Assignment: Applied Health Research Project
GUIDELINES FOR THE APPLIED PROJECT IN HEALTH PROMOTION.
OBJECTIVES
During this project, students will demonstrate their ability to...
PREPARE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMMUNITY HEATLH PROFILE AND ASSESSMENT
• Identify and describe a neighborhood or ‘community' and priority population
• Describe the scope and focus of theassessment (specific health problem and behaviors that may lead to that problem).
• Describe data collection methods andsources
o Identifying acquisition process and sources of demographic information
o Identifying specific programs, initiatives and/or policies
o Identifying and scheduling interviews with keyinformants
o Developing interview questions
o Identifying method for recording and documenting interview
IDENTIFY, COLLECT, ANALYZE AND INTERPRET COMMUNITY HEALTH INFORMATION IN DIFFERENT SETTINGS
• Identify and interpret secondary information (demographics, health trends, etc.)
• Identify, interview, analyze and interpret related attitudes and perceptions of community resident(s)
• Identify, review and compare processes, strategies and activities of at least three community programs, initiatives or polices to best practices
• Identify, interview, analyzing and interpret interviews of at least three program leaders and one ‘community' member related to selected topic
• Review and rate data collected from a communityneeds assessment.
• Describe community health status
• Identify community strengths and areas for improvement
• Identify and describe excessive duplication
• Identify and describe potential gaps in services and resources
• Identify and prioritize potential strategies for improvement
COMMUNICATE HEALTH, RESOURCE AND PROGRAM INFORMAITON THROUGH ORAL, WRITTEN, DIGITAL, AND VISUAL PRESENTATION
• Summarize information through use of written text, tables, figures and graphics.
• Present HPRO faculty with a comprehensive paper clearly explaining all aspects of project planning, implementation and outcomes.
• Present HPRO faculty with a brief presentation (powerpoint with audio or video) of all aspects of project planning, implementation and outcomes.
ESTIMATED COMPLETIONTIME
A three credit hour Applied Project may be completed in one semester if students stay focused and submit high quality products during each phase of the project at the scheduled times. To meet University deadlines the project must be defended and comprehensive finals must be completed approximately three weeks prior to the end of the semester. To encourage students to stay on track and successfully complete the project each phase will be submitted before a designated due date. Students will receive advisor feedback and complete revisions before moving to the next phase.
PRE-WORK ANDPREREQUISITES
The Applied Project should be completed during the last semester of the coursework for the master's degree. At least 21 credit hours of required courses must have been completed prior to registering for the Applied Project.
COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS A "COMMUNITY" ?
Communities are typically defined by a geographic area; however, they can also be based on shared interests or characteristics such as religion, race, age, or occupation. People within a community come from different backgrounds and have unique cultures, customs, and values. Before you conduct a community assessment you be able to clearly identify and describe the community or neighborhood of interest.
WHAT IS A COMMUNITY HEALTH ASSESSMENT?
A community health assessment provides a snapshot of local community health status, health behaviors, policies, systems, programs and strategies currently in place aimed at improving the health of community residents. It also helps to identify areas for improvement. With this information, plans can be made to develop a plan for community health improvement by creating strategies for positive and sustainable changes in the community.
COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT PHASES
The Applied Project Community Assessment has three phases:
PHASE I: During this phase you will describe your community, priority population and health problem of focus. Then you will identify ALL resources, programs, initiatives and services related to the identified program in your community. You will conduct an observational analysis of the community identifying characteristics resources and services related to your project and record your findings. You will then analyze your data and identify over-duplication and gaps in services.
PHASE II: The objective of Phase II is to gain more insight into at least three of the programs or initiatives identified in Phase I. During this phase you will conduct key informant interviews with leaders of at least three programs or initiatives identified in Phase I. You will develop and submit a paper describing your community, the health problem, phase I outcomes (resources, observations, etc.), project methods (secondary data, key informant interviews, interview questions), results (themes from interviews, etc.) and Discussion (suggestions and recommendations for programming, policy, systems, and/or environmental change to address the health problem in the identified community).
PHASE III. During this phase of the project you will develop an oral presentation of your project. This will be presented to your advisor and ultimately to your committee as either a narrated powerpoint (adding narration to each poweroint slide) or as a powerpoint with video (you may use a variety of software options for this, Screencast-O-Matic is a free screen recording software that is free (15 min limit) and easy to use. Your final presentation should be 15-20 minutes.
Community Assessment Focus
PROGRAMS, INITIATIVES, RESOURCES
The primary focus of the Applied Project Community Assessment is identification of ALL programs, initiatives and resources related to the health problem that are easily available to the priority population. Most communities have access to a wide variety of services, be sure to include all! It is also important to explore various factors that influence the availability of resources such as policies, systems and environments.
POLICIES
This involves laws, regulations, rules, protocols, and procedures that are designed to guide or influence behavior. Policies can be either legislative or organizational. Policies often mandate environmental changes and increase the likelihood that they will become institutionalized or sustainable. Examples of legislative policies include taxes on tobacco products, provision of county or city public land for green spaces or farmers' markets, regulations governing a national school lunch program, and clean indoor air laws. Examples of organizational policies include requiring healthy food options for all students, menu labeling in restaurants, and required quality assurance protocols or practices (e.g., clinical care processes).
SYSTEMS
This involves strategies that affects all community components including social norms of an organization, institution or system. It may include a policy or environmental change strategy. Policies are often the driving force behind systems change. Examples of systems influences are implementing a national school lunch program across a region or provincial school system or ensuring a hospital system becomes tobacco free.
ENVIRONMENT
This focus relates to the physical, social, or economic factors designed to influence individual and group practices and behaviors. Examples of alterations or changes to the environment include:
Physical: Structural changes or the presence of programs or services, including the presence of healthy food choices in restaurants or cafeterias, improvements in the built environment to promote walking (e.g., walking paths), the availability of smoking cessation services to patients or workers, and the presence of comprehensive school health education curricula in schools.
Social: A positive change in attitudes or behavior about policies that promote health or an increase in supportive attitudes regarding a health practice, including an increase in favorable attitudes of community decision makers about the importance of nonsmoking policies or an increase in nonacceptance of exposure to second-hand smoke from the general public.
Economic: The presence of financial disincentives or incentives to encourage a desired behavior including charging higher prices for tobacco products to decrease their use or the provision of nonsmoker health insurance discounts.
Project Steps
In this project you will gather and assess information on community assets and determine areas for improvement. The process is modeled after and informed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Community Health Assessment and Group Evaluation (CHANGE). The following steps encourage progression toward success.
1. Plan and Organize
a. Identify community including geographic boundaries (neighborhood, county, city) or demographic characteristics. Large counties and/or metropolitan cities should be narrowed to a specific neighborhood or group at risk.
b. Identify priority population
c. Develop strategy or process for collecting demographic and behavioral information (may use secondary data sources i.e. CDC, health dept., etc )
d. Develop process for identification of existing resources
e. Develop process of observation of community resources, behaviors, etc.
f. Develop process for identification of key informants (one community resident, three leaders of programs in three different settings).
i. Settings include: Community at large, Organizations / Community Institution, Health Care, School, Worksite
g. Develop interview questions for key informants
h. Identify Key Informants
2. Gather Information
a. Data Sources
1. Existing data (i.e. CDC, health dept., websites, etc.),
2. Observation (walkability, food access, etc.),
3. Key Informant Interviews
b. Gather Secondary Information
i. Describe the specific community
ii. Describe community health status
iii. Describe the priority population
iv. Identify targeted health problem and contributing behaviors
v. Identify existing programs, initiatives, and policies related to the Health Problem
c. Conduct and document key informant interviews
i. Community resident
ii. Leaders from three different programs focusing on the targeted health behavior and targeted population from three different settings
3. Record, Review and Analyze Information and Provide Recommendations for Improvement
a. Review, analyze and Interpret information
b. Identify and provide suggestions for improvements
4. Present Outcomes
a. Write and submit paper (follow APA guidelines)
b. Prepare and submit narrated presentation (narrated powerpoint or video ppt)
PART I: Community Health Assessment
Community Health Assessment: A community health assessment is a collection of information about the health and wellness characteristics of the community. It will include communitydemographics, health challenges, health resources, and health perceptions. For this first part of your project you will describe the identified community and health problem by providing demographic and socioeconomic information, health challenges and health resources. You willidentifyand mapcommunity health promotion services, programs and resources. You will provide adetailed table of all resources and avisual display of this information by creating a map of the information, programs, etc. Remember, only include programs, initiatives and resources that have a behavior change focus and provide a specific health promotion program/service/resourceon the map. Once you have assessed your community through research, observation and exploration please submit the following components in ONE WORD DOCUMENT.
1. Community overview that describes your community and its health status (demographics, SES, positive health aspects, health risks and challenges, potential causes for risks/issues, and community health priorities);
2. Detailed table of allresources and services related to the health problem;
3. Map of serviceswith legend that designates focus of service.
PART II: Community Engagement
During this phase of the Applied Project you will
1. conduct four key informant interviews and
2. write and submit findings in an academic paper.
Focusing on your identified health problem and priority population identify at leastthree different programs, initiatives, or policies that are attempting to address the issue.Conduct one interview with an individual (participant) in the priority population, and the program leaders of at three different programs from three different settings (i.e. government, school, community, etc). Remember that each of the leaders interviewed must lead a specific program, initiative, or policy addressing the health issue. The purpose of these interviews is to ascertain stakeholders' perspectives on (1) what makes a healthy community, (2) the availability and adequacy of resources related to the identified health problem and population within the community, and (3) how their program/policy/initiative addresses the need.
It is critical that you are well prepared before meeting for the interview. Prior to scheduling theinterview be sure to research and understand the initiative and be able to describebest practices for (1) meeting the identified health need in the priority population, (2) program, initiative or policy content and strategies, (3) program, initiative or policy outcome potential, (4) recruitment and retention processes, and (5) community/stakeholder engagement. Once you understand best practices for your focus and have finalized the interview questions(outlined below) contact the key informants and schedule the interviews.While you certainly want to gain all insights from each person, the interviews should be semi-structured in nature to be sure to address all needed information. Please ask the following questions that address the following concepts, and be sure to add in probes or other questions as needed. Record all responses.
General Interview Questions
1. From a health perspective, how would you describe your community?
a. What are its strengths?
b. What are its most significant challenges?
2. How would you describe a ‘healthy' community?
a. In what ways is your community healthy?
b. In what ways is your community less healthy or unhealthy?
3. What resources are available within the community that promote healthy living? Please describe.
a. Are there enough available resources? Why or why not?
b. What other resources are needed?
4. Give me an overview of this program/initiative/policy.
a. What are the mission, goals, and objectives of this program or initiative? ORWhat is the purpose of the policy? Who will it reach? What are the anticipated outcomes?
b. What are the strengths of the program?
c. What are the challenges that you have encountered?
d. Make sure to probe about the best practices categories if not already identified in the above questions.
i. How do they meet priority population need?
ii. Why did they select the adopted strategies? How did they develop program content and strategies?
iii. What are the recruitment and retention processes?
iv. How did they engage community/stakeholders?
5. What outcomes have you seen from the program/initiative/policy?
6. What impact do you feel this program/initiative/policy has on the community at large?
7. Do you feel this program,initiative or policy is sustainable? If so how? If not why not?
Report the information by summarizing your findings as follows:
• Health Problem (prevalence, contributing factors)
• Individual in the Priority Population
o Overview, Community Strengths, Community Challenges, Observations and Recommendations
• Leader 1 (Government)
o Overview, Description of Strategy (program/initiative/policy), Major themes and supporting quotes, Observations and Recommendations
• Leader 2 (Organization)
o Overview, Description of Strategy (program/initiative/policy), Major themes and supporting quotes , Observations and Recommendations
• Leader 3 (School)
o Overview, Description of Strategy (program/initiative/policy)Major themes and supporting quotes, Observations and Recommendations
• Reflection and Synthesis of the individual programs and the potential multi-level influence these programs may have on community health
• Lastly, address the following question
o "How did conducting the key informant interviews increase your awareness of your community's health and the available resources?"
• In the appendices, attach the names, organization, and contact information of the three key informants, as well asall of your interview questions.
APPLIED PROJECT PAPER
I. Abstract (250 word limit)
a. Background
b. Methods
c. Results
d. Conclusions
II. Introduction and Background
a. Community Overview and Description
i. Defining the Community (location, population, health and cultural characteristics)
ii. Health Problem, (Prevalence, Costs, Contributing Behaviors)
iii. Priority Population (characteristics, predisposing, enabling, reinforcing factors, etc).
b. Community Resources addressing Health Problem
i. Resources
ii. Barriers
iii. Associated Risks
c. Priority Population
III. Methodology
a. Collection of Secondary Data
i. Community Characteristics
ii. Demographics
iii. Health Resources
b. Development of Resource Map
c. Conducting Key Informant Interviews
d. Analyses
IV. Findings
a. Community Health Status and Services (Table)
b. Community Map of Resources (Figure)
c. Duplication and Gaps
d. Individual in the Priority Population
i. Overview, Community Strengths, Community Challenges, Observations and Recommendations
e. Leader 1 (Government)
i. Overview, Description of Strategy (program/initiative/policy), Major themes and supporting quotes, Observations and Recommendations
f. Leader 2 (Organization)
i. Overview, Description of Strategy (program/initiative/policy), Major themes and supporting quotes, Observations and Recommendations
g. Leader 3 (School)
i. Overview, Description of Strategy (program/initiative/policy), Major themes and supporting quotes, Observations and Recommendations
h. Summary of Key Findings (common themes, etc)
V. Conclusions
a. Summary of Key Findings
b. Conclusion and Recommendations
VI. Bibliography
VII. Appendices
a. Appendix A: Key Informant and Contact Information
b. Appendix B: Key Informant Interview Questions
c. Appendix C: Resident and Key Informant Interview ANWERS
PART III: Synthesis PRESENTATION
The final step in the Applied Project is to summarize your findings in a narrated powerpoint (or video) presentation that is informative, integrative and reflective. The presentation should be comprehensive in scope and reflective in nature. It should synthesize your efforts, approaches, and findings, but should be no more than 20 minutes in duration. Slides may include (but not limited to) the following....
1. Introduction
a. Community Overview
b. Positive Health Aspects
c. Health Risks, Challenges, Causes, Priorities
d. Highlighted Health Problem
2. Methodology
a. Demographics (how collected)
b. Health Resources (how identified)
c. Key Informant Interviews (how selected, how conducted, etc.)
d. Analysis (How resources and interviews were reviewed and analyzed)
3. Results
a. Community Health Status and Services TABLE
i. Duplication of Services
ii. Gaps in Services
iii. MAP (Figure 1)
b. Community Map of Resources FIGURE
c. Targeted Initiatives
d. Interviewees
e. Interview Common Themes
4. Conclusions and Recommendations
a. Summary of Key Findings
b. Recommendations
5. Bibliography
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.