Poster Board Number: 17
Title: Healthflicks: Building Health Literacy among an Urban Teenage Population by Creating Online Health Videos for Public and School Health Curriculum Use
Objective: The Healthflicks project gives high school students with interest in health careers an opportunity to develop and produce short videos on teen health problems and online health information. The goal of Healthflicks is to increase health information literacy among teenage populations, both for the participants and viewers. Students will also improve their health information literacy skills for future health careers.
Methods: Setting/Participants/Resources/Outputs: The project was launched in early 2010, supported by a National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) subcontract grant. Yale University's Cushing/Whitney Medical Library is a short walk from Hill Regional Career High School, a New Haven magnet school that features a health career curriculum track. Recruitment of students took place at the school, with the assistance of school staff and the librarian. Grant funds also supported the acquisition of video production and editing equipment, salary support, and publicity. College student video coordinators were hired as the primary trainer and mentor, providing continuity and caring for students.
Results and Conclusions: Outputs include a YouTube channel hosting a series of health topic videos immediately released upon creation to a wide audience, as well as a blog and social network pages for publicity. A Healthflicks Academy was presented in the medical library for a week during the summer of 2010, teaching students health information literacy to identify credible health websites. The Healthflicks project also was introduced into the curriculum of one health careers elective class, as well as the Health Occupations Students Association (HOSA) after-school student club, which entered a Healthflick into a video competition at their national meeting in spring 2011. The HOSA national meeting will occur after the end of the subcontract, becoming a tangible way to introduce Healthflicks into many US communities following the formal project conclusion.
Authors: Charles J. Greenberg, Coordinator, Curriculum and Research Support, Program Development and Research; Lei Wang, Instructional Design Librarian; Michelle Lewis, Student Video Coordinator; Cushing/Whitney Medical Library; Yale University, New Haven, CT
