Syllabus

Schedule

Course Dates

Each week opens on Wednesday at 12:01 AM Eastern Time (ET). Each week closes on Wednesday at 11:59 PM ET, with the exception of Week 8, which ends on Sunday. 

Week 1: Sep 4 – Sep 11
Week 2: Sep 11 – Sep 18
Week 3: Sep 18 – Sep 25
Week 4: Sep 25 – Oct 2
Week 5: Oct 2 – Oct 9
Week 6: Oct 9 – Oct 16
Week 7: Oct 16 – Oct 23
Week 8: Oct 23 – Oct 27

The assignment/discussion descriptions mentioned below are summaries. Review full assignment prompts in the course. There may be additional readings/videos that are not mentioned in this weekly summary.

Week 1: Health Behavior in Context & Evaluating the Evidence

Learning Outcomes

• Identify factors affecting population health relative to a specific healthcare issue.
• Search databases and critically analyze peer-reviewed literature.
• Synthesize and incorporate scientific evidence into professional writing.

Learning Activities

• Whole Class Discussion: Introductions
  • Initial post: 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?

• Whole Class Discussion: Evaluating the Mokdad article
  • In 1993, McGinnis and Foege wrote a seminal article attributing the most common causes of death to the underlying behavioral factors associated, identifying these as the actual causes of death.  The 2004 article by Mokdad et al. updates their findings using a similar methodology. Read the Mokdad et al. article using the strategies discussed this week. The focus of your review should be on the writing and presentation of the data. Discuss the following:

• • • 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?
    • Who is the audience for this article?
    • What value does this article have for you as a public health professional?
  • This article has been cited in more than 7,000 publications.  Consider how this article relates to the health issue you selected for your group this term. End your post with 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 issue.  (Do not quote directly from the article.) Write this final sentence as you would in a report or article.

• Group Discussion: Finding and Writing About Evidence 

  • Select a recent scholarly article that presents evidence of the link between your health issue and one or more modifiable behavioral 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, and explain why you chose this approach over a different strategy. Include why you selected the article that you are presenting. 

    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 or ineffective article?
    • How could this article be revised to improve the article?
    • Who is the audience for this article?
    • What value does this article have for you as a 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. (This final sentence(s) should highlight the main takeaway from these two points of evidence, for example, how the findings from your article and your colleague’s article relate or agree/disagree?). Do not forget to cite properly. For your second 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.  (Some groups choose to start a new thread and post all their reflections there, others as responses to existing threads.  Feel free to do whichever you prefer.)

Week 2: Engaging the Community in Health Promotion

Learning Outcomes

• Apply awareness of cultural values and practices to the design or implementation of public health policies or programs.
• Propose strategies to identify stakeholders and build coalitions and partnerships for influencing public health outcomes.

Learning Activities

• Whole Class Discussion: Engaging the Community
  • Identify a community that is affected by the public health issue that your group is addressing. You should briefly describe your community (city, county, or other specific 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. Remember that while you will all be working on the same health issue within your small group, you will each be developing your own intervention and working with a community of your choice.

    Initial Post : Title the subject line of 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.), and the impact of your health issue within this community.

    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 a lack of community involvement hinder the success of an intervention?

• Week 2 Quiz

Week 3: Value Expectancy & Fear Appeals

Learning Outcomes

• Identify determinants of health for a specific healthcare issue.
• Map determinants of health for a specific condition and population to the socioecological model.

Learning Activities

• Group Discussion: Modifiable Determinants of Health
  • 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 behavioral or structural factors related to your health issue. Your post should provide a clear summary of the evidence linking your health issue to behavioral or modifiable structural 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 in evidence, for which modifiable determinants of health you will focus your intervention on for your community.

Week 4: Stage Models, Social Cognitive Theory & Health Communication

Learning Outcomes

• Search databases and critically analyze peer-reviewed interventions to address a specific health issue.
• Synthesize and incorporate scientific evidence into professional writing.

Learning Activities

• Assignment 1: Evaluation of Interventions
  • Last week your group discussed the modifiable determinants of health-related to your health issue, and you concluded which modifiable determinant(s) will be the priority for your intervention. Use PubMed to search the peer-reviewed literature to identify at least 5 articles that present evaluations of the effectiveness of an intervention used to address the modifiable determinant(s) of health you identified as the target of your intervention. In a separate document, 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. Create a PubMed clipboard document with abstracts for your 5 references and submit as a separate document for your instructor to review. See the instructions in the course on how to download these.

• Week 4 Quiz

Week 5: Beyond an Individual Focus on Health Behaviors

Learning Outcomes

• Research and select among communication strategies for healthcare interventions.
• Evaluate the use of technological applications in health interventions.
• Describe the importance of cultural competence in communicating public health content.
• Discuss the role of ethics in designing health messages and interventions.

Learning Activities

• Whole Class Discussion: Use of Technological Applications in Health Promotion
  • 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 when developing health apps.

    Initial Post: Identify and share an example of a technological application used in an intervention that relates to your groups’ health issue and the modifiable determinant(s) 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. End with a recommendation of whether you would or would not use a technological application to address your health issue with your community and briefly explain why. (Remember that this may not be the best approach for your particular intervention.)

    Response Posts: Read through your colleagues’ posts: Select at least one of your colleague’s examples. Did the intervention 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, whether through apps or other methods.

    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 interventions that your colleague and you selected? Use specific examples from the studies to support your position. How can you ensure that ethics is considered in the intervention you will propose to your coalition?

Week 6: Intervention Mapping

Learning Outcomes

• Create performance and change objectives for a specific modifiable determinant of health.
• Select intervention methods to target this determinant of health.

Learning Activities

• Group Discussion: Performance and Change Objectives
  • Throughout the course, you have been working with your group to explore the literature related to your health issue. You have identified relevant 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 performance and change objectives.

    Initial Post: Based on the modifiable determinant you have selected as your focus, you will develop two performance objectives, identify theoretical constructs relevant to each objective, and create relevant change objectives. Objectives must adhere to SMART guidelines. 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. Both your performance and change objectives must be measurable. Please refer to the learning materials on writing SMART objectives provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

    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 be 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). See Examples of Performance and Change Objectives and Table 2 in the Merkx article for examples of how the information should be organized. Both your performance objectives and change objectives should be measurable. 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 discussion to suggest how your colleagues might apply the taxonomies to the current development of their interventions.

    Based on your discussion and the materials you have reviewed, propose which methods you think will be most relevant to your theory-based intervention.

• Week 6 Quiz

Week 7: Measurement and Evaluation

Learning Outcomes

• Select communication strategies for different audiences and sectors.
• Communicate audience-appropriate public health content in a written format. 
• Develop a report reviewing the evidence and recommending a theory-based intervention.
• Explain how to evaluate the effect of a theory-based intervention.

Learning Activities

• Assignment 2: Report to the Coalition
  • Prepare a final report to your community coalition based on the information you have gathered and discussed during the class. Keep in mind that your discussions have been a place to discuss the evidence and develop your ideas, but now you must combine them to create a clear report geared for your community coalition. Do not just paste your previous work, as it was written with a different audience in mind. Incorporate the feedback you have received from your instructor and your group to refine your report and make your final recommendation.

Week 8: Presenting Evidence-Based Intervention Proposals

Learning Outcomes

• Select communication strategies for different audiences and sectors.
• Communicate audience-appropriate public health content through oral presentation.
• Clearly describe a health behavior theory.
• Provide professional and constructive critique to peers.

Learning Activities

• Week 8 Whole Class Discussion

  • Your initial post this week is a 3-5 minute video in which you briefly describe the key points of your intervention including the theory chosen. Your audience is your community coalition. Since members may not be familiar with behavioral health theories or public health vocabulary, make sure to use clear and easy to understand language. For your presentation, include a video of yourself presenting the information. You may also include a screen recording (slides or other visual) to support your explanation. For guidance on how to do this, please refer to the tutorials in week 8 learning materials. Please remember to succinctly describe the key points of your intervention including your chosen theory and as such your presentation should be only 3-5 minutes long.

    Identify the theory you are explaining in the subject line of your initial post to the discussion board. Keep your presentation no longer than 2 minutes, as only the first two minutes will be viewed for grading purposes.

    Please note:  Use these written instructions and the rubric for guidance rather than what is stated in the lecture video. 

    Response Posts (2):

    1. Select a colleague’s presentation of interest and provide a constructive critique of their presentation, particularly how well a non-public health audience would understand the theory as explained. Acknowledge what was effective in their presentation and offer suggestions for how they might improve their explanation.
    2. After you view your colleagues’ presentations, post to the reflection thread. Rewatch and offer a critique of your presentation. End with a paragraph reflecting on the process of presenting your recommendations in a written report to the coalition and explaining them orally. What did you learn during this process, and how will you apply this to your future public health work?

• Week 8 Quiz: Final Assessment

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