Sarıyer Public Health Project

KUSIF aims the development and implementation of public health projects and gives support to the faculty members having interest in doing research related to public health in Sarıyer. The advisor for Public Health in Sarıyer is Prof. Önder Ergönül who is SoM Faculty Member and as well as KUSIF Executive Board Member.

In this regard, KUSIF collaborates with Public Health Center in Sarıyer, other local authorities and as well as civil society.

KUSIF organized a brain storming meeting in February 2014 with the participation of faculty members from School of Medicine, School of Nursing, College of Administrative Sciences and Economics and College of Engineering who have interest in public health research in Sarıyer and other stakeholders such as Public Health Center in Sarıyer, Sarıyer Municipality and Turkish Family Health and Planning Foundation (TAPV). This meeting is the first step of bringing related stakeholders to match the research with the local needs. KUSIF facilitates the process of developing and implementation of local needs driven research of the KU Faculty in Sarıyer.

KUSIF collaborates with the Public Health Course of the School of Medicine for the integration of the sources of the university to create social impact in Sarıyer. This is an example of good practice of social impact creation which could be a model for other courses within the KU and other Universities. Third year students at the School of Medicine take Public Health Course with the goal of learning synthesis of basic and clinical sciences. Student of this course could work both at the laboratory and the field.

KUSIF takes Sarıyer as an urban laboratory for this course.

At the beginning of the course in September 2013, KUSIF gave a two hours interactive seminar to the students with the contribution of various speakers on Sustainable Development and Community Engagement for Social Impact, What Sarıyer is About, Public Health Issues in Sarıyer and Possible Public Health Field Studies for Social Impact, and Development of Leadership Skills through Community Engagement Projects.

During September 2013 and October 2013, students defined their research proposal to be run in Sarıyer as below:

Social and Economic Factors Affecting the Duration of Breast-feeding
Violence against Health Care Workers
Evaluation of the Role of Social, Economic and Environmental Factors on Child Obesity
Problem solving skills among adolescents
Investigation of the Traditional Treatment of Childhood Fever
Level of protection against Hepatitis A
After having IRB approval, permission from the Ministries, and revision of proposals regarding the sample size calculations and development of data collection tools, students were given a communication skills and field study interactive workshop by KUSIF social impact field study team.

Students started data collection in health centers, hospitals, schools and community in Sarıyer and analysed the date between January and March 2014.

The final week of March 2014, a Mini-Symposium on Public Health was organized. Students presented their research findings on breast feeding, obesity, violence, problem solving skills, childhood fever, hepatitis C, crimean-congo hemorrhagic fever. For 2015 March, the aim is to organize a 2 days symposium on public health with local, national and international speakers besides the presentations of the students.

Students findings will be published by KUSIF and SoM in the booklet of “What Sarıyer is About- Public Health”

Each year, Public Health Course offered by the School of Medicine will be collaborated with KUSIF in order to integrate the university sources for the creation of social impact at local level, and as well as to be an example of good practice at international level.

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