Reflection Paper Assignment Guide Assignment Guidelines – Please review the Course Summary lecture before completing the assignment – Your completed assignment should be 800-1500 words (about 3-6 pages, double-spaced) – Any references should be listed in APA format – The file you upload to Blackboard should be a Word document named “LastnameFinal.doc” or “LastnameFinal.docx” – Please include your name and word count at the top of the first page. o Please do not submit work previously submitted for other courses or previous assignments in this course. Grading Since this is a reflective writing assignment, there are no RIGHT answers. Therefore, grading will be based on: – Thoroughness in addressing the prompts – Demonstrated comprehension of course material (e.g. using examples from lectures/readings, referring to group projects, bringing up key course concepts) – Originality of thought; quality of insight (i.e. your statements should reflect your own interpretation of the course material, rather than merely repeating the course content) – Writing (e.g. grammar, mechanics, sentence structure, spelling, etc) – Length (assignment is within word limits provided) Course Module Topics/Approaches B. Community-Based Prevention C. Media Advocacy D. Prevention Policy & Legislative Advocacy E. Addressing Corporate Practices Prompts (please respond to all 3 prompts below) 1. In this course, we have focused on approaches that focus on the “higher levels” of the social-ecological model (organization, community, policy). What are two benefits of focusing public health practice on the higher levels versus the individual/interpersonal levels? a. Please include a specific example to support each of the two benefits that you identify. 2. Which one of the approaches from the four course content modules (above) do you think should be the highest priority for public health practice? Explain and justify your choice, including responses to the following. a. How does this approach contribute to public health practice? b. Why is it more important/effective than the other approaches? c. Why is it well-suited to an ecological perspective? 3. Briefly discuss which one of the approaches you think would be your preferred focus, if you choose a career in public health. Some questions to consider: a. Which one of the approaches do you feel best matches your own personal strengths and weaknesses? b. Which one do you feel is most aligned with the public health issues you are interested in? (Public health global health is my concentration) c. In what way do you anticipate that you would be involved in this approach?

 

Public Health Practice

Student’s Name

Institution Affiliation

Course

Date of Submission

 

 

Public Health Practice

Public health practice is typically considered to be a concentration that is strategically regarded as sufficient by many professionals as well as nurses, social workers, physicians, and nutritionists who work in a public health environment. The initiative of public health practice is to champion for appropriate health status and quality of life via stopping and controlling any form of sickness, injuries and disability conditions. Also, public health is also viewed as the art and science of incorporating a healthy community through carrying out educational programs, different active studies and promotion of healthy living status. Public health consequently engages in health improvements and ailment prevention that differs from medical approaches that typically champions for diagnosis and treatment of various diseases and conditions arising after they have occurred.

Levels of Public Health Practice

A health promotion field is on many circumstances criticized for concentrating on various lifestyle improvements while on the other hand avoiding describing the contextual issues that continually affects health.  A majority of the social-ecological models highlights individuals as part of the critical more significant social composition and explains the interactive features of individuals and surroundings that underlie health results. The social, ecological model assumes not only that focusing public health practice on the high-levels is significant as they are strategically interactive and reinforcing at the same occasion. As observed by Frieden, T. R. (2010), the social, physical and the cultural condition of a surrounding consequently have cumulative and positive effects on health conditions. The surrounding of higher levels is always multilayered as neighbors and organizations are associated in more significant social and economic structures and the surrounding situation that is likely to influence the health status of people in several ways regarding their unique beliefs and operations.

Moreover, influencing the entire aspects of the environment and interpersonal levels are likely to be impractical, and thus there is the need for interventions that concentrate on higher levels of public health practice. It is evident that various medical institutions such as the association of schools of public health acknowledge and encourages all public health students to embrace health practice on higher-levels with the aim of enhancing health conditions (Hess, McDowell & Luber, 2012). As outlined within the health promotion sector, a high-level technique has been applied as essential considerations in planning and evaluation strategies and to efficiently understand the various determinants of specific human behaviors such as smoking, nutrition, and physical operations. The degree at which the need to focus on higher-levels in articulating public health issues have been incorporated in practice; even though, its use is still not apparent all round and thus needs more explanation and study. Studies talking about the frequency of multilevel strategies within the health promotion environment have been inadequate.

Approaches for Public Health Practice

Personally, prevention policy and legislative advocacy ought to be the highest priority for any public health practice as the plan incorporates all the essential health considerations into policymaking in the entire divisions and at all levels necessary for enhancing health services to all societies and individuals. Advocacy is a fundamental health promotion process that has a primary objective of dealing with main difficulties in the public health and occupational health section (Glasgow et al. 2012). Some of the barriers evaluated through this approach of prevention and legislative advocacy include the deteriorated living and working status, rather than personal or behavioral difficulties. The use of support in public health practice first gained its momentum from the Ottawa charter of health advancement where other considerations such as economic, political and social factors are considered to be part of contributions towards good or ill health. Prevention policy and legislative advocacy typically plays a significant role in building and keeping occupational health programs and also critical in shaping the social and political environment.

The processes and techniques of advocacy and policy are not easily outlined regarding programs, and this is because advocates need to incorporate a similar set of responsive and opportunist mechanism that is considered vital for all active public point of view. Also, the effectiveness of any public health practice entirely relies on a well-structured authorizing statutes and necessary appropriations from the national and state legislatures. The duty of ensuring effective public health legislation typically falls on the public health professionals who are capable of controlling the substance of proposed bills and introduces the effects of proposed legislation on the public’s health.  Therefore, these are some of the reasons why this approach is practical as compared to the other three techniques discussed (Glasgow et al. 2012). Another essential consideration as to why prevention policy and legislative advocacy is the appropriate approach in public health practice is that support tries to alter the upstream accounts. This includes regulations, laws, policies and organizational practices goods and prices standards that affect the personal health choices of several individuals and the surroundings in which these considerations are made.

Preferred Approach

The preferred approach for great focus is that of the community-based prevention technique that strategically focuses on not only improving and changing one’s characteristics but also concentrates on the entire population health condition. Moreover, the approach continuously acknowledges and supports academics together with practitioners available in public health and preventive medicine (Wallerstein & Duran, 2010). Due to the constant benevolent investments and the emerging success of restricted policies and strategies, there has been a tremendous shift away from typically concentrating entirely on people’s characters change to enhance health, towards environmental and policy advancement for health advancements. Even though, outside the group of public health and preventive considerations; the advantages of community-based prevention strategy are less well articulated. Some of the questions and concerns that policymakers strategically have on engaging the community-based prevention program include the outcomes, cost, and explicability.

Regarding the approach that matches personal weaknesses and strengths, media advocacy is an essential approach of focus as this method aims at using the media platforms in applying the needed considerations in encouraging policy alterations and to promoting public health objectives. Public health consideration plans are on many occasions extensive and require the help of the media in the communication processes thus becoming a significant mode of addressing the difficulties associated with public health concerns. According to Frieden, T. R. (2010), the approach also incorporates other methods such as the social advocacy with the strategic and innovative aim of pressuring decision makers to alter the existing policy. Also, the technique that strategically outlines the strategic issues associated with a public health concern is the prevention policy and legislative advocacy as this method strategically considers international public health concerns such as the use of marijuana and smoking issues that are global health concerns. Some policies and rules have been implemented with the aim of controlling these health hazards and controlling their levels of consumption.

References

Frieden, T. R. (2010). A framework for public health action: the health impact pyramid. American journal of public health100(4), 590-595.

Glasgow, R. E., Vinson, C., Chambers, D., Khoury, M. J., Kaplan, R. M., & Hunter, C. (2012). National Institutes of Health approaches to dissemination and implementation science: current and future directions. American journal of public health102(7), 1274-1281.

Hess, J. J., McDowell, J. Z., & Luber, G. (2012). Integrating climate change adaptation into public health practice: using adaptive management to increase adaptive capacity and build resilience. Environmental Health Perspectives120(2), 171.

Wallerstein, N., & Duran, B. (2010). Community-based participatory research contributions to intervention research: the intersection of science and practice to improve health equity. American journal of public health100(S1), S40-S46.

 

Still stressed from student homework?
Get quality assistance from academic writers!