Syllabus

Schedule

Course Weeks

Week 1: Aug 25 – Sept 1
Week 2: Sept 1 – Sept 8
Week 3: Sept 8 – Sept 15
Week 4: Sept 15 – Sept 22
Week 5: Sept 22 – Sept 29
Week 6: Sept 29 – Oct 6
Week 7: Oct 6 – Oct 13
Week 8: Oct 13 – Oct 17

Week 1: Maternal and Child Health (MCH) History and Infrastructure

Weekly Outcomes

• Describe historical events in the history of MCH to understand how they have contributed to its development.
• Identify the key components of the MCH infrastructure including funding, leading stakeholders, and United States governmental structure.

Readings/Videos

• History and Evolution
• Tracing the Historical Foundations of Maternal and Child Health to Contemporary Times
• MCH Timeline
• About the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB)

Assignments

• Case Study Forum: Review the provided case studies and choose your topic and role for the final project. In 350-600 words, describe the objectives and responsibility of the role.
• Introduction Discussion: 

  • Initial post: Begin by introducing yourself, and your interest in MCH, to the class. Then, in the same initial post, identify a historical event that interests you and that, you think, has something to do with maternal and childhood health today. Please elaborate on that connection, and on why that particular historical event interests you in the first place.

    Response: Pick a peer’s post. Try to build on what your classmate has already written with more analysis: How has that event influenced, or not influenced, maternal and child health infrastructure, funding, stakeholders, etc.? Do you agree, disagree with some of the points your classmate is making? 

• Small Group Discussion: 
  • You will choose from a list of case studies and various public health roles.  On that case study’s discussion board post you will respond to: Why are you interested in this case study?  What role will you take on and why did you choose that role? 
    • No more than 4 to a group.  It is on a first come basis. After there are 4 students in a case study group, you will need to choose from others that have not reached the maximum.
    • There cannot be more than 1 student with the same role. Each student needs to have a different role.

Week 2: MCH Priorities and Data Sources

Weekly Outcomes

• Compare global and national MCH goals.
• Interpret MCH data to describe a community and health issue.
• Utilize MCH priorities and data to define MCH issues and problems. 

Readings/Videos

• Maternal and Child Health Digital Library: Data and Statistics (scan through at least two compilations)
• United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 
• Healthy People 2020 (Read Overview, Objectives, Interventions & Resources)

Assignments

• Discussion: 

  • Initial post: Identify a piece of data from the compilations that represents a health disparity. Through analysis and application of your own experience and perspective, try to diagnose and describe the cause of that particular disparity.

    Response: Pick a peer’s post. Identify an SDG or Healthy People 2020 objective to address the issue your peer described in their initial post. Describe the social and cultural considerations for reaching the SDG or Healthy People 2020 objective.

• Project Assignment – Defining the Problem: This week you will define the problem within your chosen case study.
• Quiz 1

Week 3: Family Planning and Reproductive Health

Weekly Outcomes

• Describe the public health influences on family planning and reproductive health services in a community.
• Apply the socio-ecological model to an MCH issue/problem to identify connections.

Readings/Videos

• The U.S. Government and International Family Planning & Reproductive Health Efforts
• Family Planning and U.S. Foreign Policy: Ensuring U.S. Leadership for Healthy Families and Communities and Prosperous, Stable Societies
• Sexual and Reproductive Health: A matter of life and death

Assignments

• Discussion: 

  • Initial post: Think of the community in which you live. What hinders access to family planning and reproductive health services? Is one population more negatively impacted? Make sure to support your answer with examples and reputable resources.

    Response posts: Pick two peers. For each peer, use one level of the social-ecological model to describe possible solutions.

• Small Group Discussion:

  • Initial post: Based on the Project Assignment due this week, how does your role contribute to describing the problem?

    Response posts: Pick a peer’s initial post. In your response identify your role and describe how your roles can work together to describe the problem.

• Project Assignment: Socio-Ecological Model: This week you will identify the social-ecological influences on the MCH issue in your case study.

Week 4: Maternal Health

Weekly Outcomes

• Identify leading health issues in maternal health.
• Identify evidence-based interventions that address a MCH issue.

Readings/Videos

• Video: Millennium Development Goal 5 
• Video: Maternity Care in the United States
• 10 facts on maternal health
• Recommendations to Improve Preconception Health and Health Care — United States

Assignments

• Small Group Discussion:

  • Initial post: Pick one level of the model from your Week 3 Project Assignment. Identify the level of the model and describe what hinders the public health issue at this level as you stated in the assignment. How could your role address what hinders the public health issue for this level?

    Response posts: Pick a peer’s initial post. How can your role assist your peer in addressing the public health issue at this level of the model?

• Project Assignment – Evidence-Based Practices/Interventions: This week you will choose evidence-based practices/interventions that may address your MCH issue. 
• Quiz 2

Week 5: Child Survival

Weekly Outcomes

• Identify health issues in child survival.
• Describe the contributing factors to disparities in child survival across the globe.
• Describe MCH evaluation activities.

Readings/Videos

• The State of the World’s Children: Child Survival (read Section 1 and another section you find interesting)
• The Washington Post: Our Infant Mortality Rate is a National Embarrassment

Assignments

• Discussion: 

  • For your initial post, pick a country from which you have ancestry. State the country’s infant and child mortality rates. Compare these rates to Iceland’s infant mortality rate of approximately 2 deaths per 1,000 births. What are contributing factors to your country’s mortality rates? 

    In your responses to at least one’s classmate’s initial post, what is being done in that country to improve infant and child mortality rates? Describe 1 intervention that is being implemented and any cultural considerations for the intervention. 

• Small Group Discussion:

  • Initial post: Based on the Week 4 Project Assignment, describe one of your community, evidence-based interventions.

    Response posts: Pick a peer’s initial post. In your response describe a potential challenge/barrier to implementing the intervention. Explain how your role could assist to solve the problem. (Note: This can be used in the final presentation’s challenge/barrier section.)

• Project Assignment – Evaluation: This week you will determine the evaluation plan for each evidence-based practice/intervention. 

Week 6: Health of Youth

Weekly Outcomes

• Identify priority health issues in youth to understand their unique health needs. 
• Describe a system based approach to empowering youth and addressing their needs.
• Develop a logic model to make connections within a specific MCH issue.

Readings/Videos

• Healthy People 2020: Adolescent Health (read Overview, Objectives, Interventions & Resources, and National Snapshot)
• The Community Guide: Improving Adolescent Health (read about interventions)
• Population Reference Bureau: Adolescence, a Foundation For Future Health (download full report)
• Video: WHO – Health for the World’s Adolescents: A Second Chance in the Second Decade

Assignments

• Small Group Discussion:

  • Initial post: Describe the cultural considerations for addressing the health issue and implementing the interventions.

    Response posts: Pick a peer’s initial post. In your response describe a specific organization that could be a stakeholder in assisting with the implementation of culturally appropriate interventions.

• Project Assignment – Logic Model: This week you will develop a Logic Model that clearly depicts what your project intends to do or accomplish. 
• Quiz 3

Week 7: Emerging Issues in MCH

Weekly Outcomes

• Identify emerging issues in MCH to understand where the field is headed. 
• Craft a presentation that addresses an identified MCH issue. 

Readings/Videos

• The New England Journal of Medicine: Global Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health – So Near and Yet So Far
• Video: Our Century’s Greatest Injustice (TED Talk)

Assignments

• Discussion: 

  • Initial Post: Choose an emerging MCH issue.  Address the following questions:

    1. What evidence exists that this an emerging issue?
    2. How does the issue relate to the article you read this week?
    3. The closing paragraph of the article states: “Although the focus during the past decade has been on the saving of lives, it is also important to look beyond survival to issues of reducing morbidity and disability and improving long-term outcomes of relevance to human development. The close links among poverty, inequity, undernutrition, and human deprivation are well known, and all these factors have been shown to reduce the potential for human development considerably.”  How does this statement relate to the health issue?

    Response Post: Respond to one of the initial posts with one peer-reviewed journal article that supports the MCH issue being described. Response Post should include:

    1. Identification of the journal article with AMA format.
    2. Summary of the key findings of the article.
    3. How it relates to the MCH issue.
• Final Project: Presentation Submission

Week 8: Presentation Review and Critique

Weekly Outcomes

• Analyze a presentation from the perspective of the intended audience.

Assignments

• Discussion: 

  • In this week’s discussion, you will be reviewing each other’s presentations. For your initial post, post the link to your video following the directions for recording and posting a presentation using Youtube. Post your presentation at the beginning of Week 8.

    In your responses make sure to review a presentation that covers a different case study than your own. Provide feedback as though you are a member of the intended audience. Feedback should include at least three of the items below:

    1. Is the problem clearly defined? Why or why not?
    2. Is the issue dissected well with the social-ecological model? Do you have a good sense of the influences on the health issue?
    3. Are the practices/interventions evidence based? Do they seem realistic and doable?
    4. Does the evaluation truly measure progress?
    5. Are the problem statement, social-ecological model, interventions, and evaluation clearly and appropriately aligned? Can you see how they are all links in the chain?
    6. Does the logic model clearly illustrate the project? Can you insert “If… Then” statements between columns?
    7. What are the overall strengths?
    8. What are your recommendations? 
    9. Would you support/invest in this proposal? Why or why not?  

Student Resources

Online Student Support

Your Student Support Specialist is a resource for you. Please don't hesitate to contact them for assistance, including, but not limited to course planning, current problems or issues in a course, technology concerns, or personal emergencies.

Questions? Visit the Student Support Public Health page

UNE Libraries:

• Library Access for all students: Your library login ID and password are the same as the ones you use to log into Blackboard/Brightspace.
• Public Health Databases: https://library.une.edu/library-materials/find/research-by-subject/public-health/
• Library Tutorial: Find an article
• Library Questions: Ask a librarian or phone library staff at (207) 602-2361 or (207) 221-4330.

UNE Student Academic Success Center

UNE's Student Academic Success Center (SASC) offers a range of free online services to support your academic achievement. Writing support, ESOL support, study strategy and learning style consultations, as well as downloadable resources, are available to all matriculating students. The SASC also offers tutoring for GPH 712 Epidemiology, GPH 716 Biostatistics, GPH 717 Applied Epidemiology, GPH 718 Biostatistics II, and GPH 719 Research Methods. To make an appointment for any of these services, go to une.tutortrac.com. For more information and to view and download writing and studying resources, please visit:

• UNE Student Academic Success Center

Information Technology Services (ITS)

• ITS Contact: Toll Free Help Desk 24 hours/7 days per week at 1-877-518-4673

Accommodations

Any student who would like to request, or ask any questions regarding, academic adjustments or accommodations must contact the Student Access Center at (207) 221-4438 or pcstudentaccess@une.edu. Student Access Center staff will evaluate the student's documentation and determine eligibility of accommodation(s) through the Student Access Center registration procedure.

Policies

AMA Writing Style Statement

The American Medical Association Manual (AMA) of Style, 11th edition is the required writing format for this course. Additional support for academic writing and AMA format is provided throughout the coursework as well as at the UNE Portal for Online Students.

Online resources: AMA Style Guide

Turnitin Originality Check and Plagiarism Detection Tool

The College of Professional Studies uses Turnitin to help deter plagiarism and to foster the proper attribution of sources. Turnitin provides comparative reports for submitted assignments that reflect similarities in other written works. This can include, but is not limited to, previously submitted assignments, internet articles, research journals, and academic databases.

Make sure to cite your sources appropriately as well as use your own words in synthesizing information from published literature. Webinars and workshops, included early in your coursework, will help guide best practices in APA citation and academic writing.

You can learn more about Turnitin in the Turnitin Student quick start guide.

Technology Requirements

Please review the technical requirements for UNE Online Graduate Programs: Technical Requirements

Course Evaluation Policy

Course surveys are one of the most important tools that University of New England uses for evaluating the quality of your education, and for providing meaningful feedback to instructors on their teaching. In order to assure that the feedback is both comprehensive and precise, we need to receive it from each student for each course. Evaluation access is distributed via UNE email at the beginning of the last week of the course.

Late Policy

Students are responsible for submitting work by the date indicated in Brightspace.

Quizzes and Tests: Quizzes and tests must be completed by the due date. They will not be accepted after the due date.

Assignments: Unless otherwise specified, assignments will be accepted up to 3 days late; however, there is a 10% grade reduction (from the total points) for the late submission. After three days the assignment will not be accepted.

Discussion posts: If the initial post is submitted late, but still within the discussion board week, there will be a 10% grade reduction from the total discussion grade (e.g., a 3 point discussion will be reduced by 0.3 points). Any posts submitted after the end of the Discussion Board week will not be graded.

Please make every effort ahead of time to contact your instructor and your student support specialist if you are not able to meet an assignment deadline. Arrangements for extenuating circumstances may be considered by faculty.

Student Handbook Online - Policies and Procedures

The policies contained within this document apply to all students in the College of Graduate and Professional Studies. It is each student's responsibility to know the contents of this handbook.

Student Handbook

UNE Course Withdrawal

Please contact your student support specialist if you are considering dropping or withdrawing from a course. The last day to drop for 100% tuition refund is the 2nd day of the course. Financial Aid charges may still apply. Students using Financial Aid should contact the Financial Aid Office prior to withdrawing from a course.

Academic Integrity

The University of New England values academic integrity in all aspects of the educational experience. Academic dishonesty in any form undermines this standard and devalues the original contributions of others. It is the responsibility of all members of the University community to actively uphold the integrity of the academy; failure to act, for any reason, is not acceptable. For information about plagiarism and academic misconduct, please visit https://www.une.edu/studentlife/plagiarism.

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to the following:

1. Cheating, copying, or the offering or receiving of unauthorized assistance or information.
2. Fabrication or falsification of data, results, or sources for papers or reports.
3. Action which destroys or alters the work of another student.
4. Multiple submissions of the same paper or report for assignments in more than one course without permission of each instructor.
5. Plagiarism, the appropriation of records, research, materials, ideas, or the language of other persons or writers and the submission of them as one's own.

Charges of academic dishonesty will be reviewed by the Program Director. Penalties for students found responsible for violations may depend upon the seriousness and circumstances of the violation, the degree of premeditation involved, and/or the student’s previous record of violations.  Appeal of a decision may be made to the Dean whose decision will be final.  Student appeals will take place through the grievance process outlined in the student handbook.