Abstract
Transdisciplinary education on sustainability for health has been primarily developed in high-income countries, yet the need in countries with limited research and human resource investments remains urgent. Little empiric documentation of the facilitators and barriers to transdisciplinary learning in such countries has been described. We assessed transdisciplinary learning among students of different disciplines collaborating with an Ecuadorian sustainability for health research project. Six undergraduate students from four different disciplinary backgrounds were incorporated through work–study agreements with provincial university academic supervisors. Learning was fostered and monitored through participant observations by a field supervisor. Students’ learning was evaluated through subsequent in-depth interviews and visualization methods. Academic supervisor key informant and co-investigator observations aided triangulation. Qualitative data were analyzed using indicators of transdisciplinary thinking. Principal factors facilitating transdisciplinary learning were interaction with social actors, the integration of work with other disciplines, the use of alternative research techniques and methods, and the constant support of the field supervisor. Inhibiting factors included the existence of rigid academic rules, lack of training of the academic supervisors in diverse research methods, and social pressures to implement unidisciplinary foci. At the end of their link with the project, students had developed both cognitive outcomes and attitudinal values relevant to sustainable development for health. In countries with limited investments in research and human resources development, transdisciplinary approaches with social actors and engaged researchers can sensitize new professionals training in traditional academic contexts to the ecological–social–health problems faced by poor majorities and encourage their subsequent work on sustainability for human health.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adomsset M, Godemann J, Michelsen G (2007) Transferability of approaches to sustainable development at universities as a challenge. International Journal of Sustainability and Higher Education 8:385–402
Albrecht G, Higginbotham N, Cashman P, Flint K (2004) Evolution of transdisciplinarity and ecosystem health at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. EcoHealth 1(Suppl 1):23–29
Almeida N (2005) Transdisciplinaridade e o paradigma pós-disciplinar na saúde. Saúde e Sociedade 14:30–50
Alvarenga T, Sommerman A, Souza Alvarez A (2005) Congressos Internacionais sobre transdisciplinaridade: reflexções sobre emergencias e convergencias de ideias e ideais na direção de uma nova ciencia moderna. Saúde e Sociedade 14:9–29
Battel-Mink B, Kastenholz H (2005) Transdisciplinarity in sustainability research: diffusion conditions of an institutional innovation. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 12:1–12
Bovenschulte M (2007) Towards a proposal of estimation of the “innovating attitude” in the society. Espacios 28:41–56
Choi B, Pak A (2006) Multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity in health research, services, education and policy: 1. Definitions, objectives and evidence of effectiveness. Clinical and Investigative Medicine 29:351–363
Cole DC, Crissman C, Orozco AF (2006) Canada’s International Development Research Centre’s Eco-Health projects with Latin Americans: origins, development and challenges. Canadian Journal of Public Health 97:I8–I14
Creswell JW, Miller DL (2000) Determining validity in qualitative inquiry. Theory into Practice 39:124–131
De Koning K, Martin M (editors) (1996) Participatory Research in Health: Issues and Experiences, chapter 5, Johannesburg, South Africa: National Progressive Primary Health Care Network, pp 50–61
Gibbs P, Costley C (2006) Work based learning; discipline, field or discursive space or what? Research in Post-Compulsory Education 11:341–350
Hadorn H, Bradley D, Pohl C, Rist S, Wiesmann U (2006) Implications of transdisciplinarity for sustainability research. Ecological Economics 60:119–128
Hanson L (2008) Global citizenship, global health and the internationalization of the curriculum, a study of transformative potential. Journal of Studies in International Education. doi:10.1177/1028315308323207 [online August 22, 2008]
Howard J (2004) Challenges facing the adoption of ecosystem health core component in professional curricula. EcoHealth 1(00):16–22
Lambert R, Monnier-Barbarino P (2005) Transdisciplinarity training in reproductive health through online multidisciplinarity problem solving: a proof of concept. European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Biology 123:82–86
Lebel J (2003) Health and Ecosystem Approach, Ottawa, ON, Canada: International Development Research Centre, pp 1–24. Available at http://www.idrc.ca/ecohealth
Loisel P, Cote P, Durand MJ, Franche RL, Sullivan MJL, Cole DC, et al. (2005) Training the next generation of researchers in work disability prevention: the Canadian Work Disability Prevention CIHR Strategic Training Program. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation 15:273–284
Manen M (2001) Transdisciplinarity and the new production of knowledge. Qualitative Health Research 11:850–852
Meyer P, Costa I, Vasconcelos V (2006) The social sciences and physical therapy: a possible nexus. História, Ciencias, Saúde—Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro 13:877–890
Moore J (2005) Seven recommendations for creating sustainability education at the university level. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 6:326–338
Muhar A, Vilsmaier U, Glanzer M, Freyer B (2006) Initiating transdisciplinarity in academic case study teaching. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 7:293–308
Nash JM, Collins BN, Loughlin SE, Solbring M, Harvey R, Krishnan-Sarin S, et al. (2003) Training the transdisciplinary scientist: a general framework applied to tobacco use behavior. Nicotine & Tobacco Research 5:S41–S53
Orozco F, Cole DC (2006) Plataformas Multidisiciplinarias en la Investigación Acción de Salud y Agricultura. Abstract presented at the “11vo Congreso Mundial de Salud Pública y 8vo Congreso Brasilero de Salud Colectiva,” Río de Janeiro, Brazil
Paige K, Lloyd D, Charters M (2008) Moving towards transdisciplinarity: an ecological sustainable focus for science and mathematics pre-service education in the primary-middle years. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education 36:19–33
Patrick P (2005) Transdisciplinariedade e antropoformação: sua importancia nas pesquisas em saúde. Saúde e Sociedade 14:72–92
Patton M (1990) Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods, 2nd ed, Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, part III, pp 369–436
Peréz Jimenez C (2006) ¿Tecnologización o democratización de la educación? Entre debates, encrucijadas y críticas desde el enfoque de ciencia, tecnología y sociedad. Revista de Ciencias Sociales 12:93–109
Posch A, Steiner G (2006) Integrating research and teaching on innovation for sustainable development. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 7:276–292
Prüss-Üstün A (2006) Preventing Disease through Healthy Environments: Towards an Estimate of the Environmental Burden of Disease. World Health Organization (WHO). Available at http://www.who.int/quantifying_ehimpacts/publications/preventingdisease/en/index.html [accessed September 26, 2008]
Rodriguez Trujillo N (2004) Retos de la formación de docentes en Venezuela. Revista de Pedagogía 25:3–12
Scholz R, Mieg HA, Oswald JE (2000) Transdisciplinarity in ground water management towards mutual learning of science and society. Water, Air and Soil Pollution 123:477–487
Scholz R, Lang D, Wiek A, Walter A, Stauffacher M (2006) Transdisciplinarity case studies as means of sustainability learning. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 7:226–251
Secretaria Nacional de Ciencias y Tecnología (SENACYT), Republic del Ecuador (2005) Indicadores de Ciencia y Tecnología. Available at http://www.senacyt.gov.ec/files/ricyt.xls [accessed September 26, 2008]
Sistema Integral de Seguimiento y Evaluacion (SISE) (2006) Indicadores del Sistema Español de Ciencia y Tecnología. Available: http://www.micinn.es/ciencia/jsp/plantilla.jsp?id=23&area=estadisticas [accessed September 26, 2008]
Stokols D, Fuqua J, Gress J, Harvey R, Phillips K, Baezconde-Garbanati L, et al. (2003) Evaluating transdisciplinarity science. Nicotine & Tobacco Research 5:S21–S39
White F (2002) Capacity-building for health research in developing countries: a manager’s approach. Revista Panamerica de Salud Pública/Pan American Journal of Public Health 12:165–172
Wilcox B, Kasuya R (2004) Integrating ecohealth into a medical school curriculum: a vision of the future at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine. EcoHealth 1:34–42
Winberg C (2006) Uni-disciplinary knowledge production: development driven higher education in South Africa. Higher Education 51:159–172
World Health Organization (WHO) (2005) The WHO Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard and Guidelines to Classification: 2004, Geneva, Switzerland: WHO, 57 pp
Acknowledgments
We thank the students, María José, Verónica, Ana, Byron, Jackeline, and Leticia, for believing in a process of change; and their academic supervisors, Engineer Eduardo Muñoz and Dr. Lilia Peralta, for their openness to intersectoral learning. Operating grant support came from the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC). We acknowledge Ecosystem Health Initiative #101810-001 to the International Potato Center.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Orozco, F., Cole, D.C. Development of Transdisciplinarity Among Students Placed with a Sustainability for Health Research Project. EcoHealth 5, 491–503 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-009-0210-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-009-0210-8