The goal of each application exercise is to consider how course content from the respective unitcan be applied to any public health crisis or challenge, past or present, in order to inform our understanding of it. You could examine the COVID-19 pandemic, some other disease threat (e.g., HIV/AIDS, Ebola, West Nile), a behavioural concern or epidemic (e.g., obesity in North America, smoking in the Philippines), a health disparity (e.g., higher rates of diabetes in Indigenous Canadians), or other threats to public health, such as climate change. Over the term, you may consider the same public health crisis or challenge in all of your assignments or you may examine a different crisis in each, it is up to you. From each unit, you should choose any one topic, concept, theory, or research finding (or a set of related concepts or findings) presented somewhere in the unit (i.e., from textbook readings or lectures) and apply it to the public health crisis or challenge of your choice. Your goal is to consider the topic/concept/theory/research within the context of the crisis or challenge and offer insight about it.
You may focus on how the health crisis or challenge has unfolded, the causes of the crisis, relevant behaviours related to the crisis, the psychological or social response to the crisis, and/or the psychosocial impact of the crisis. For example, in Unit 1, you could discuss the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, a specific aspect of that stress, or an effective means of coping with it (e.g., human-animal interaction). Whatever approach you take, each application exercise should clearly take a health psychology perspective, such that something of a psychological, behavioural, or social nature related to the public health crisis is being considered. For each application exercise, you should strive to present a fairly concise and focused discussion.
The audience should be someone who has completed this course. As such, there should be very little time spent restating what has already been stated. Instead, you should be demonstrating critical thinking by presenting original insight(s). The primary goal of these assignments is to apply course content; however, if it is either necessary or appropriate for your topic, you may cite outside sources as you see fit (to a maximum of 3 references per assignment). If referring to ideas or research findings presented in lecture content or in the textbook, you may simply treat this information as general knowledge and no formal citations are needed (and therefore no References page is needed in this case). If you refer to any other literature or outside sources in an application exercise (e.g., information on the health crisis or challenge, including statistics; or relevant research findings not discussed in class), then you must cite the information according to APA style AND also include an additional References page listing the full reference(s) for this new information. A References page is therefore NOT required in all cases. It depends on the approach you take.
Application exercises are not meant to be summaries of course material. Rather, they are intended to encourage critical thinking about specific research topics, theories, and concepts/models as they may relate to or inform the crisis or issue of your choice.
APPLICATION EXERCISE REQUIREMENTS:
Each application exercise must be typed, double-spaced (with 1-inch margins), in 12-point Times New Roman or similar font, and NO MORE THAN ONE PAGE IN LENGTH (any additional content will be ignored, with the exception of a References page). First-person perspective and direct quoting should be used minimally and formal/academic tone should be maintained throughout. You must include a heading at the top of the first page indicating the unit number and the health crisis/challenge being examined along with your name and student number (see sample online). The course concept(s) being examined should also be clear in the first sentence. A References page can be included in addition to the one page if it is required (i.e., if you cite information not cited in the textbook or lecture). You should adhere to APA formatting (7th ed., APA, 2019); however, application exercises do NOT require a title page, an abstract, a running head, or additional headings.
APPLICATION EXERCISE SUBMISSION:
(1) Application exercises must be uploaded directly to Canvas by 11:59 PM (PST) on the due date indicated (see course schedule). In Canvas, go to Assignments and click on the appropriate link to upload each assignment. All assignments should be submitted in PDF format.
(2) Application exercises must ALSO be uploaded to “TurnItIn” by 11:59 PM on the day of submission (see further details below). If you do not upload your assignment to BOTH places by the deadline, you will receive a grade of ‘0’ for the assignment. In cases of medical emergencies or unforeseen circumstances, concessions may be offered (see UBC’s policy on in-term concessions), but you must contact me within 24 hours of the deadline. If your concession is approved, a late submission may be accepted or your paper grade may be re-weighted.
