Population Analysis

Description of Projects

Draft of Mini Literature Review

Rationale: The first step in planning any program, intervention, grant, or research study is to do a thorough review of health statistics and published literature in your topic area and for your priority population. You must first gain a basic understanding of the topic before you plan anything. You will use the results of your review for your Program Rationale and for your final grant application. Furthermore, knowing how to locate, analyze, and summarize statistics and published literature is a basic competency for all health educators. Therefore, based on your selection of a significant health problem and priority population, you will write a mini review of the literature.

Directions:

1. Using HP 2020 as your guide, identify a health problem and a specific priority population that is greatly affected by the health problem. Your topic must be a prominent disease, a health behavior, or a health-related problem/issue that needs fixed or improved. Your priority population must be a specific race/ethnicity, age, and geographic region (e.g., African American women over age 40 living in NW Ohio). You must obtain approval from me before you proceed.
2. Locate current health statistics for your priority population for your specific health problem (e.g. Hispanics and diabetes). These statistics must include national, state, and local statistics. Reliable sources may include the CDC, the National Center for Health Statistics, Ohio Department of Health, Lucas County Health Assessment, County Profiles, US Census.
3. In addition to health statistics related to your health problem and your priority population, use professional electronic data bases (e.g. Medline, Academic Search Premier) to locate at least 10 current, high quality research articles from peer reviewed, professional health journals. These articles must deal with your priority population and your health problem area (e.g. African American men and prostate cancer). You may also use government websites as a source (but you still must have 10 peer reviewed journal articles.) I want you to use Ohio Link as your search tool. The journals that you cite must be current, professional, peer reviewed journals. Electronic journals are acceptable.
4. Journal articles may not be older than 5 years old – unless the article is a seminal article of some kind, a key review article, or it is needed to explain historical trends.
5. Use End Note to keep track of your articles. You will also probably want to print these articles. Read each article thoroughly and methodically. Highlight and take notes on the authors’ aims, methods, results, and limitations.
6. Synthesize and summarize the statistics that you found and the findings from your articles in a smooth, flowing document. See Blackboard for good examples of this writing style. Use the APA style manual for guidelines on how to cite your sources within the document and at the end of your document. Anytime you borrow statistics and/or paraphrase the thoughts or words of another author, you must cite your source.

Required Sections of the Paper:

• Cover page: Your cover page must list the name of the assignment; class name and number; my name; your health problem topic; your priority population; your name; and the date.

• Introduction: In your first paragraph, please introduce your topic in an interesting way and provide an overview of your paper and what content it will cover.

• Priority Population: Clearly describe your priority population and some basic demographic statistics about them (e.g. proportion of the population, trends in population size, the geographical region, etc.) Paint a picture so that readers have a very good understanding of your priority population and why you selected them. A color graph, chart, or table would certainly be appropriate in this section.

• The Health Problem: Clearly describe the health problem that you have selected that is currently afflicting your priority population (e.g. obesity among Hispanic children). Provide a brief rationale as to why you selected this health problem.

• Significance of the Problem: In this section, use cited data to prove to the readers why this health problem is a BIG DEAL for your priority population. Why is this issue important? Why should anybody care? What problems does this health issue/health behavior cause for your priority population? Premature death? Premature morbidity? Financial problems? Costs? What does this problem “cost” to individuals, families, health care system, and American society? This would be a good section for an original color graph or chart.

• Prevalence of the Problem: What is the prevalence of this health problem/health behavior in the United States, Ohio, Lucas County? What are the trends over time? Is this problem increasing or decreasing for the priority population? Does the prevalence of this problem differ by race, age, gender, geography, socio economic status? If so, explain. This would be a good section for your original graph or chart.

• Results of Past Programs and Interventions: This is the MOST important part! This is where most students receive major point deductions for doing a poor job. Please do not make the same mistake. Find peer reviewed articles that describe interventions/programs (especially theory-based programs) that have been tried for your health problem for your priority population. What interventions/programs were tried in the past for this health problem for this priority population? Summarize what has been tried. Did these interventions work? Why/why not? Describe their effectiveness and results. (Note: This is where you are going to find your best ideas for your intervention!)

• Recommendations of Experts: Based on what has been tried in the past and what worked and what did not work, what do authors of previous studies recommend be done in the future to fix or improve this problem? (Note: See the discussion section of research articles). What would the authors have done differently? (Note – see limitations section of research articles.) According to experts, based on past programs that have worked, what are the best practices for this priority population for this health problem? What are the characteristics of programs that work? Be sure to consult the Community Guide to Preventive Services for best practices. http://www.thecommunityguide.org/library/book/index.html

• Summary and Conclusion: This is where you tell me what you learned from this project. What do you take away from this research? What are the “take home points?” What surprised you? What was most remarkable? How will you use this research inform the design of your intervention? What specific things will you take form this research and incorporate into your program design?

• References: Must include a separate reference page with references in APA style. You must have at least 10 different citations from 10 different peer reviewed articles (not including government websites). Most students end up with 15-20 references.

Formatting Instructions:

• Paper must be typed using Microsoft Word. 11’ font size. 1” margins on all sides. 1.5” spaced type. Pages numbered in top right-hand corner. Paper must include a header with the name of your topic and your name in the top left-hand corner.

• No more than 12 pages, not including references. Must use APA style referencing. Any time that you borrow someone else’s ideas, statistics, facts, concepts, or writing, you must cite the source. Any time that you write information that the average guy or gal walking down Bancroft Street would not know as common knowledge, you must cite your source.

• Paper must include at least two-color graphs or charts that you create from secondary data. You must create them! Must be an original creation, not a copy and paste job.

• Before turning the paper in, send it to the Writing Center in the Carlson Library and have them review it for errors. Fix it and make it perfect before turning it in to me. Writing quality will be a significant part of your grade. What you turn in to me should be perfect.

 Introduction: Got the reader interested in the topic and described the content that was to follow.

 Priority Population: Clearly described priority population and some basic demographic statistics about them.

 The Health Problem: Clearly described the health problem. Provided a brief rationale as to why it was selected.

 Significance of the Problem: Proved that this topic is very important in American society and within the priority population. Described the “costs” of this problem to individuals, families, and American society, etc.

 Prevalence of the Problem: Described prevalence of this health problem/health behavior for the priority population. Described trends over time. Described differences by race, age, gender, geography, socio economic status, etc.

 Results of Past Programs and Interventions: Summarized what has been tried in the past and whether these interventions worked. Why did they work/not work?

 Recommendations of Experts: Described best practices for the priority population in this health topic area. Described characteristics of the programs/interventions that have worked and cited specific examples.

 Summary and Conclusion: Described what he/she took away from all this research. What are take home points? How will this research specifically inform the design of the intervention?

 References: Reference page was completed correctly in APA style with at least 10 different citations from 10 different peer reviewed articles (not including government websites).