Program Planning I: Description of Health Issue and Disease

Overview

In this assignment, you’ll describe the health issue/disease you will focus on in Program Planning I and II. You will choose a health issue and target population, which will be your focus for two semesters as you create your hypothetical program proposal. In this assignment, you will write a description of the topic you are thinking about focusing on, and you will provide a brief summary of the biology or etiology of the health condition. When you are researching the topic, the population most in need of an intervention should become clear. This essay will be used to assure your topic and population are acceptable for the purposes of this course, and to assess your basic writing skills.

Assignment Format

This assignment should be typed and follow basic APA7th edition formatting, i.e., double-spaced, using 1” margins, 12 point Times New Roman font, ½ inch indent new paragraph with no extra spaces between paragraphs. It should be 1-2 pages long (not counting reference or title page). Note: APA style guidelines also instruct writers to use people first, bias free language.

Instructions

1.Choose a disease or health issue. The disease or issue should be influenced by behavioral factors, not genetic factors (an example of a disease that is genetic in nature is sickle cell anemia). The disease/issue should be one you are highly interested in, as you will be studying it for the next two semesters. The potential target population should emerge from your initial review. i.e., who is most at risk for the condition or for whom is progress not being made. This can be a specific age group, gender, racial or ethnic group, geographic area or other population.  (This is just a preliminary writing assignment and does not mean you cannot change your topic after you have done a little more research.)

2.Explain why you have chosen this topic and population – why is it important to you? Why are you interested in it? What do you hope to learn about this topic? You may use first person (I/me/my) in this section; you may NOT use it in any other assignment.

3.Describe what the disease or health issue is, the etiology (how it manifests), symptoms, and health effects. Be sure to start by describing the normal functioning of the organ this disease affects. For example, if your topic is atherosclerosis, start by describing the heart and blood flow in a healthy heart so that the reader can understand how the disease impacts the heart. Cite your sources in APA 7th format.

4.Include an APA-style reference page. Acceptable sources include CDC, WHO, and NIH websites, as well as peer-reviewed journal articles. Do not use WebMD, the Mayo Clinic, news sites or other non-professional sources.

5.Remember, all assignments require an APA-style title page (use the professional type, which includes a short title in all caps flush top left, and continuous page numbers flush top right).

Grading Rubric – Assignment will be graded as follows:

20 points for clearly explaining your topic and population.

10 points for clearly describing your reasons for your interest in this topic.

30 points for describing the etiology/biology of the health issue or disease.

20 points for correct APA formatting including in text and reference list citations.

20 points for APA paper writing, grammar, spelling, and punctuation.