Public Health Initiative Addressing Obesity: Concepts, Principles, and Evaluation

Obesity is a major public health problem. Identify a public health initiative in a country of your choice that addresses obesity. Use this to answer the following questions.

Discuss the concepts and principles of modern public health that underpin the initiative you have chosen.

• Discuss in detail the factors that contribute the prevalence of obesity in your chosen country, exploring the culture, the health system as well as political and environmental factors that have contributed to the situation.
• Explore the cases of obesity in the country of your choice and the population that are risk of obesity and the factors that put them at risk.
• Look at the prevalence of obesity in your chosen country and use credible data to show if it is a growing or reducing problem in the country of your choice.
• Provide the impact of obesity and the possible ethical consideration of the intervention.

Identify and explain the key elements of this public health intervention and how they would be evaluated

• Apply each step of the public health intervention to a programme to reduce obesity within a target population.
• Show an understanding of the factors that drive obesity within that target population and how the health initiative will address the factors identified.
• Assess the current provision obesity reduction services within the country, with a view to identify any gaps in areas of need or groups that do not receive services.
• Describe how the programme will be evaluated in line with the set objectives of the intervention and what tools could be used to evaluate the intervention.

Review the evidence that supports this intervention and determine if the intervention could be replicated in the neighbouring country to the one it was carried out.

• Identify and review any studies carried out on this intervention or any performance information about the intervention.  
• Consider the method of the study, what it aims to find out, the methodology used and its findings.
• Use the information gathered from the review of literature on the intervention to determine if the intervention could be replicated in a neighbouring country to the one you have chosen.
• Give reasons for your conclusion

 Describe ways to evaluate a public health intervention. Which method would you use to evaluate this intervention and justify why?  

• Show a good understanding of evaluation methods; which include process evaluation, outcome evaluation and impact evaluation.
• Choose one of these evaluation methods and justify why this method was chosen for this intervention and not the others.
• Describe the steps that would be taken to evaluate this intervention in line with your chosen method and in a manner that allows you to measure the objectives of the initiative.

Checklist for your assignment.

You have chosen and described a named public health intervention in your country that addresses obesity in a target population.

1. You have discussed in detail the factors that contribute the prevalence of obesity in your chosen country, explored the culture, the health system as well as political and environmental factors that contributed to the situation.
2. Explored the cases of obesity in the country of your choice and the population that are risk of obesity and the factors that put them at risk.
3. You have looked at the prevalence of obesity in your chosen country and use credible data to show if it is a growing or reducing problem in the country of your choice.
4. Provided the impact of obesity in that country and the possible ethical consideration of the intervention.
5. Applied each step of the public health intervention to a programme to reduce obesity within a target population.
6. Shown an understanding of the factors that drive obesity within that target population and how the health initiative will address the factors identified.
7. Assessed the current provision obesity reduction services within the country, and identified any gaps in areas of need or groups that do not receive services.
8. Described how the programme will be evaluated in line with the set objectives of the intervention and what tools were used to evaluate the intervention.
9. Identified and reviewed any studies carried out on this intervention or any performance information about the intervention.  
10. Considered the method of the study, what it aimed to find out, the methodology used and its findings.
11. Used the information gathered from the review of literature on the intervention to determine if the intervention could be replicated in a neighbouring country to the one you have choose.
12. You have given reasons for your conclusion
13. Shown a good understanding of evaluation methods; which include process evaluation, outcome evaluation and impact evaluation.
14. Chosen one of these evaluation methods and justified why this method was chosen for this intervention and not the others.
15. Described the steps that could be taken to evaluate this intervention in line with your chosen method and in a manner that allows you to measure the objectives of the initiative.
16. Supported all your work with academic reference.

Before you submit your work, ensure that you have gone through the following checklist.

1. Your work has been proofread
   • Ensure that your work has been proofread to avoid grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors
   • Ensure that you structure your work well, use paragraph properly.  

2. Ensure that you stay within the word count limit.
   • The assignment is for 4000 words. This means that your word count should be between 3600 – 4400 words.
   • Read the word count policy carefully on the question instruction.

3. Make use of formative feedback
   • It is useful to have shown your tutor your work before submission for formative feedback.
   • Please read the formative guide information on your assignment brief.

4. References/Bibliography
   • References should be used throughout, including in text citations and a reference list and bibliography at the end of your work.  Refer to the AU Harvard Referencing guide.
   • References (and headings) are not included in a word count

Formative feedback is available to you via your tutor.  Those who take that up not only feel more confident about their work, but by putting the recommended changes into practice they can significantly increase their marks. You can send your work to your tutor via email; the tutor will provide you with information on the submission deadline for formative feedback. Allow up to 2 working days to get a response.

Submitting your work

LAST Submission is at 2pm on the stated date via Turnitin in the usual way; unless you have been granted extension.

Please be aware that large numbers of students submitting at the same time can cause problems uploading your assignment.  It is therefore recommended that you try to submit the day before where possible!  If the site has crashed at the time of submission and you are unable to upload your work, this is considered a late submission under standard university regulations.   

Student Services are not permitted to accept email submissions from students.  If you miss the deadline or the system has crashed preventing you uploading in time, please go to the student office to discuss how to have late work submitted.