Original Article
Reflections on the contributions of self-advocates to an interdisciplinary leadership development program for graduate students in health affairs

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2017.09.002Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

To advance equity and to enhance leadership skills, self-advocates with intellectual/developmental disabilities are now part of the cohort of trainees in the University of North Carolina LEND, which means that they fully participate in the Interdisciplinary Leadership Development Program, a collaboration among programs in public health, social work, and LEND, which meets monthly.

Objective

Given this important new participation by self-advocates, this study analyzes the reflections of graduate students on the contributions of self-advocates to their leadership training.

Methods

At the conclusion of the program each year, graduate students respond to a questionnaire about how self-advocates influenced the content and interactions/discussions of the monthly workshops and are asked to provide specific examples to explain their perceptions. The 12 MCH leadership competencies were used to guide the coding of the comments for this qualitative, directed content analysis.

Results

Forty-six of 58 students (79.3%) from two consecutive cohorts responded for this cross-sectional study. Interactions with self-advocates prompted comments on 8 of the 12 leadership competencies, including interdisciplinary team building (29% of the comments); developing others through teaching and mentoring (22%); and self-reflection (18%).

Conclusions

The inclusion of self-advocates throughout an interdisciplinary leadership development program for graduate students in health affairs can strengthen MCH leadership competencies for all participants as they enter an increasingly interdisciplinary workforce.

Section snippets

Background

Self-advocacy has been defined as an individual's ability to effectively communicate, convey, negotiate and assert his or her own interests, desires, needs, and rights. This skill involves making informed decisions and taking responsibility for those decisions.4 In recent years, students as young as elementary-aged children in some schools are given tools and practice in advocating for themselves.5 In particular, this approach has been incorporated in the school experience for some children in

Methods

At the conclusion of the year-long ILDP, participants are routinely asked to reflect anonymously and voluntarily on the quality and organization of the program using brief scales and open-ended questions. Respondents are asked to identify their affiliation with the program, i.e., graduate student, parent, public health professional or self-advocate. Beginning with the 2013-14 cohort and continuing with the 2014-15 cohort, participants were asked to respond to four additional questions:

  • 1.

    Thinking

Results

As shown in Table 1, trainees reported that participation of self-advocates had strong influences both on the content of workshops and the types of interactions and discussions.

It is noteworthy, that only 26% of respondents indicated that the role of self-advocates was very clear; 33% noted that it was not very clear.

All but one of the respondents provided comments and the range of comments was from one to five. Coded competencies extracted from comments by trainees reflected eight of the 12

Discussion

The inclusion of self-advocates throughout an interdisciplinary leadership development program initially designed for graduate students in health affairs has stimulated many insights, suggesting a meaningful impact on MCH leadership competencies. The participation of self-advocates especially prompted appreciation for interdisciplinary/interprofessional team building, wherein leaders acknowledge and act on the value of multiple views and perspectives in addition to their own. This concept of

Funding

This research was supported by HRSA/MCHB grant T76MC00004.

Acknowledgements

We thank the trainees who so thoughtfully shared their insights. Fadumo Abdi provided data management. Anita Farel encouraged this analysis and reviewed a draft of the manuscript. Kathleen Rounds, Jack Roush, and Ann Palmer, as members of the Interdisciplinary Leadership Development Program, have helped to guide the described program.

References (13)

  • M. Grigal et al.

    Think College! Postsecondary Education Options for Students with Intellectual Disabilities

    (2010)
  • A. Rosenberg et al.

    Fostering intentional interdisciplinary leadership in developmental disabilities: the North Carolina LEND experience

    Matern Child Health J

    (2015)
  • J. Dodds et al.

    The UNC-CH MCH leadership training consortium: building the capacity to develop interdisciplinary MCH leaders

    Matern Child Health J

    (2010)
  • A.K. Van Reusen

    Self-advocacy strategy instruction: enhancing student motivation, self-determination, and responsibility in the learning process

  • M.L. Wehmeyer et al.

    Promoting causal agency: the self-determined learning model of instruction

    Except Child

    (2000)
  • T.J. Zirpoli et al.

    Partners in policymaking: the first five years

    Ment Retard

    (1994)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.
View full text
© 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.