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The SCI Café, Health Literacy Education, and Translational Team Science

Sharon A. Croisant

Amber L. Anthony

Chantele R. Singleton

Joseph A. Kotarba

Studies in Symbolic Interaction

ISBN: 978-1-80117-781-8, eISBN: 978-1-80117-780-1

Publication date: 10 November 2021

Abstract

The establishment of Science Cafés has become a popular strategy to enhance informal yet instruction-oriented interaction between medical and scientific experts and members of the relevant local communities. The purpose of this chapter is to report on two significant findings of a mixed-methods evaluation of the SCI (Science and Communities Interact) Café. Method: The Clinical and Translational Science Award in the Institute for Translational Sciences at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston established an SCI Café program in 2013 to enable local residents to engage in dialogs with clinicians and researchers regarding their scientific interests and health concerns. A mixed-methods approach was used to evaluate the program. Results: The essential experience of SCI Café (SC) is updating one's knowledge of a topic. The primary comparative and analytical feature of SC participation is expertise. Expertise varies in terms of the social position of the participants: graduate student, university staff, engaged participant, topical participant, and curious participant.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

This chapter was prepared with the support of the Institute for Translational Sciences at the University of Texas Medical Branch, supported in part by a Clinical and Translational Science Award (UL1TR000071) from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health. There are no conflicts of interest in this chapter. We gratefully acknowledge Lauren Scott for her considerable contributions in helping to develop and evaluate the UTMB SCI Café series.

Citation

Croisant, S.A., Anthony, A.L., Singleton, C.R. and Kotarba, J.A. (2021), "The SCI Café, Health Literacy Education, and Translational Team Science", Denzin, N.K. and Sarina Chen, S.-L. (Ed.) Studies in Symbolic Interaction (Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 53), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 7-21. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-239620210000053002

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited