Syllabus

Schedule

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.

Week 1: May 8 – May 15
Week 2: May 15 – May 22
Week 3: May 22 – May 29
Week 4: May 29 – Jun 5
Week 5: Jun 5 – Jun 12
Week 6: Jun 12 – Jun 19
Week 7: Jun 19 – Jun 26
Week 8: Jun 26 – Jun 30

Weekly Schedule

Week 1: Community assessment, social determinants of health, and health equity.

Weekly Outcomes

• Define the term ‘community assessment’
• Discuss how community assessments intersect with the essential public health services
• Explain how social determinants of health and health equity are linked to health outcomes

Assignments

• Week 1 Assignment

  • Select three health conditions (those that can be diagnosed by a health care provider) and use the attached social determinants of health template to fill in the empty cells. Support your descriptions with at least one scholarly reference.

• Week 1 Discussion

  • Prompt 1: Introduce yourself to your instructor and peers. Describe any education or experience that you have with conducting a community assessment, and any fun facts about you. Include in your post the community that you will use for your final project – this could be a city, county, or census tract. (If you live in a small city, it is advisable to use the county so that you can have access to sufficient data with which to write your final project). 

    Response posts are encouraged but not required.

    Prompt 2: Using about 500 words, describe one area of health inequity in the city or state where you reside. Your post should include a strong justification for why it is an equity issue. Use data and scholarly articles to support your discussion.

    (If you live outside the US, and have limited access to data, you may use scholarly articles only.)

    Response (required): Select the post of one peer and provide a detailed critique of how well their initial post justified the selected health issue as one that relates to inequity.  Then identify at least two essential public health services that could address the inequity they identified.

Week 2: Qualitative data collection for community assessments

Weekly Outcomes

• Create a windshield survey using a qualitative data approach.
• Identify community stakeholders and strategize the best approach for engaging them in the community assessment process.
• Code qualitative data using a content analysis approach, coalescing photographic data into general themes.

Assignments

• Week 2 Discussion: Community Selection

  • Initial Post: You are conducting a health assessment of the city in which you live. You have your thoughts as to what the major issues needing attention are, but you want to obtain feedback from members of the community since they are major stakeholders in the community assessment process. You plan to obtain feedback on their perceptions about their use of existing community resources using a qualitative data collection method. Based on the information in this week’s readings on different qualitative approaches (individual interviews, group interviews, observation, or community meetings), which ONE approach would you select and why? Support your selection using at least one scholarly source. 

    (There is no one correct answer, the goal is for you to be able to provide a strong justification for your selection.)

  • Response: Compare and contrast your post with that of a co-learner. What are the specific similarities and differences in your approaches? Describe at least one advantage of the qualitative data collection approach they selected over other approaches. Support your post with at least one scholarly source. 

• Week 2 Assignment

  • Based on this week’s reading on windshield surveys, conduct a windshield/walking survey of your community. Take at least two pictures of your key observations for each one of these five categories: housing, infrastructure (roads, sidewalks, streetlights, etc.), parks, health services, and any other category of your choosing. (You should have a minimum of 10 photographs total)

    Following the AMA Style Guide, 11th ed., label each photograph as a Figure and include a brief title, numbering them consecutively. Display the Figure number and title above each photograph. For example, “Figure 1. Low-income apartment building on Broadway.” Then, for each photograph, develop an idea. In other words, what story does the photo tell you? Include the idea as a legend (caption) in 40 words or less below each photograph. For example, “Many rent-subsidized housing apartment buildings are old and in need of major repairs.”

    You will have a total of 10 ideas. Then, group your ideas into themes. You should have a minimum of three themes and a maximum of five. Themes should be described in one sentence. The first part of your document will be your photographs, labeled as Figures with their ideas as legends, and the second part of your document should be a table containing the ideas and their related themes. 

Week 3: Quantitative data collection for community assessments

Weekly Outcomes

• Describe the demographic profile of a selected community using quantitative data
• Assess the incidence and prevalence of health conditions in their states using data from the CDC website
• Compare morbidity and mortality rates between different geographical locations

Assignments

• Week 3 Discussion

  • Initial Post: Demographic data describes who lives in the community, the characteristics of the community, and some of the social determinants of health. Create a demographic profile for your community. Use data, tables, and graphs as appropriate to compare and contrast at least FIVE demographic factors such as housing, age, race/ethnicity, employment, housing, poverty, health insurance status, or environmental factors with those of (1) neighboring community, (2) state, and (3) national rates. Make sure to label your tables or figures (graphs) correctly using AMA formatting and cite your sources.Create your post in Microsoft Word, and then copy and paste it directly to the discussion board.

    Response Post: Review the post of a peer. Select two demographic variables and compare them with the results from your community. In what ways are they similar or different? How could the similarities or differences affect a health department’s recommendations on interventions? For example, if the residents in your peer’s community are older, or wealthier, or mostly immigrants compared to yours, how could that affect the design or implementation of interventions?

• Week 3 Assignment

  • Community health profile: Write a 750-word paper (excluding charts and references) describing the health profile of your community. 

    Review and collect the most recent quantitative health indicator data for at least FIVE health indicators such as disease rates, mortality rates, life expectancy, mental health and substance abuse rates, obesity rates, injury rates and other health-related factors relevant to your community. Risk factors such as smoking, alcohol, and lack of physical activity can also be included. Compare data to (1) neighboring community, (2) state, and (3) national data.

    Create charts and graphs of your data using Microsoft Excel or any software of your choice to support the findings. Make sure to label your tables and figures (graphs) correctly using AMA formatting and cite your sources. Please create your own tables and graphs from your reference material. Don’t include screenshots of tables or graphs from another source.

Week 4: The use of GIS maps in community assessments

Weekly Outcomes

• Collect and analyze publicly available data in Microsoft Excel and QGIS
• Create a GIS map of county level data using QGIS software
• Analyze the benefits of GIS during the COVID-19 pandemic

Assignments

• Week 4 Discussion
  • Follow steps 1 – 4 in the Week 4 Complete QGIS Instructions document to download QGIS software to your computer, download the Shapefile for the state you are interested in, and download the data you will be using on your map. Open QGIS and take a screenshot of the QGIS home window.
    • Initial Post 1: Considering the steps you have taken to prepare for the creation of a GIS map (downloading QGIS, downloading the Shapefile, and downloading the data), describe which steps you found to be most challenging and why, using 250 – 350 words. Include a screenshot of the QGIS home window in your initial post.
    • Response Post 1: Review the post of one peer and suggest tips on what they could have done to overcome the challenge they identified. Feel free to share any helpful links or tutorials that you found.
    • Initial Post 2: Read the article by Ahasan and Mossain on how GIS was crucial for informed decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. How did the use of GIS inform your own understanding of COVID-19 during the pandemic? What are the implications of this technology or the future of public health?
    • Response Post 2: Respond to the post of one of your peers. Do you agree or disagree with their ideas? Why or why not? Provide a thoughtful response.

• Week 4 Assignment

  • Follow steps 5 – 7 in the Week 4 Complete QGIS Instructions document to prepare your data and create your GIS map. Paste the .jpeg image of your map into a Word document. Label your map as a Figure with a descriptive title using AMA format. Cite your data sources in AMA format.

Week 5: Prioritization of a community’s health needs

Weekly Outcomes

• Stratify a population’s public health priorities using an evidence-based prioritization model
• Explain the rationale for the selection of a health issue/ problem as a priority
• Identify and describe community assets for addressing a health issue/problem

Assignments

• Week 5 Discussion

  • Initial post: Based on the assignments from prior weeks, in a 350 – 500 word post, list the top five health issues that need to be addressed in your selected community. Rate each of your FIVE issues based on specific criteria you choose using the Hanlon method, then rank your FIVE issues according to their top TWO most important health priorities to be addressed in your community and justify your selection based on your application of the Hanlon method, comparing these health issues for your community with a neighboring community, county, state, or national data as a means to justify them as priorities to be addressed. Include a table with scores for each health issue and criteria used.

    Response: Review the post of a peer and comment on how well their selection of priorities aligns with Hanlon’s methods. What did they do well? What could they have done differently?

• Week 5 Assignment
  • Based on the assignments from prior weeks, using 350 – 500 words (excluding references), identify and describe major community assets related to the ONE most important health priority you have selected to be addressed in your community. These assets could include community groups such as advocacy, civic, and faith-based groups, health care and hospital organizations, or public and business organizations such as colleges, school districts, law enforcement, public health, social service organizations, and others. Be specific and detailed in your descriptions. Your paper should be double-spaced and size 12 font. 

Week 6: Systems thinking in community assessments

Weekly Outcomes

• Describe and incorporate a systems thinking model in the context of community assessment.
• Create a network map describing community assets and stakeholders using an online platform for mapping people, systems, and concepts.

Assignments

• Week 6 Discussion

  • Initial post: Make sure to watch this week’s lecture before you start on the discussion post and assignment. We will be exploring a free online resource called Kumu to create a community asset map. Network mapping in public health can help us visualize our community partners and stakeholders, keep track of complex relationships, and help us understand our networks and the resources available to us in the community.

    1. Create a free Kumu account at https://kumu.io. Explore the site, including their getting started resources and the Kumu Quickstart video linked in the Week 6 Assigned Readings and Materials.
    2. Then, create a Network Map of the community partners, stakeholders, and assets you identified in Week 5 that you can work with to address one of your prioritized health needs. In the Kumu platform, use the “Stakeholders” template for the best results to create your map. Include at least 10 organizations or individuals, show relevant connections between them, and use the “Decorations” tool to distinguish between various sectors or types of organizations. Include a legend.
    3. Download your map as a PDF and label it as a Figure in AMA format. Refer to the sample network map from the lecture. In 200-300 words, describe your network map and the relationships you identified between community partners and stakeholders that could be leveraged to meet the identified health need. Discuss how using network analysis as a systems thinking model can enhance your community health assessment. Attach your map PDF with your initial post.

    Response: Review the network maps of at least two peers and give constructive feedback on how their maps could be improved or what new information could be added. What are possible gaps and what other community partners or assets could be added?

Week 7: Communicating your findings: Part 1

Weekly Outcomes

• Apply concepts covered in earlier weeks of the course into a high-quality written final deliverable.
• Communicate public health information using audience-appropriate language.

Assignments

• Prepare a 20 – 25 page final paper presenting the work you have completed throughout this course. Your paper should be double-spaced, and size 12 font.

  Final Project: Community Health Assessment Report

  Now that you have completed 6 weeks of assignments and discussion posts, you have a good idea of the health status of your selected community.

  You are the newly hired community health officer in your state/local health department tasked with assessing the health of your selected community and developing a plan to address the most pressing health issues. Your goal is to convince the governor/mayor’s office to support and fund the mitigation measures you will propose. In order to do this, you need to communicate the information you have collected to the major stakeholders: policymakers, public health professionals, and the public. This written final project allows you to apply the knowledge and skills you have acquired in this class to write a compelling report to policymakers and public health professionals. Next week, you will communicate your findings using audience-appropriate language.

  Review the final project document for details on what is required for each section of the paper.

Week 8: Communicating your findings: Part 2

Weekly Outcomes

• Communicate health information using an oral presentation that uses audience-appropriate language.
• Provide a constructive critique on oral communication to a peer.

Assignments

• Week 8 Discussion: 
  

  Initial post: You are the director for communications at your local health department, and you have been invited to a press conference to address the state of the state/county/city. Submit a 5-minute video that summarizes the findings from your report using audience-appropriate language. For effective communication, it is important that your face is visible in the presentation. See detailed instructions in the attached document. 

  Response: Watch the presentations of TWO of your peers. Provide each of them with a written review of their presentation no later than Sunday at 11:59 pm ET. See detailed instructions in the attached document. 

   

Student Resources

Policies