What can an Interprofessional Global Health Course with a Focus on Decolonization Bring to Students? A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Many voices have called for dismantling the colonial legacies that permeate healthcare systems. McGill’s Interprofessional Global Health Course 2021 online edition adopted the theme of decolonizing global health. This study aimed to understand the perspectives of students enrolled in this course on a) colonial patterns embedded in global health, and b) future actions that students can take to decolonize global health. A qualitative descriptive methodology was employed. The study population included students who completed the course during the Winter 2021 semester. Following the last session, students were asked to answer four open-ended questions. The answers were analyzed thematically using inductive and deductive coding. Eighty-one of the 105 students registered for the course answered the questions and data saturation was reached after analyzing 24 answer sheets. Two themes emerged: the course informed students about the role of colonial legacies in shaping global health systems and the course helped students understand global health decolonization and plan to take relevant actions. To promote global health decolonization, future healthcare workers need to be sensitized to the ongoing impacts of colonialism. Healthcare education can serve this function through the examination and modification of curricula, but also through the employment of innovative educational approaches that help students reflect on their professional roles and responsibilities towards global health decolonization.