The use and exchange of teaching modules published in the series of handbooks prepared within the frame of the „forum for public health in south-eastern Europe“ network

Aim: Throughout 2004-2010, the series of 6 books entitled “Handbooks for Teachers, Researchers and Health Professionals” were published within the frame of the public health network established in South Eastern Europe (SEE), covering the total of 249 teaching modules. The aim of the study was to assess the use and exchange of these modules between the authors.

Methods: Out of 148 identified authors, 106 took part in the cross-sectional study carried out from July to November 2011 (response rate: 71.6%). The primary endpoints were the utilization (use and/or exchange) of the modules in general, the percentage of utilized modules from all volumes, the percentages of utilized modules of each volume separately, and the percentage of utilized modules from all the volumes at different levels of the educational process. Non-parametric statistical methods were used for analysis (e.g. Mann-Whitney and Friedman tests).

Results: Module utilization was reported by 80/106 participants (75.5%). The median value of the percentage of utilized modules from all the volumes was 4.8, being much higher among full-time university staff (9.2; p=0.008) and authors/editors (14.7; p=0.010). The respondents most frequently utilized Volume 1 (median value: 7.7) and Volume 6 (median value: 4.2) modules (p=0.002) as part of undergraduate (median value: 1.4) and postgraduate vocational (median value: 1.4) study programmes (p<0.001).

Conclusion: The level of module utilization within the group of their authors is good. However, this is only partial information and not representative of the entire target population of SEE public health teachers.