Using an ecological approach, health behaviors will be considered within the context of influences on individual behaviors. The course will address the use of behavioral and social science theory to inform the development and implementation of health promotion and disease prevention programs and consider the inherent ethical dilemmas involved in planned social and behavioral change efforts.
Course Outcomes
Public Health Competencies
PC 1. Synthesize and incorporate scientific evidence into professional writing
PC 2. Search databases and critically analyze peer-reviewed literature
PC 5. Evaluate the use of technological applications in health interventions
FC 13. Propose strategies to identify stakeholders and build coalitions and partnerships for influencing public health outcomes
FC 18. Select communication strategies for different audiences and sectors
FC 19. Communicate audience-appropriate public health content, both in writing and through oral presentation
FC 20. Describe the importance of cultural competence in communicating public health content
Each student is expected to post at least three times each week in response to forum questions on that week’s topic (exceptions are noted within individual discussion prompts). Because this is an online course, the online discussion portion is an important way to exchange ideas with your classmates. Students will be graded on their participation and effort of their posts. These posts will take time to complete but they are an essential part of this online course and a great way to get to know your colleagues. Please be familiar with the course material (readings/lectures) before posting each week.
Many of the discussions in this course will be Group Discussions, in which you will be working with your group on a specific healthcare issue.
Assignment 1: Evaluation of Interventions
Use PubMed to search the peer-reviewed literature to identify at least 5 articles that present evaluations of the effectiveness of interventions used to address the modifiable determinants of health that you identified as the target of your intervention. Complete a table listing key facts for each article. Provide a brief evaluation for each intervention, and submit along with a PubMed clipboard document containing abstracts of each article.
Assignment 2: Report to the Coalition
Based on the information you have gathered and discussed during the class, write a 4-6 page report to your community coalition recommending a theory-based intervention to address an identified health issue within the community.
Assignment 3: Oral Presentation to Coalition (submitted to the Discussion Board):
Create a video presentation of your report to the coalition and share it with your colleagues for viewing.
Assignment 4: Peer Feedback & Self Reflection
After viewing your colleagues’ presentations on their proposed interventions, provide constructive feedback to three of your peers, and evaluate your own presentation.
Quizzes
Students will complete quizzes in Weeks 2, 4, 6 and 8, focusing on the assigned textbook chapters and application of theories presented in the course. The Week 8 quiz focuses on broad concepts covered in the course. Unless otherwise noted within the quiz instructions, quizzes open at 12:00 a.m. on Wednesday, and close the following Wednesday at 11:59 p.m.
Your grade in this course will be determined by the following criteria:
Course Requirements | Points (Out of 100) |
---|---|
Discussion (4 @ 10 points, 1 @ 6 points, 1 @ 2 points) | 48 pts |
Assignment 1: Evaluation of Interventions | 10 pts |
Assignment 2: Report to the Coalition | 10 pts |
Assignment 3: Oral Presentation to Coalition | 10 pts |
Assignment 4: Peer Feedback on Presentations & Self-Reflection | 4 pts |
Quizzes (2 @ 3 points, 1 @ 5 points, 1 @ 7 points) | 18 pts |
Total | 100 pts |
Grade | Points Grade | Point Average (GPA) |
A | 94 – 100% | 4.00 |
A- | 90 – 93% | 3.75 |
B+ | 87 – 89% | 3.50 |
B | 84 – 86% | 3.00 |
B- | 80 – 83% | 2.75 |
C+ | 77 – 79% | 2.50 |
C | 74 – 76% | 2.00 |
C- | 70 – 73% | 1.75 |
D | 64 – 69% | 1.00 |
F | 00 – 63% | 0.00 |
Each week opens on Wednesday at 12:01 AM Eastern Time. Each week closes on Wednesday at 11:59 pm ET, with the exception of Week 8, which ends on Sunday.
The assignment/discussion descriptions mentioned below are summaries. Please make sure to review the full assignment prompts in Blackboard. There may be additional readings/videos that are not mentioned in this weekly summary, make sure to carefully review the modules in Blackboard.
Course Introduction (video)
Weekly Outcomes:
Videos/Readings:
Lectures:
Additional Resources:
Assignments
Introduce yourself to your peers and your instructor. Describe your interest in Social & Behavioral Health. How do you think the theories and models discussed in this course will help you better understand public health?
Read the Mokdad et al. paper using the strategies discussed this week.
Initial Post: Discuss the following (Note: No response post is required for this board, but be sure to read your colleagues’ perspectives):
– What did the authors do well in the writing of the article?
– What makes this an effective article (if it is effective)?
– How would you recommend the authors revise or edit their article to improve readability?
– What value does this article have for you as a reader and public health professional?
– This article has been cited in more than 6,000 publications. Write a sentence citing this article that you could use to support your argument that it is important to focus on a behavioral risk factor related to your group’s health condition. (Do not quote directly from the article.)
Select a recent article that presents evidence of the link between your health condition and one or more modifiable behavioral or social determinants of health.
Initial Post: Describe the search process you used to identify the article, include the database or search engine and search terms used. Briefly summarize the main finding(s) of the study (do not describe the study in full), and then answer the following questions:
– What did the authors do well in the writing of the article?
– What makes this an effective article (if it is effective)?
– How could this article be revised to improve the article?
– What value does this article have for you as a reader and public health professional?
Response Posts: Select one of the articles presented by your colleagues (try to choose one that does not already have a response). Read their article and explain where you agree and/or differ with their analysis of the article. End your post with a one to two sentence synthesis of the main findings from the two articles (your article and your colleague’s article).
For your second response post, reflect on the experiences this week of evaluating these articles. Discuss how you and your group can apply this experience to improve your own writing.
Weekly Outcomes:
Videos/Readings:
Lectures:
Additional Resources for those who wish to explore further the role of CBPR in Health Promotion, Health Equity, and Research:
Assignments
Identify a community that you will be working with for this project. You do not have to identify specific partners of your coalition, but you should be able to briefly describe your community (city, county, or other geographic location). This will allow you to ground your proposal within the demographic and environmental factors unique to your community that may influence your intervention proposal.
Initial Post: Title your initial post with your health issue and community (e.g., Diabetes prevention in Wyoming County, WV). Briefly describe your community, including information regarding the physical environment (rural/urban, unique characteristics) and demographics (race/ethnicity, SES, etc.)
Based on the readings and lectures this week, describe how you would identify stakeholders within your community and begin to build partnerships. How will you include the needs and perspectives of multiple members within the community coalition? Be specific in the strategies you propose to both identify and include a variety of stakeholders in your coalition.
Response Posts (minimum of two response posts engaging with others in the discussion to address the following points): Read through your colleagues’ posts. Using specific examples, discuss how awareness of cultural values and practices should be incorporated into the design and implementation of your coalitions’ public health interventions. Consider why community involvement and understanding cultural values and practices is important to include in the planning process. How could lack of community involvement hinder the success of an intervention?
Weekly Outcomes:
Readings/Videos:
Lectures:
Assignments
When designing a theory-based health intervention, it is important to focus first on the modifiable determinants of health, and not go into the planning phase with a predetermined intervention. This week you will be evaluating the evidence to determine the focus of your intervention.
Initial Post: Identify the determinants of health related to your health issue, using peer-reviewed health literature to support. Most health issues are influenced by multiple determinants. In your discussion, consider both determinants of health risk and health protection behavior as you write a well-organized and concise description of the data linking social and behavioral factors related to your health issue. Your post should provide a clear summary of the evidence linking your health issue to behavioral and social determinants.
Response Posts: Discuss how the determinants of health identified by your group relate to the socioecological model. Consider also the relative changeability and importance of each of these health-promoting behaviors or conditions.
In your second post, discuss how the changeability and importance may differ depending on the population and structure of your communities. Apply this consideration to your community and make an argument, based on evidence, for which modifiable determinants of health you will focus on for your community.
Weekly Outcomes:
Readings/Videos:
Lectures:
Assignments:
Use PubMed to search the peer-reviewed literature to identify at least 5 articles that present evaluations of the effectiveness of interventions used to address the modifiable determinants of health you have identified as the target of your intervention.
In a table, list:
– the reference by title
– the health issue addressed
– modifiable determinant(s) of health (what the intervention is trying to change)
– specific theoretical constructs identified
– if the authors do not specify theoretical constructs or do not fully address theory, use an asterisk to indicate that you are identifying the applicable constructs
– theory or theories used (note if no theory was discussed by the authors)
Below the table, provide a 300-500 word review of these interventions. Include in your discussion, an evaluation of whether the interventions were effective, and based on your review of the literature, which theory or theories are most relevant to addressing your health issue. This should not be a summary of each study, rather a synthesis of what interventions have been used, how they relate to theory and your conclusion of which theory is most relevant to your intervention development. Remember in three weeks you will be submitting your final report with recommendations based in part on this analysis. The interventions should all be included in your references using proper AMA style.
Create a PubMed clipboard document with abstracts for your 5 references and submit as a separate Word document for your instructor to review.
Weekly Outcomes:
Readings/Videos
Lectures:
Additional Resources:
Readings on ethics:
– Principles of the Ethical Practice of Public Health
– Arigo D, Pagoto S, Carter-Harris L, Lillie SE, Nebeker C. Using social media for health research: Methodological and ethical considerations for recruitment and intervention delivery. Digital Health 4: 1-15. DOI: 10.1177/2055207618771757.
– Puhl R, Luedicke J, Peterson JL. Public Reactions to Obesity-Related Health Campaigns: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Am J Prev Med 2013; 45(1): 36–48.
– Carter SM, Rychetnik L, Lloyd B, Kerridge IH, Baur L, Bauman A, Hooker C, Zask A. Evidence, ethics, and values: a framework for health promotion. Am J Public Health. 2011(3);465-472.
The following articles provide examples of technological applications used to promote healthcare, such as social media platforms, podcasts, fitbits, and smartphone apps, among others.
– Korda H, Itani Z. Harnessing Social Media for Health Promotion and Behavior Change. Health Promot Pract. 2013;14(1):15-23.
– Bushar JA, Fishman J, Garfinkel D, Pirretti A. Enrolling Underserved Women in Health Programs: Results From Text4baby Outreach Campaigns.Health Promot Pract. 2018;epub. doi: 10.1177/1524839918763589.
– Cao B, Gupta S, Wang J, et al. Social Media Interventions to Promote HIV Testing, Linkage, Adherence, and Retention: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Med Internet Res. 2017;19(11):e394. doi: 10.2196/jmir.7997.
– (An example from the 1950s you may find interesting) https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/call-to-arms-how-lessons-from-history-could-reduce-the-immunisation-gap
Assignments:
This week you will continue to review potential interventions. As we read last week and this week, social media and technological applications offer potential strategies for engaging people and delivering health interventions. They may be used either alone or with other strategies, or they may not be appropriate for a particular situation. As with all health promotion, ethics must be considered in intervention development and implementation.
Initial Post: Identify and share an example of a technological application used in an intervention that relates to your groups’ health issue and/or modifiable determinants of health that you have identified. If there is a visual representation of the intervention, please include it or a link to it in your initial post. Include at least one peer-reviewed reference related to the intervention’s implementation and evaluation.
Describe how this technological application was used to promote health. Your post should briefly describe the intervention and include your analysis of whether this example is a successful strategy, explaining clearly why or why not. Use the theories we have studied to support your analysis. Your analysis of effectiveness may differ from the published reference; just make sure to support your analysis either way. Explain why you would or would not recommend the use of a technological application to address your health issue with your community.
Response Posts: Read through your colleagues’ posts, and respond to the following prompts:
– Select at least one of your colleague’s examples. Did the message identified by your colleague present a culturally competent message? If so, how? If not, how could the message have been improved? Discuss the importance of cultural competence in communicating public health content.
– Select at least one different example shared in your group, and discuss the role that ethics should play in our work as we design health messages and interventions. Was ethics clearly considered in the design of the messages that your colleague and you selected? Refer to specifics about the studies to support your position. How can you ensure that ethics is considered in the intervention you will propose to your coalition?
Weekly Outcomes:
Readings/Videos :
Case Study referred to in the lectures:
– Highfield L, Bartholomew LK, Hartman MA, Ford MM, Balihe P. Grounding evidence-based approaches to cancer prevention in the community: a case study of mammography barriers in underserved African American women. Health Promot Pract. 2014; 15(6):904-14. doi: 10.1177/1524839914534685.
– Highfield L, Hartman MA, Mullen PD, Rodriguez SA, Fernandez ME, Bartholomew LK. Intervention Mapping to Adapt Evidence-Based Interventions for Use in Practice: Increasing Mammography among African American Women. Biomed Res Int. 2015:160103. doi: 10.1155/2015/160103.
– Highfield L, Hartman MA, Bartholomew LK, Balihe P, Ausborn VA. Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Implementation of an Adapted Evidence-Based Mammography Intervention for African American Women. Biomed Res Int. 2015:240240. doi: 10.1155/2015/240240.
– Highfield L, Rajan SS, Valerio MA, Walton G, Fernandez ME, Bartholomew LK. A non-randomized controlled stepped wedge trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a multi-level mammography intervention in improving appointment adherence in underserved women. Implement Sci. 2015; 10:143. doi: 10.1186/s13012-015-0334-x.
Lectures:
Additional Resources:
Assignments:
Throughout the course, you have been working with your group to explore the literature related to your health issue. You have identified the determinants of health and selected the focus most important to your community. You have reviewed intervention studies, including the use of technological applications in health promotion, and made a recommendation for which theory is most relevant to your intervention development. This week you will be using this information to develop specific change objectives.
Initial Post: Choose a personal behavior and identify two performance objectives, identify theoretical constructs that would be relevant to the specific objective, and create relevant change objectives. The articles you evaluated for Assignment 1 will help you in this process. The readings this week will be important to review, as developing performance and change objectives is a step in the Intervention Mapping process.
Refer to the examples for the structure, but do not limit yourself to the constructs identified there. Your table should reflect the theory that you have chosen as the focus for your intervention, and should include the performance objective, the personal determinants (these will relate to the theoretical constructs of the theory you have identified), and the change objective related to both (what needs to change related to the personal determinant for the individual to achieve the performance objective).
Present these in a table, and explain the table in detail using peer-reviewed references to support.
Response Posts (minimum of two response posts engaging with others in the discussion to address the following points): Read your colleagues discussions of their change objectives and relevant theories and theoretical constructs. Discuss how the Kok et. al. article and taxonomies, as well as your reviews of intervention literature, can be used to identify the methods you will recommend for your intervention. Use specific examples from the literature and your discussions. What value do you feel taxonomies such as these could provide in health promotion?
Weekly Outcomes:
Readings/Videos:
Lectures:
Assignments:
Prepare a final report to your community coalition based on the information you have gathered and discussed during the class. Incorporate the feedback you have received from your instructor and your team to refine your report and make your final recommendation. Your report should be formatted in a logical and easy to read manner and addresses the items below.
Your final report should include:
The report should be 4-6 pages, double-spaced, using 12-point Times New Roman font. You may present the information in the order that will most clearly support your recommendation, but your report must cover each of the items listed above. (See the rubric for information on how the report will be graded.) Remember that this is a report to a community group made up of people from a variety of educational backgrounds. You should write in clear, professional language and define terms that may not be clear to someone not in the public health field. References should be in AMA styles on a separate page; do not include in page count.
Week 8 Overview (video)
Weekly Outcomes:
Resources for completing this week’s assignment:
– Better Presentations, University of New England
– Designing and Writing an Effective Presentation, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
– How to Convert Your Paper into a Presentation, Duke University Writing Studio
– Recording a Presentation
– Uploading Presentation to YouTube
– Sharing Your Video
– How to Edit Closed Captioning in YouTube
Assignments:
Note: You will submit the URL for your recorded oral presentation to the Discussion Board. No response posts are required, but be sure to view your colleagues’ videos.
Using the information you prepared for your written report, prepare and record a 5-8 minute slideshow presentation for your community coalition that summarizes the evidence to support your recommendation, and outlines for the coalition the intervention your recommend. Include what outcomes you expect to see, and how you will measure those.
Use the materials this week to develop an engaging presentation that clearly presents the evidence and your recommendation. Your presentation should anticipate questions that coalition members may have.
Just as you would have to show up on time for a community presentation, you must submit your video on time, by Friday night, so that your colleagues will have time to review it and provide you with feedback before the end of the course.
To ensure that your video is accessible to all, make sure that your video is closed captioned using the instructions provided in this week’s course materials. After you have recorded your presentation and uploaded your video to YouTube, submit the link to your video as your initial post for this week’s discussion board. Make sure that your video is set as unlisted, rather than public or private.
Providing constructive feedback is an important professional skill. This assignment is an opportunity for you and your colleagues to receive multiple perspectives on your presentation. You will provide and receive constructive comments on how your presentations might be perceived by your coalitions.
Peer Review: You will be assigned to review presentations from three colleagues, one from each of the other health topic groups. Watch your colleagues’ presentations, and provide each of them with a review of their presentation. As you complete your peer feedback, consider the language you use to express your evaluation. You should be providing positive feedback that will help your colleague understand how the audience heard their presentation. Your feedback should be approximately 50-250 words.
Address the following points for each presentation, using specific details from the presentation to support:
Your feedback should include at least one specific positive aspect of the presentation and one suggestion for improvement. Include one question the coalition may have asked after viewing the presentation.
Reflection: After watching and providing feedback on your colleagues’ presentations, watch and review your own presentation. You should address the same points for your presentation and include at least one specific positive aspect of your presentation and one suggestion for improvement that you can incorporate into your next presentation.
End with a paragraph reflecting on the process of presenting your recommendations in a written report to the coalition and orally in a presentation. What did you learn while preparing and presenting your written and oral report, and how will you apply this to your future public health work?
Important Submission Guidelines: You will submit these three peer reviews and reflection as four separate documents. The three peer evaluations should be saved as PDF files with titles that include the presenter’s full name and your initials, e.g., “Presenter Name – SKW.pdf”. Your reflection should be submitted as a separate document entitled “Reflection”. The feedback you receive from your peers will be attached to your graded Assignment 4.
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Online resources: AMA Style Guide
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