Health by Design: Implementation of Public Health Posters as a Multidisciplinary Visual Teaching Device in MBBS, School of Public Health and Department of History (Common Core) Curriculum Development

This presentation highlights the activities and findings of an interdisciplinary TDG project that utilised public health posters as a novel pedagogy to engage students in history of medicine and activate visual learning skills. To explore the development of visual health messaging in Hong Kong and concurrent progress in medicine, we used a curated selection of archival post-war Hong Kong health posters as the basis for a series of interactive workshops. Students considered the multifaceted, interdisciplinary nature of posters as a ubiquitous and affordable mode of health communication in historical, contemporary, and future contexts. Workshops explored the societal health and medical issues that necessitated such campaigns, analysed the psychosocial methodologies employed to deliver health information to the public, and debated the impact of health posters on public attitudes and practice, as well as exploring the future of health messaging in the digital era. Project evaluation found that the use of visual media in group activities was an effect device to promote higher order thinking, group participation and critical analysis.