It is an 8-page paper, single space Times New Roman 12-pt font about a public health issue.
The issue I chose was water and food scarcity implementing change through the Health Behavior Model (HBM — susceptibility, severity, barriers, benefits, self-efficacy, and cues to action.). Some of my ideas for this change included water conservation, food education, and teaming up with the local community to build a community garden. The requirements are copied below.
Each student will select a public health problem and write a final paper that address various aspects of the problem. The goal of this assignment is help students think critically about major issues in the application of social and behavioral sciences to public health, and to improve your professional writing skills. Over the course of the semester you will be required to complete small assignments to make sure you are working towards your final paper at the end of the summer session.
Students are to select a public health problem that is of interest to them. You may select a behavioral or social risk factor (e.g., smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, air pollution, neighborhood characteristics) or a health-related outcome (e.g., cancer, diabetes, coronary heart disease, sickle cell disease, health-related quality of life). You will be required to complete the following components: (1) Present the descriptive epidemiology of the risk factor or outcome; (2) Review evidence of which risk factors are potentially modifiable, discuss how theory has been applied to understand and solve the problem, and develop a community based participatory research (CBPR) program to improve the problem by modifying risk factors using health behavior theory; and (3) Develop an evaluation plan and budget for your proposed CBPR intervention.
What will I be looking for specifically? Please note that the following information are specifics for what I will be looking for in your final paper based on the list of the three section above.
Paper Section 1:
Define/describe the public health problem and the population of interest (e.g., age range, geography, urbanicity)
Present epidemiological data on its major causes and mortality/morbidity trends
Present racial/ethnic and/or socioeconomic disparity data
Comprehensively summarize behavioral risk factors and/or social/environmental determinants of the problem that have been identified in the literature
Provide references to support all claims. A “claim” is any statement of fact or interpretation that can be challenged. All evidence cited in your paper – for mortality/morbidity trends, race/SES disparities, risk factors, etc. – must be supported with citations. Citations should be PRIMARY sources, including peer-reviewed data-based scientific articles and government data repositories (e.g., https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/index.htm). Do not rely on summaries of research from third-party websites (e.g., https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org), newspaper articles, Wikipedia, etc. In using peer-reviewed scientific articles, be sure to use primary sources, i.e., data-based articles that present original research findings. Do not rely exclusively on “narrative reviews” of research findings (described here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/narrative-review) or cite articles that are described “second hand” in another research article – find and read original research studies to support your claims using Pubmed, Psycinfo,or a similar health sciences database available through The University of Memphis Libraries. Although narrative reviews should not be used to support claims, it is acceptable to make use of systematic reviews and meta-analyses (described here: http://www.bandolier.org.uk/painres/download/whatis/Syst-review.pdf).
Be sure that in-text and end-of-document citations are properly formatted in APA or AMA style. (See useful websites below for APA and AMA formatting guidance).
Paper Section 2:
From the comprehensive list of behavioral and social determinants of the public health problem that you developed in Paper Section 1, select those that have the most potential to be modified (i.e., changed through public health intervention or policy). Present evidence from primary research articles and systematic reviews/meta-analyses to support that these determinants can be modified. Remember that the strongest evidence will come from 1) interventions or 2) prospective observational studies in which the exposure (i.e., a behavioral or social determinant) is assessed prior to an outcome (i.e., an indicator of the health problem).
Identify a health behavior theory that has (or could be) applied to modify determinants of the public health problem. Describe how the theory’s constructs have been applied to prevent or treat the problem by addressing its behavioral and social determinants. If the theory has not been applied to the particular problem you are investigating, you may review studies that applied the theory to another problem and describe how/why you think it can be applied to the problem you are studying.
Using the selected health behavior theory, describe plans for a CBPR intervention aimed at multiple levels of influence (i.e., individual, interpersonal, and community). This should be an intervention that you design rather than a description of an existing intervention from the literature. Because you will design an evaluation or the CBPR intervention you describe here in the final section of your paper, it is important that you are specific about what risk factors and outcomes will be targeted and how you propose to change these risk factors based on your selected health behavior theory. The clearer you are in the specifics regarding your intervention, the easier it will be to develop your evaluation plan.
State who your community partners will be and define their specific roles on your project. Your proposed intervention should be truly “community-based.” Don’t merely propose hiring individuals to run the project. Instead, describe how the intervention program will be embedded in the community. What essential tasks will each person or organization perform to make your CBPR intervention successful?
Paper Section 3:
Describe a comprehensive plan to conduct needs, process, impact, and outcome evaluations of your CBPR intervention. Refer to Tables 2 and 3 and accompanying text in Israel et al., Health Education Quarterly, 1995 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7591790/). Describe and apply both quantitative and qualitative methods in your evaluation plan. Examples of methods that are typically used in evaluation are focus groups, structured or semi-structured interviews, Photovoice, cross-sectional surveys, longitudinal surveys, direct observation, and experimental designs such as single group pre/post tests or randomized controlled trials. Several readings and videos from Weeks 8 and 9 discuss these methods and will be helpful.
Describe a plan to evaluate your CBPR intervention’s generalizability/external validity, i.e., how useful your intervention is likely to be beyond your own project. Use a standard framework to assess your program’s generalizability/external validity such as RE-AIM. The Glasgow et al. paper (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10474547/) and the “Using the RE-AIM model in a faith-based dissemination & implementation study” video will be useful to select methods for this. Methods typically used to evaluate generalizability typically are the same as the examples I gave above (surveys, focus groups, etc).
Propose a detailed budget and explain basic principles and tools of budget and resource management in the budget justification to carry-out the project.
Your final paper should be approximately 8 pages in length (single spaced—NOT “multiple,” “1.5,” etc), Times New Roman, 12-point font, 1-inch margins) excluding references. Remember that every claim (i.e., a factual statement or an assertion that is open to challenge) must be supported by citations from the peer-reviewed scientific literature. You should rely mainly on primary citations, such as peer-reviewed journal articles (e.g., those that can be accessed in PubMed or Psycinfo databases, available through the University of Memphis Libraries) and reports or websites that provide summaries of relevant health data (e.g., https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/index.htm and https://www.tn.gov/health/health-program-areas/statistics.html). Your paper should contain multiple citations — at least 8-10 primary sources. Do not rely on just one or two sources for your entire paper. And DO NOT USE Wikipedia, general Google queries, or the lay literature (e.g., the New York Times or Time magazine) to support your claims.
If your paper is substantially shorter than 8 pages, you should consider whether you have missed important required content or provided inadequate detail to support your claims.
Be sure to properly format your citations in the body of your paper, and in a References section, using either the American Psychological Association 7th edition (https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_style_introduction.html), or the American Medical Association citation style (https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/ama_style/index.html).
Requirements
Maximum points
Paper Part 1 – Present the descriptive epidemiology of a public health problem
The public health problem is defined or described, and the population of interest is stated (e.g., U.S. adults, children of a certain age, individuals residing in a particular geographic area, urban vs. rural adults).
5
Epidemiological data are accurately summarized on trends of morbidity and mortality of the health topic, focusing on the population of interest
10
Data on racial/ethnic and/or socioeconomic disparities are accurately summarized
10
Comprehensively summarize behavioral and/or social/environmental determinants of the problem that have been identified in the literature
10
Total points
35
Paper Part 2 – Discuss modifiable risk factors and application of theory to address the health problem, and develop a theory-based CBPR intervention
Potentially modifiable behavioral and social determinants of the public health problem identified in Paper Part 1 are reviewed in detail, with evidence presented from the primary research literature to support claims that determinants are modifiable
5
A health behavior theory is described that has been (or could be) applied to the public health problem being investigated. Primary research literature is used to describe how the theory’s constructs have been applied to intervene on the problem, and how successful this has been.
10
Using the selected health behavior theory, a novel (i.e., developed by you) CBPR intervention is described that addresses multiple levels of influence such as individual, interpersonal, and community. It is clear what risk factors and outcomes will be targeted in the CBPR and how theory will be used to modify the risk factors.
10
Community partners (individuals and/or organizations) and their specific roles on the CBPR are described
5
Total points
30
Paper Part 3 — Develop a comprehensive evaluation plan and budget for your CBPR intervention
A comprehensive plan is described and measures proposed for needs, process, impact, and outcome evaluations of the CBPR intervention that was developed in Paper Part 2.
10
A comprehensive plan is described and measures proposed to evaluate the CBPR’s generalizability/external validity.
10
A detailed budget including direct and indirect costs (i.e., overhead charges), and budget justification, are proposed to conduct the CBPR program (created in Paper Part 2) and the evaluation (created in Paper Part 3).
5
Total Points
25
Paper Formatting
Formatting requirements outlined in syllabus are followed and page length is met. Paper is clearly laid out and arguments are easy to follow. Grammar and spelling are correct
2.5
All claims are supported using primary peer-reviewed journal articles, government data repositories, and systematic reviews/meta-analyses. Direct citations are avoided and peer-reviewed material is paraphrased in student’s own words.
2.5
In-text and end-of-document citations are properly formatted in APA or AMA style
2.5
At least 12-15 peer-reviewed sources are cited
2.5
Total Points
10
Final Paper Overall Grade
Last Completed Projects
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