251—24t a : f\ 1 6\&,.0 } a Uw se CORRESPONDENCE COURSES IN PUBLIC HEALTH. 3 COURSES CONDUCTED BY STATE DEPARTMENTS OF HEALTH. The Ohio State Department of Health (Columbus) has prepared a course, with the assistance of the International Health Board, for persons employed in public-health work on a full-time or part-time basis, not including, however, nurses. The work requires one year, but no definite time is set for completing it. Groups are organized ~+from time to time, the first having begun work January 3, 1922 = The months of July, August, and September are utilized for field J studies under guidance of the staff of the State department of health. ~The text selected is MacNutt’s Manual for Health Officers, in addi- —tion to which the students supply themselves with 15 other specified = books. No fees are required, except a small charge to cover the cost * of a certificate when the course is completed. Questions are sent out from time to time, and those who complete a satisfactory amount of work are eligible to credit for attendance at a health institute held at the time of the annual meeting of health commissioners in the fall. Since the work began 14 groups of 5 to 40 each have been organized, and of the 158 who have enrolled 34 have satisfactorily finished the course. At the time of this report, June, 1924, the course was still being conducted with apparent satisfaction to all concerned. Dr. Emery R. Hayhurst is in charge. The Kansas State Board of Health (Topeka), which also need assistance from the International Health Board, established in Jan- uary, 1923, a correspondence course for Catan (mostly part- time county health officers). Forty mimeographed lectures are mailed to each student, usually at intervals of a week. The course covers almost all phases of public-health work conducted by a city or county department of health. No textbooks are used and no tuition is charged. An examination is given at the close of the course. Of the 105 who enrolled in the course in 1923, the entire number com- pleted it. The course was repeated in 1924; in June, 13 were en- rolled. Milton O. Nyberg, secretary of the board, is in charge of the course. The division of public health nursing of the Kansas State Board of Health, with the cooperation of the State traveling libraries commis- sion, has established a library service for public-health nurses em- ployed throughout the State. The reading, however, does not appear to be systematically directed, so that it can hardly be classi- fied as a reading course. The Illinois State Department of Health (Springfield) inaugurated late in 1922 a correspondence course for the 20 district health super- intendents who were at that time employed. The plan provided for the distribution of 12 monthly lessons. The first three or four lJes- sons were prepared and placed in the hands of the district health ae A CORRESPONDENCE COURSES IN PUBLIC HEALTH. superintendents. By July 1, however, the appropriations of the health department had been severely curtailed, and the number of district superintendents was decreased from 20 to 7 or 8. It became necessary, therefore, to abandon the enterprise. No one completed the course, but it is still hoped by the director of the Illinois Depart- ment of Public Health, Dr. Isaac D. Rawlings, that conditions will change and permit the rejuvenation of this correspondence course. The bureau of public health of the Department of Public Welfare of New Mexico (Santa Fe) organized for city and county health officers a correspondence course in 1920, consisting of 40 lessons given at weekly intervals. Mimeographed material was furnished for each lesson. Questions also were provided, but the answering of them was not compulsory. The course was taken by 50 persons. The director of public health, Dr. G. S. Luckett, feels that the course was satisfactory. Through the course two men were led to take up public-health work on a full-time basis. Furthermore, improve- ment was observed in the work of local health officers taking the course. The work has not been conducted in a systematic way since 1920, but the lessons utilized that year have been brought together by Luckett and Gray and published as a textbook in public health administration. 1 The Virginia State Board of Health (Richmond) operates two cor- respondence courses, one for teachers and one for mothers. All teachers are required by the State school law to have certain rudi- mentary knowledge of sanitation and hygiene and to be prepared to conduct simple physical inspections of school children. These quali- fications will be required of every person who becomes or remains a teacher in Virginia after September 1, 1925. In order to help teach- ers meet these requirements, the State board of health established in 1920 a correspondence course in physical inspection and school hygiene which consists of 12 lessons and a final examination. A full year is allowed for its completion. Printed lessons are used, together with textbooks. About 1,200 teachers have completed the course, and in June, 1924, over 1,800 others were engaged in it. Mary 1. Bell is in charge. An official of the State department of health writes: Of those who completed the course nearly all testify that, in addition to the knowledge gained, the course is most valuable in arousing a personal interest in the health of each of their pupils and in the importance of health in general. In addition to the final examination, questions are asked at the close of each printed lesson. They are stimulating, as will be observed from the following: Give a brief account of the facts you teach your pupils about the character- istics of bacteria. Have your pupils been examined for hookworm disease? te, CORRESPONDENCE COURSES IN PUBLIC HEALTH. 5 How many have been vaccinated? How does vaccination prevent smallpox? Has the drinking water used in your school been examined by the State board of health? The second course conducted by the Virginia State Board of Health, the one for mothers, consists of 12 lessons. It deals with prenatal care, birth, and the care of the mother and of the infant after birth. Before the course was started it was reviewed and approved by leading obstetricians and pediatricians. To date about 500 persons have taken or are taking the course. The Minnesota State Board of Health (St. Paul), through its division of child hygiene, conducts a correspondence course in the hygiene of maternity and infancy. It is open to mothers and other women. No tuition is charged. Fifteen printed lessons are dis- tributed by mail. At the close of each lesson is a series of ques- tions to be answered by mail. On June 1, 1924, 16 months after the course had been started, over 3,500 women had registered for it and about 60 per cent of these had completed it. Many of the women send in their lessons very irregularly, sometimes taking from six to eight months to complete the course. Ruth EK. Boynton is in charge. The Pennsylvania Department of Health (Harrisburg), through its division of public health education, has conducted two courses which it designated as correspondence courses. One course was for all persons connected officially or semioflicially with the State depart- ment of health, as well as for nurses, teachers, and other interested persons. A series of mimeographed lessons was sent out at regular intervals and written answers were required. ‘The course was in- augurated in 1920 and was conducted for two years and a half. About 3,000 different persons enrolled in the course, about 90 per cent of whom appear to have completed it. The other course consisted of a series of 24 mimeographed lessons sent out through various newspapers twice a month; in addition, a large quantity of lessons was distributed from the State capital. For the second year the lessons were issued in printed form. They were sent to schools, industries, and to civic and religious organiza- tions. The course consisted of 12 lessons. Provision was made for written reports on each lesson. On August 28, 1923, there had been an enrollment of 1,200,000 persons from whom the State depart- ment of health had received reports. William C. Miller was in charge of both courses. COURSES CONDUCTED BY UNIVERSITIES. The University of Chicago maintains a large home-study depart- ment. Seven courses are given in the department of hygiene and 6 CORRESPONDENCE COURSES IN PUBLIC HEALTH. bacteriology. One of these is a course of high-school grade for which only ‘‘admission credit is given.” The others are courses of college gerade for which credit toward a bachelor’s degree is granted when they are satisfactorily completed and passed by examination. These include courses in the following: Bacteriological methods, public hygiene, and in four important fields of applied bacteriology. The matriculation fee is $10; the tuition fee for each of five 40-lesson courses is $19, and for one 20-lesson course on public hygiene $9.50. These courses were inaugurated in 1899. Two hundred and ninety persons have registered for one or more of them, and 124 have finished. A letter from the department of hygiene and bacteriology states: The number of students taking correspondence work in the department of hygiene and bacteriology is very small, but I understand that most of them are actually engaged in some form of public health work, being probably mainly in laboratory positions. Dr. H. F. Mallory is the secretary of the home-study department. The University of Missouri (Columbia) offers through its extension division one course in preventive medicine. The student must meet the regular university requirements, be 21 years old, and properly qualified for the work. Credit is given for this course by the school of education but not by the medical school. The announcement states that correspondence work is as thorough as that done in actual attendance. ‘The course may be begun at any time. It consists of 34 lessons. The cost is $8. This course in preventive medicine was established in 1914-15. One hundred and seventy-six persons have enrolled in it, of whom 157 have completed the course. Further information may be obtained from Dr. Guy L. Noyes, the dean of the medical school. The University of Wisconsin (Madison) at present offers through its extension division approximately four courses—two for mothers and women generally, one for nurses, and one for health officers. Four courses, three of them on maternity and infancy, appear to have been abandoned. However, there have been about 450 persons who, during the last six years, have enrolled in a course on ‘‘ The prevention of disease and home care of the sick,” and 60 per cent of them have completed the course. Thereare eight assignments in this course; the tuition is $4 and the textbook costs $2. A course entitled ‘Local health officers’ work” also is given, for which a fee of $4 is charged. A university official writes that sanitarians who have taken the course have expressed satisfaction and are known to have been greatly benefited. The course in public-health nursing consists of 12 assignments. The fee for it is $5. It also has given satisfaction. The University of Arkansas (Fayetteville) announces, through its general extension division, courses in the following subjects: School CORRESPONDENCE COURSES IN PUBLIC HEALTH. 7 hygiene, sewerage, water works, and illuminating engineering. Ap- parently this work has not been systematically promoted. The secretary of the extension division writes: We have probably three or four students a year who take the course in school hygiene. There are fewer in sewerage and water works. The extension division also offers for the women’s clubs of Arkansas a number of courses, most of them outside the field of public health. One of these, however, is a course in child hygiene. It consists of 12 programs. A fee of only $2.50 is charged for an entire club. Appar- ently the child-hygiene course has not been as popular as some of the other courses. Evangeline Pratt is the secretary of the general extension division. The University of Kansas (Lawrence) announces through its cor- respondence study bureau a noncredit course in home health and home nursing ‘‘ which is taken by many women over the State.”’ Attempts to obtain detailed information regarding this course have not been successful. The University of Tennessee (Knoxville), through its department of hygiene, offered in January, 1923, a correspondence course in per- sonal and community hygiene. A second course which was to have been a continuation of this course was also planned, but since no students were enrolled in the first course the plan appears to have been dropped. New York University (New York City) conducts, through the University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College, a course for health officers and another for nurses. While the former is primarily for employees of health agencies, anyone qualified can enroll init. One week of residence is required before completion of the course, which must be within one year of the time of enrollment. The work is divided into 10 subjects, each of which is to be completed and fol- lowed by an examination before the next subject is commenced. A fee of $25 is charged, in addition to a matriculation fee of $5 for those who have not previously attended the university. The necessary books may be borrowed from the university on the payment of a fee of $15, $10 of which will be refunded if the books are returned in good condition. A certificate is awarded upon completion of the course, which requires 300 hours of reading and six days of residence. Arrangements may be made, however, to complete the work during a period of 25 days’ residence. During recent years the following num- ber of persons have received the certificate: De een ee 2 ae eS es ee ee ee ee 62 ie ee ere ee EN ie ee NS te i a 41 ae ae es era eS Bae pee a a 2 re ie i 12 fp nnereran cee eee Na Pie) Na es ee 6 1 7 3 0112 0729 8 CORRESPONDENCE COURSES IN PUBLIC HEALTH, The correspondence course for public-health nurses was begun in October, 1922. In the first class 250 nurses enrolled, of whom ‘150 conscientiously continued the work.’’ The second class began in October, 1923. There were 154 enrolled. The entire number were stillin the classin June, 1924. The course consists of about 25 lessons and may be completed within one year. Assignments are made from textbooks and current literature. Upon the completion of each lesson the student is required to submit an original paper. Drs. William H. Park and Edward H. Marsh are in charge of both courses. ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D. C. AT 5 CENTS PER COPY V 16973 :