1. Determining Awareness of and interests in Public Health:
Survey of Undergraduate Students without Declared Majors
Melody Yuan
Dr. Derek Shendell, D. Env, MPH,
School of Public Health, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854
ABSTRACT
MATERIALS/ METHODS
CONCLUSION
RESULTS
BACKGROUND
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
DISCUSSION
Public health is a growing field and discipline increasingly important in our
society today. The role of public health workers is also more prevalent in the
healthcare field as more people seek quality healthcare and must be well-
versed in understanding the health and circumstances of the population groups
and communities served.
Few studies attempted to understand why or how the public health (PH)
field may be underrepresented or why there might be a lack of awareness and
interest, especially at the undergraduate (UG) level choosing majors. This study
increases insight into how students choose college majors, where interest and
awareness for the PH field amongst UG students stands, and how to alter
curriculum to foster more awareness and interest.
This study intends to investigate and summarize the reasons why certain
public health fields are underrepresented, the level of awareness and interests
for the public health field amongst undergraduate students, as well as certain
factors that influence students when choosing their majors through a survey at
the undergraduate level at Rutgers University during February-April, 2015. First
and second year students who have not yet declared a major but are enrolled in
introductory public health or related science topic courses were targeted to
complete an online survey through Psychdata. Questions cover students’
interests in pursuing careers in underrepresented fields of public health,
including environmental and occupational health and safety, industrial hygiene,
chronic disease epidemiology, surveillance of injury, quantitative methods, and
biostatistics.
Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of communities
through the promotion of healthy lifestyles, research for disease/injury prevention and
detection, and control of infectious diseases. Overall, PH is concerned with protecting the
health of entire populations and works to prevent diseases and risks from occurring by
implementing educational programs, recommending policies, administering services and
conducting research appropriate to the needs of targeted population groups—in contrast to
the works of clinical professionals that treat patients at the individual level. However, despite
the many achievements of the public health field over the past century, implications show
that if the average person is asked what public health is, their reply might be limited to:
"healthcare for low-income families” or simply “health for the public”.
Statistics show that public health majors nationwide has increased 750% over the past
twenty years. The same study also noticed a demographic trend that the growing student
population pursuing public health majors is more ethnically diverse than the US
undergraduate population as a whole, with a dominantly female representation that includes
proportions of African Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Hispanic students.
In correlation, data from the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy informs that the
public health major at Rutgers University may not be lacking, with an increase enrollment
rate of 457% and a 425% increase in students graduating with public health majors over the
past decade. It is believed that this increase is a response to the nation’s growing need for
more health care professionals due to many current health issues on the rise nationally and
globally.
Many studies have been conducted to determine the factors that influence students in
choosing their majors. Factors include socioeconomic statuses, occupational statuses of
parents based on gender, decision-making skills of students, students’ expected earnings
after graduation, participation in enrichment and intervention programs, mentorship
opportunities, as well as extracurricular activities and courses taken in high school.
Data was collected from an anonymous online survey in www.psychdata.com.
First and second year Rutgers undergraduates who have not declared majors
and who were enrolled in public health-related courses (courses related to
statistics, environmental and occupational health, epidemiology, health
education and behavioral science, health systems and policy) for the Spring
2015 semester were targeted to complete the survey. Steve Weston, dean of
the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, assisted in reaching out to
these students by email to maintain students’ anonymity and confidentiality.
Due to time restraint, only partial, initial, descriptive frequency data was
analyzed.
• Enrollment to public health courses and to the public health major at Rutgers was more than
5 times greater in 2014 than in 2005, with increase in enrollment rates exceeding 400%.
• Total number of students graduating with the public health major at Rutgers University
increased 425% from 2005 to 2014.
• It is notable through students’ responses that advising and guidance from mentors,
internships, volunteer opportunities, and related extracurricular activities prior to college are
influential for students choosing their majors.
• Majority of students who participated in the survey have a good general idea of what the
field of public health is and/or have heard of the public health major prior to participating in
this survey.
FUTURE DIRECTION
I would like to thank Dr. Derek Shendell for his encouragement and for mentoring me
throughout the entirety of this research experience. Additional thanks goes to George Alukal
for his support and guidance as a peer mentor as well as the Aresty Research Center (Dr. Brian
Ballantine) for this invaluable opportunity.
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This study is ongoing and will continue for another academic year. Future steps to take
includes continual data analysis, entry, and management of survey results, which will be
exported from Psychdata online to Microsoft Excel. Statistical software, SPSS 20, will then be
used for further data analysis, enabling descriptive analysis to be evaluated from the surveys.
Through this process, further insight will be uncovered on determining current awareness
level of public health at the undergraduate level at Rutgers University, how students choose
their majors, and how future steps can be taken to improve academic curriculum involving
public health-related topics and programs.
Strengths:
• Participating students were able to give well-thought out responses.
Limitations:
• The process of receiving consent for survey distribution through the IRB took longer than
expected, which delayed distribution of survey to target population.
• Initially, 364 to 730 responses of 3646 targeted students were expected (10-20% response
rate). Given time restraint, only 138 were received.
• 37 out of the 138 consenting participants did not complete all survey questions. Median
time for incomplete surveys was 2 minutes 18 seconds. Mean was 2 minutes 46 seconds.
41%
8%
51% Yes
No
I Don't Know
Do you believe that choosing to major in
public health or related disciplines would
help you succeed in your expected
earnings?
80%
20%
Yes
No
Have you heard of the public health
major prior to taking this survey?
1%
29%
59%
11%
Not Important At All
Somewhat Important
Extremely Important
I Don't Know
How important/essential do you view the
role of public health (and other related
disciplines) in society?
51%
21%
28%
Yes
No
I Don't Know
Would you consider choosing a major or
pursuing a future career in public health or
any related disciplines?
Demographics
• Out of the 138 students who filled out the survey, 42 were
male, 94 were female (2 students did not specify gender).
• Out of the 138 participants, 73 students specified as White, 48
students specified as Asian, 20 as Black/African American, 3 as
American Indian/Alaskan Native, and 2 as Native
Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander.
Factors that influence students in choosing their majors (in order
of student preference):
• How much students care for the subject (45/105 respondents,
42.9%)
• What students want to do with the major after Rutgers
(21/105 respondents, 20%)
• Something with good career opportunities (19/105
respondents, 18.1%)
• Something with good expected earnings after graduation
(17/105 respondents, 16.19%)
• Something students do well in (8/105 respondents, 7.6%)
Factors that influenced students in choosing current related
courses:biology, chemistry, statistics, psychology, introductory
public health courses (in order od student preference):
• Prerequisites for students’ intended majors (62/100
respondants, 62%)
• Genuine curiosity and interest (29/100 respondents, 29%)
• Recommended by other people (15/100 respondents, 15%)
• GPA booster (4/100 respondents, 4%)
• Recommended by family members (2/100 respondents, 2%)
• Student has no idea why he/she chose these classes (2/100,
2%)
Positive and negative characteristics that students were asked to
associate with working in the public health field:
Positive: Benefiting society, health education/promotion, helping
others, potential to save many lives, macroscopic perspective,
passion, influential/beneficial for society, keeping
community/population healthy
Negative: Not enough pay/income/job opportunities, financial
insecurity, possible exposure to illnesses, dealing with
uncooperative people, not effective
Factors that would encourage students to pursue the public health
major/related disciplines (in order of student preference):
• Awareness of issues related to there related disciplines/majors
(85/122 respondents, 69.7%)
• Advisors/faculty that actively promote these disciplines/majors
(62/122 respondents, 50.8%)
• Structured educational enrichment programs and clubs related
to these disciplines/majors (67/122 respondents, 54.9%)
• Undergraduate research opportunities related to these
disciplines/majors (66/122, 54.1%)
• Availability of internship/externship opportunities (82/122
respondents, 67.2%)
Students’ high school experiences (internships, volunteer
opportunities, extracurricular activities) that influenced them to
choose/consider their potential college majors:
“…I was advised by a professional psychologist form Temple
University that I should have a background in neuroscience…”
“…I shadowed an occupational therapist at a school…”
“…I took an elective class that offered to work with health
professionals and I enjoyed the experience I had with a school nurse
in my town…”
• A disproportionate amount of participants were female, which corresponds with the
demographic trend that the growing student population pursuing public health majors is
very ethnically diverse, with a dominantly female representation that includes proportions
of African Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Hispanic students.
• Majority of students who participated in the survey have a good general idea of what the
field of public health is and/or have heard of the public health major prior to participating
in this survey, as seen by the responses to the question, “please indicate your definition of
what public health is”. The 66 students who responded to this question are likely to have
been part of the population of 78 students who responded “yes” to having heard of the
public health major prior to taking the survey.