Provide an overview of your experience in the simulation. Consider reporting on the following:

Virtual Poverty Simulation Assignment
Overview
On Thursday, April 8th, the Department of Public Health & Health Education will host a panel of speakers who will provide information on their agency’s efforts to alleviate poverty in the Rochester, New York region. Prior to attending the virtual panel, you will complete this assignment to help you consider the role of poverty on population health.

Step 1. Go to http://www.playspent.org/. This website provides a virtual poverty simulation. It is not intended to be a game. Rather, it will ask you to take on the role of an individual with limited financial resources as they navigate typical living decisions (e.g., food, housing, employment) over the course of one month.
Step 2. Participate in the virtual simulation. The simulation will end if you make it through the full 30-day month OR if you run out of money before the month is complete. Thus, you have two choices to complete this step of the assignment:
a. Successfully complete a full 30-day month in the simulation
– OR –
b. If you are unable to complete option (a), you must attempt the simulation at least three times, getting as far as you can each time
Step 3. Write a paper (approximately 3 pages in length) that addresses the following issues:
(a) Provide an overview of your experience in the simulation. Consider reporting on the following:
a. How many times did you attempt the simulation? Were you successful?
b. What impacted your ability to be successful in the simulation? What choices did you find most difficult or surprising?
c. How did your health/your family’s health seem throughout the simulation? Were you able to eat well? Attend doctor’s appointments? Have health insurance? Did you have to forgo medical procedures? How do you think your mental health would have been if you were someone actually experiencing these events?
(b) Identify two specific determinants of health that impacted you throughout this simulation. For each determinant:
a. Explain how the determinant impacted you, providing a specific example from the simulation
b. Provide evidence from peer-reviewed literature to demonstrate how this determinant impacts health (e.g., How many people are impacted? Are specific populations more impacted than others? What are the effects of this determinant on health?)
c. Provide evidence from peer-reviewed literature that identifies a program designed to address the health impact of your selected determinant
i. Provide an overview of the program (i.e., What does the program do? Who does it target? When/where was it conducted?)
ii. Explain the effectiveness of the program (i.e., What outcomes were measured in assessing this program? Was the program effective?)
iii. Provide your opinion as to why the program did/did not work. Would you recommend that public health practitioners try this program in the future? In what other settings/situations should it be tested? Or, if you do not recommend it, why not? What other suggestions do you have to address this issue?
***Please see rubric for grading details. REMEMBER: Peer-reviewed literature refers to scholarly journal articles. These articles are generally located by searching databases such as CINAHL, Medline or PsycInfo. You may cite basic information from credible sources such as CDC or WHO is writing your paper, but these will not be counted as peer-reviewed sources.***

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