Critical Evaluation of a Public Health Topic: Relationship to Policy and Practice

Assessment Structure

 -Prepare a 4000 word essay demonstrating your understanding and critical evaluation of a key public health topic of your choice and its relationship to policy and practice. 

Start by thinking about the question (or questions) you are trying to answer. Your entire essay will be a response to this question. 

Your introduction should set the scene and start to answer the question posed in your assignment title.

-What topic are you addressing and why?

-Why is it a public health issue?

-Situate your issue within different national, cultural and global public health contexts.

-What has past and current policy (specifically in the UK) stated about this issue and how has that affected the current status of this public health issue?

-What will you essay cover? 

Using evidence based research, discuss what the main determinants of ill health are in relation to this public health issue? Are they all applicable? Do they interact?

-Social (e.g. social support networks, education)

-Economic (e.g. Income and social status)

-Biological (e.g. gender, genetics)

-Technological (e.g. Digital technologies are increasingly important as ways to gain access to most of the important social determinants of health including employment, housing, education and social networks)

-Environmental (e.g. safe water and clean air, healthy workplaces, safe houses, communities and roads all contribute to good health) 

How has the public health issue you have chosen been addressed in the UK? Through:

-Health protection (e.g. Ensuring the safety and quality of food, water, air and the general environment; Preventing the transmission of communicable diseases; Managing outbreaks and the other incidents which threaten the public health).

-Health improvement (e.g. the work to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals or communities through enabling and encouraging healthy lifestyle choices as well as addressing underlying issues such as poverty, lack of educational opportunities and other such areas.)

-Health care services (e.g. A wide range of public health activity takes place in NHS trusts – from setting up alcohol screening programmes to running sexual health services and developing trust-wide public health strategies.) 

Conclusion (Learning outcome 1 and 4)

-Synthesize, don’t summarize. Re state what you intended to do in this essay and synthesise your main findings from discussion points 1 and 2.

-Play the “So What” Game – what does your essay mean? Is the issue you have picked to investigate still of concern?

-Propose a course of action, a solution to an issue, or questions for further study. Should more action be taken to address this issue? And if so, how? What do we need to know more about in order to make improvements (suggestions for further research)? Use research evidence to support your ideas.

-What are the broader implications? What do your findings mean for practice and policy? 

Provide a personal reflection statement about how you have improved your communication skills when working with peers from a variety of ethnic and cultural contexts throughout the module, in formal presentations and seminar group work.