Introduction to the project
This project provides you with your first opportunity to create a health education program. You will walk through the steps of program planning and write a plan for a three-hour instructional activity. By the time you finish, you will have a plan that demonstrates your skills as a health education specialist.
You will work on a topic of your choosing and create your program for a population with which you would like to work. Pick a topic that interests you. Also, you may want to consider working with a population that might be of interest to you in your future. Remember, when choosing your topic, it must be an issue requiring education to change behavior. While we can use other methods such as policy change or environmental approaches, those will not be part of this project.
Additionally, as you create your project, think of it as a pilot project for a potential larger intervention. For example, if you are creating a program aimed at college students, your project would be an intervention on one campus. If successful, it would be expanded to additional campuses across the state. (We use a lot of imagination in this project.)
You will not execute the entire project. For example, you cannot conduct your needs assessment over the course of only one semester. However, you will write up a plan as if you were going to do so.
Project structure
Your project will consist of 9 sections. The 9 sections are:
Title page
Introduction
Project overview
Rationale (a mini research paper)
Problem and population description
Planning committee description
Theoretical framework
Statement of purpose of the program
Needs assessment plans
Mission, goals and objectives of the program
Structure of the educational program and lesson plans
Appendices
Works Cited
Each of the major sections (Sections 2b-c through Section 6) will be submitted in both draft and final versions. Due dates for each section are provided in the syllabus.
Please write using the voice of a project manager who has a team of colleagues working on the project. For example, “The project assessment team will…” The final version of the document should be one document with all materials. Pages should be numbered on the bottom right. The final version should be written in Times New Roman or Arial, size 12 font. The document should be double spaced. All citations and in-text citations should be in APA style. Resources on APA are provided in Blackboard. It will be submitted on Blackboard. Therefore, you will need to scan any documents in the appendix and incorporate them into the document. (There are a variety of scanning apps. I use Genius Scan.) You may find a PDF is the easiest way to put all your materials together.
Project Sections
Title Page. The title page should provide the following information.
Title of your project. The title should reflect not only the content of the project but be appealing to your target population.
Your name
Course name and number—Program Planning in Health Promotion/PUBH.3011.201
Instructor’s name
Semester and year
Introduction.
Purpose of the introduction. The introduction is used to guide your readers through your project. It provides the reader with the requisite information to be able to comprehend what you are proposing. Think of it as a road map for their journey of understanding your project. A solid introduction will prepare your reader for what is to come. As such, it should be divided into several sections. Please use the following format to structure your introduction. Your introduction will be divided into the following sections. Please put a header on each section. Each section will be described individually below.
Project overview
Background
Problem and population description
Planning committee
Theoretical framework
Project overview
This section of your introduction tells your reader what is to come in the paper. It should be approximately one or two paragraphs long. You should briefly describe the issue and population. For example, “This project is designed to provide parents of overweight preschool children with strategies for healthy meal preparation and family-focused physical activities”. The information from this statement should be tied to your problem and purpose statements. Then provide a similarly brief description of the methods you plan to employ. You may find it best to write the overview once you have finished designing your project. We will write this section at the end of the project. Jot notes and ideas, but the final section should be written at the end.
Background
This section serves as the bulk of your introduction. The background for your program explains the problem and population affected by it. It must be a solid foundation for your remaining work. We are unable to conduct a true needs assessment given the constraints of the class. For our purposes, the background serves as the justification that a true needs assessment would provide. However, remember that you will propose how you would conduct a needs assessment if you could. We will deal with that at a later stage.
You will review the literature related to your topic and build a case that your project is necessary and important. Think of this section as writing a small (5- to 7-page) research paper. Your background provides the factual foundation for your project. It describes the health issue and the ways in which it is currently affecting the priority population. It should be based in the academic literature related to your topic and priority population. You will gather these articles as you do your annotated bibliography assignment. Other sources of information such as credible websites may be used to support your position; however, they are to be supplemental to the academic sources.
The background section should address the questions and prompts below. You may find page 21 of the textbook a helpful guide. The list below is not exhaustive, but illustrative. You may find other important facts that need to be presented. However, you can use this list as a starting point. Do not use these questions as a checklist; they are only a place to begin researching and describing the issue.
Who is being affected by the problem?
What is the extent of the problem?
What are the implications of this problem globally/nationally, at the state level, and the specific population you are addressing?
What are the adverse health outcomes, both short-term and long-term, emerging from the issue you are addressing?
Why is it important to address these issues in this population?
What strategies have been employed in the past (evidence-based interventions)? Were those strategies focused on primary, secondary, or tertiary prevention?
Problem and Population Statements
The problem statement provides a concise summary of the issue you wish to address with this program. The population statement is a brief description of the priority population. Each of these statements should be approximately half a page.
Planning Committee Description
You will identify at least four stakeholders or partners whom you would consider inviting to participate on the planning committee. These may be individuals (e.g., the mayor) or organizations (e.g., the YMCA). Briefly outline your reasons for including these individuals or organizations. Your book has suggestions for selecting planning committee members starting on page 33.
Theoretical framework
Your project should be based on a theoretical framework. You may choose to use all elements of one theory (e.g., the Health Belief Model) or selected constructs from one or more theories (e.g., Attitudes toward the Behavior and Subjective Norms from the Theory of Planned Behavior). You should describe your choice of theoretical framework and justify your choice. You may find ideas as you research the strategies that have been used in the past. The constructs you choose should be evident throughout the remainder of your project.
Needs Assessment.
You will propose the process that you would use to conduct the needs assessment as if you were to actually conduct this project. We do not have adequate time or resources to conduct the needs assessment. Instead, you will describe the process you would use to collect your data for the needs assessment. The process should include the most appropriate and practical methods for collecting data.
You should include at least two secondary data sources and at least two primary data sources. Since you have already conducted the literature review for your background section, your secondary sources should be comprised of sources other than the academic literature. Some potential secondary sources are found in chapter 2 of your textbook. Primary sources might include key informant interviews, questionnaires, focus groups, personal interviews, or electronic surveys. You will need to design data collection instruments with sample questions/prompts for each primary data source. Your data collection instruments should be included in the appendices.
Provide your reasoning for choosing each of the data sources you have listed. Describe why you believe they are appropriate.
Purpose Statements. Concisely state the problem. Your statement should encapsulate the issue effectively and clearly. The purpose statement provides a proposed solution to the problem and a general description of the intended outcome of the program. It should be clearly and concisely stated. The purpose statement should be approximately one half of a page in length. (See page 28 in your textbook for examples of problem statements.)
Mission, Goals and Objectives of the Program
First, write a mission statement for the entire intervention. Remember, your program is the pilot.
Review the section on program goals in your textbook (pages 135-136) and use them as a guide for your program. Since the programs being designed in this course are of limited duration and scope, the goals should be commensurate in scope. You should write two or three goals for your program. Write two to three SMART impact objectives for each goal. You should specify the type of objective.
Goals and objectives may be presented as a numbered list.
Use the template available in Blackboard to organize your goals and objectives.
Structure of the educational program. This section provides a brief description of the following information.
The setting in which the education program will be conducted
Number of participants for which the sessions are designed
Number and duration of meetings (must be a total of three hours of teaching time)
Demographic and other pertinent information about your participants such as age, economic status, cultural factors, and any others that would help your reader understand the program.
Lesson Plans
This section provides a detailed outline of the lesson plans for the session(s) you intend to teach. You should have a separate plan for each session. For example, if you are teaching three one-hour sessions, you should submit three lesson plans. Use the following template for each lesson plan.
Presenter Name
Grade Level or Community Setting
Date
Topic/Unit
Lesson Title
Lesson/Session Objectives (number them)
Methods/Activities
Your methods/activities should correlate with each of the objectives in your goals and objectives section. They should be in an order that makes sense pedagogically, not necessarily in the order they appear in the goals and objectives section. Each objective must have at least one corresponding activity that addresses it. One activity may correlate with more than one objective. The activities should reflect the health behavior theory and/or constructs you outlined in the theoretical framework section. You should develop your own materials, not just take slide presentations or materials from another organization. You will use the ideas from others, but customize them to your population.
Each activity should be described in such a way that a skilled health education specialist could teach that lesson. All supporting materials should be placed in the appendices and referenced.
The time allotted for the activity should be specified. Be realistic about how much material you can cover during a given time period. Also, take into consideration the population with which you are working. Please do not schedule significant break times or meals. You are creating only three hours of training.
List the materials required for the lesson, both for the presenter and the participants.
You may write out this section in paragraph form or compile it in a table as below. You may find that creating a document in landscape rather than portrait will provide more appropriate space.
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