how is your topic considered to be a Public Health concern

how is your topic considered to be a Public Health concern

Further guidance on Plan assignment 2018

As this is a ‘plan’, it should suit how your mind thinks about the ‘Main’ task, so we don’t want to be too prescriptive about format for this task. So, bullet points, mind maps etc can be used if you wish.

That said, we are listing below some pointers for the MAIN assignment, as we wish to see an indication in your Plan of what you intend to include for each of these. At this stage, of course, you may have fuller information for some sections, but are quite sketchy for others – but try to give some indication for all of them.

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Download and use the Cover Sheet template (entering your student ID number, not your name).

Give a title, eg “Plan for main ‘Foundations’ assignment, on the topic of xxxxx”.

1) BACKGROUND TO YOUR TOPIC. a) Why and how is your topic considered to be a Public Health concern? Use data as part of stating your case (with sources, of course).

b) What, on balance, appear to be the main causal factors that need to be addressed to improve the public’s health?

2) PUBLIC HEALTH INTERVENTIONS ON YOUR TOPIC. What assumptions are being made in work on this topic :

· About health: eg. is the focus on prevention (pathogenic), or is a salutogenic/positive health perspective being adopted?

· About evidence/data: eg. Is professionals’ data on health the main source of evidence, or citizens’ own subjective perception of their health?

· About people & power: When a decision is made to take public health action, is it made by professionals/elites, or by citizens?

To help explain the above, you should relate the interventions/approaches to at least one of our 5 models of Health Promotion/Public Health, as well as discussing any specific theory that might underlie a particular approach (eg behaviour change theory), though this will vary for different topics & approaches.

c) On balance, do the types of interventions/approaches fit well with the main causal factors mentioned in your background, or is there a mismatch?

3) ETHICS. This may have been touched upon in earlier sections, but if not yet done, you should consider the interventions on your topic in terms of an ethical framework (eg Nuffield, which we will cover later in the module).

4) HISTORY & POLICY/POLITICS FOR YOUR TOPIC INTERVENTIONS. These may be covered as part of the Background, or later. On policy, a key consideration is: Does policy (eg of the current UK government) fit with the evidence on causes, or is there a mismatch?

Don’t use too many words on excessive historical detail – only if it adds context.

5) CONCLUSION. Summarise (briefly) at least one key point from each of the above 4 sections.

State what your actual word count is (& even if you write in prose/essay-style, try not to exceed, say 700 words for the Plan).

6) REFERENCES. Ensure these are all present, and in Harvard format. They are not included as part of your word count.