Concurrent field practice act as an efficient teaching pedagogy to originate public health professionals: A Bangladesh context

Concurrent Field Practice-based teaching methods (CFPTM) have commenced globally parallel with the traditional teaching methods (TTM). The effectiveness of CFPTM in Bangladeshi educational settings has not been adequately studied yet. This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that CFPTM is effective teaching method as compared to the TTM for Bangladeshi postgraduate public health students. Under a comparative interventional design two groups of postgraduate students [n=40 for each group], were selected purposively from the department of public health of the Daffodil International University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Data were collected during pre and post intervention based on a topic that had been chosen to conduct the intervention followed interactive lecture method with CFP. Overall knowledge score (percentage) showed a significant increase in both the CFPTM (Baseline vs. Final, M±SD, 27±12 vs. 83±8, p<0.001) and TTM (27±18 vs. 40±17, p<0.001) among the groups. CFPTM showed a significantly higher knowledge score (p<0.001) as compared to TTM at the final time point. Analysis on individual components showed a result similar to the overall knowledge score. CFPTM seems to be superior and effective to TTM as a short-term interventional tool. CFPTM has been identified as an effective tool for postgraduate education in public health, which offers a new approach to equipping students with appropriate knowledge and skills that they need not only in their learning period but also in their service life.