Instructions
Assignment #2: Experiential Exercise and Reflection: Exploring Practices and Policies in Health Promotion and Community Development
% of final grade: 30%
Week assigned: Week 1
Week due: Week 13
Description
In this assignment, students will reflect on a practice or policy in the field of health promotion (e.g. smoking cessation program) that they know about through first-hand clinical or personal experience, or have learned about, and is carried out in the community. Students will review the practice or policy with a practitioner in the field of health promotion to obtain a perspective on how the best practice or policy is carried out or applied. Students will then reflect on the alignment of theory and practice in health promotion as evidenced by their interviews.
Students can carry out this assignment individually or in groups of up to four (4) students. Whether you work individually or in a group, you will be expected to review the practice or policy with one (1) practitioner in the field, but not someone who is currently in the class as a student. When forming groups, although not required, you are encouraged to work with students outside of your own discipline (program of study) to promote interdisciplinary learning and collaboration.
Students working in a group must complete a Peer Evaluation Form. The instructor reserves the right to alter individual student grades within the group based on the results of the peer evaluation.
Preparatory Work
Identify a practice or policy in the field of health promotion.
Review the policy or practice with a practitioner in the field to gain their perspective on how the practice or policy is carried out in the field.
To gain their perspectives, you can request to interview the individual or have them respond to your questions via email. Please see below for some sample questions you might consider as well as some general guidelines for contacting a practitioner.
A practitioner is considered someone who currently works in the field of health promotion and community development (e.g., public health nurse, health promotion officer, community development worker, etc.). Given the interdisciplinary and multisectoral nature of health promotion, a broad range of “practitioners” may be considered, including those working outside of the health field. If you have a practitioner in mind and you are not sure if this person would be suitable for the assignment, please post your idea to the Assignment #2 Q&A board on D2L and the instructor will respond there (you may post anonymously if you wish).
Analysis
Submit a report that addresses the following areas:
A brief context of the best practice or policy in health promotion you chose to explore.
Please provide a rationale for why you think this is an important area to study.
A brief summary of the key insights gained from the practitioner.
Provide succinct summaries of the key points in your interview; please don’t reproduce transcripts or word-for-word accounts. Try to paraphrase key ideas and use direct quotations from your interviewee only if absolutely necessary.
Explore the relationship of the practitioner’s views with specific concepts of health promotion and community development as we’ve learned about them in this course
Be sure to make reference to specific concepts and required course readings from the class
An interpretation from your perspective of the alignment of health promotion theory and what actually occurs in practice, and comment on any disconnects
Reflection on your personal views in relation to what you learned in this project.
Length and Format
Maximum 3000 words, regardless of whether working independently or in groups. The maximum word count excludes the reference list and appendices (if applicable). Please use APA formatting for in-text citations and reference list.
Interview Process
Here are some questions you might consider posing to your practitioner (this list is not meant to be exhaustive):
What is your view of policy or practice X?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of this policy or practice?
Please share your insights towards how this policy or practice is carried out in the field.
Interview Guidelines
Ensure you have your interviewee’s consent to interview them; do not force them to participate and/or to answer any questions they do not feel comfortable answering.
Ensure your personal health and safety – interviews should be held via telephone, video conference or email.
Protect your interviewee’s anonymity – in your assignment, identify them only by their (a) position and (b) work setting. For instance, “a social worker in a community centre” or “an urban planner for a mid-sized city in Ontario”.
