Over the course of ten years, I explored the topic of service-learning in healthcare professions education. In 2010, I helped faculty at UNC Chapel Hill’s Doctor of Physical Therapy (PT) program organize their first international service learning experience (ISLE). Several years later, I joined a team of researchers who wanted to better understand the impact of that ongoing ISLE on PT students and community members in and around Antigua, Guatemala. I conducted interviews, performed thematic data analysis, and wrote collaboratively with the primary investigator to better understand the impact of the program on the therapy staff at Obras de San Pedro Hermano Hospital. I also contributed to writing and data analysis for a companion project exploring student experiences in the same ISLE.

Later, as a professor in another graduate physical therapy program, I helped to organize the program’s participation in an ISLE in Honduras. Following that experience, I worked with colleagues on a survey-based study that used thematic analysis to better understand healthcare professions’ students’ changed ideas about pain management after an ISLE with physical therapy students.

In that same role, I coordinated physical therapy collaboration in a mobile health clinic for migrant farm workers in North Carolina. Also using thematic analysis, I studied learning and change that occurred among physical therapy graduate students after participating in the program, including their new understanding of delivering healthcare in rural communities.

Publications & Products

Noonan C. D., Tudini F, Sawyer S. (2019) Redefining rural health: Student perceptions after participation in a migrant farm worker clinic. Journal of Physical Therapy Education. https://doi.org/10.1097/jte.0000000000000118

Noonan C. D., Scow S, Sheagley B, Bunn J. (2018) Short Report: Shifting perspectives on pain management after an interprofessional international service-learning experience: a qualitative assessment of pilot data. Journal of Interprofessional Care. doi: 10.1080/13561820.2018.1471053.

Noonan C. D., Little D, Errickson SP. (2013) Successes, failures and plans for the future: Assessing the impact of UNC Chapel Hill’s physical therapy service learning program on Guatemalan therapists. Poster presentation at: Combined Sections Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association. San Diego, CA.

Little D, Noonan C. D., Errickson SP. (2013) UNC Physical Therapy Guatemalan project: Maximizing acquisition of cultural competency skills for physical therapy students through service learning in a developing country. Poster presentation at: Combined Sections Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association. San Diego, CA.

Noonan C.D. (2010). Antigua to Chapel Hill: Students’ use of social media to design an international service-learning experience. Poster presentation at: Carolina Clinical Education Consortium. Raleigh, NC.

Skills

Academic Conference Submission

Academic Poster Design

Conference Presentation/Public Speaking

Content Editing

Data Collection

Data Visualization

Ethical Conduct of Research

Human Subjects Research

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Application Preparation

Interview Schedule Design

Journal Submission

Literature Review

Medical Spanish

Participant Interviewing (for Qualitative Research)

Professional Communication and Collaboration

Program Design

Research Study Design

Research Team Management and Delegation

Survey Design

Scholarly Writing

Qualitative Data Analysis

Translational Research