Overview
The final project for this course is the creation of a presentation.
Community health educators promote health and prevent disease through education that leads to changes in behavior. Health educators address lifestyle and health issues such as nutrition, substance abuse, and pregnancy by providing information and knowledge on these issues to the public. While there are many methods that health educators use to do this, one of the primary means is by presenting to various audiences. To this end, you will develop a presentation on a community health issue for your summative assessment. This will give you a small taste of what it is like to be a community health educator.
For your presentation, you will be placed in the role of a community health educator in the county of your choice; you can select the county where you live, or a county in an area of interest to you. You will then select a public health issue from the list below, or you may select an issue not on the list with your instructor’s approval. The issue you select should be of professional interest to you. Next, you will identify a group of community stakeholders in the county you selected who could help address your issue.
After selecting a county, a public health issue, and a community stakeholder group, you are ready to develop your presentation. The audience for your presentation is the community stakeholder group you selected, and the goal of your presentation is to educate that audience on the specific health issue you selected, soliciting their support and involvement in addressing the issue. Your presentation will be informed by research and data from the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps website, in addition to other relevant resources.
Public Health Issue:
Obesity
Community Stakeholder Groups:
School officials
Parent Teacher Organization (PTO)
Church pastors or other religious leaders
Grocery store managers
Local physicians
Community center director
Prompt
Your presentation should address the following prompt: Select a county, a public health issue, and a group of community stakeholders. Use the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps website and other relevant resources to research your issue. Remember that the audience for your presentation is the group of community stakeholders within the county you selected. You will need to include speaker notes with your presentation so that your instructor will know what you would say if you were actually presenting to this group.
Specifically the following critical elements must be addressed:
Communication With Audience: Be sure that you tailor your presentation for the audience you selected. For instance, if you are presenting to a group of physicians, the language and terminology that you use might be different than if you are presenting to a school PTO.
Introduction: In this section, you will discuss your role as a community health educator in addressing public health issues. Specifically, you should address the following:
Role and Responsibilities: Explain your professional role and responsibilities as a community health educator, focusing on the issue you selected. In other words, what do you do as a community health educator related to the issue?
Work: Describe the typical areas in which community health educators work, focusing on the issue you selected. In other words, where else might your audience see you? Examples of locations you might discuss include private health agencies, health clinics, nongovernmental health agencies, and community-based organizations.
Goal: In your role as a community health educator, what is your specific goal in this presentation related to the issue you selected? For instance, you might want to prevent or reduce instances of the issue you selected or a problem connected to it. Or you might want to promote healthy lifestyle choices in a particular area.
Public Health Issue: In this section, you will apply basic principles of community health education to the issue you selected. Then, you will illustrate how aspects of community health education programs can be used to address the issue. Specifically, you should address the following:
Issue: Describe the public health issue that you selected, basing your description on principles of community health education.
Risk Factors: What are the risk factors for the issue? For example, is there a population that is more likely to face this issue? Or are there behaviors that typically lead to the issue? Your response should be based on principles of community health education.
Impact: How does the issue impact the community? For instance, does the issue affect public safety in the community? Does the issue affect the local tax rate? Your response should be based on principles of community health education.
Community Need: Explain why the issue is a need in the community. In other words, why should this issue be addressed? Support your explanation with relevant data and research.
Program: Illustrate, concisely and broadly, how this issue could be addressed in the community. In other words, provide a brief, broad description of a community health education program that could be developed to address the issue. For example, you might develop a nutrition program to educate the community on making healthier diet choices.
Stakeholder Involvement: How can the stakeholders you are presenting to be involved in addressing the issue? For instance, you might ask grocery store owners to donate healthy snacks to an afterschool program, or you might ask the community center director to provide meeting space for a support group.
Educational Information: In the concluding section of your presentation, you will explain how intervention and prevention strategies can be used to support health behavior changes in the community. Specifically, you should address the following:
Health Behavior: Based on the data and your research of the issue, what changes in behavior should occur in order to see improvement in the issue? For example, setting specific and measurable weight loss goals could be a behavior change when working to reduce obesity.
Resources: Describe the resources and health services that are available to support these health behavior changes. In other words, what resources could the community use to support the health behavior changes you identified?
Strategies: How can key prevention and intervention strategies be used to support the changes in behavior that you identified? For instance, you might explain a prevention strategy such as community education around
Milestones Attached
Milestone One: Draft of Public Health Issue
In Module Four, you will submit a draft of the Public Health Issue section (critical element III above) of your final project.
Milestone Two: Educational Information
In Module Six, you will submit a draft of the Educational Information section (critical element IV above) of your final project.
What to Submit
Your presentation should contain approximately 8–10 slides and use Prezi, PowerPoint, or another comparable presentation tool. If you would like to, you may use the Final Project Template to complete this project. Make sure that you include speaker notes so that your instructor knows what you would say if you were to actually give the presentation. Include at least seven references cited in APA format.
