HEALTH PROMOTION STRATEGIES AND TACTICS PAPER (SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENT)

Students will identify and describe appropriate strategies and tactics to influence

behavioral, environmental, and policy to address the health status and improve outcomes of

a specific target audience in a 5-7 page paper.

For example, a tactic used to influence behavior would be an educational intervention to

increase condom use within a target audience. A tactic or method to influence

environmental change would be to develop an easily accessible system of walking trails

within a community in order to improve physical activity levels and combat obesity. A policy

to improve injury rates would be primary seatbelt laws. An additional tactic to influence

policy would be legislative advocacy focusing on securing funding for cancer research. The

examples above address different target audiences. Your paper will discuss tactics used to

address one specific target audience/community.

It is important that students source information from scholarly journals and peer-reviewed

articles for this assignment. To increase clarification, it should be noted that “interventions”,

“program(s)”, and “implementation” are all words that are the same, or closely associated

with the terms of “strategies” and “tactics” for health promotion. In other words, your

paper should reflect research that has been conducted to investigate improvements in

health outcomes of the target audience you selected.

The signature assignment paper is 100 points, and is due the fourth week, Sunday, 11:59

pm PST.

Describe Health Status of a Specific Community/Population: Clearly describes the health

status of a specific community using results from published needs assessments or current

relevant statistics.

• What are the patterns or distribution of disease? Or, what are the

patterns/distribution of health outcomes as a result of specific behaviors?

• Do health disparities exist?

• Several demographics of the community need to be provided.

• For example, provide the prevalence of males and females affected by a chronic

disease. How do rates of disease vary among different ethnicity groups? Different

levels of socioeconomic status? Age groups?

Identify and Describe a Strategy or Tactic used to Influence Behavioral Change: Clearly

identifies and describes two strategies/tactics/methods used to influence behavioral change

related to the health status and outcome of the specific community or population

described. The tactics discussed need to demonstrate success within the audience they

were utilized for.

• For example, was the implementation of a CVD salt reduction program focusing on

modifying participants beliefs about salt use statistically successful? Did it improve

the health outcomes of the target community?

Identify and Describe a Strategy or Tactic used to Influence Environmental Change: Clearly

identifies and describes two successful strategies/tactics/methods used to influence

environmental change related to the health status and outcome of the specific community

or population described. The tactics discussed need to demonstrate success within the

audience they were utilized for.

• For example, did the implementation of free cooking classes promoting reduced salt

recipes via local grocers demonstrate success? Did it improve the health outcomes of

the community?

• Did increasing the number and miles of safe sidewalk space in a local community

increase physical activity among residents? Did it improve the health of the

community?

Identify and Describe a Strategy or Tactic used to Influence Public Policy Change: Clearly

identifies and describes two successful strategies/tactics/methods used to influence policy

change related to the health status and outcome of the specific community or population

described. The tactics discussed need to demonstrate success within the audience they

were utilized for.

• For example, did implementation of a cigarette tax illustrate success? Did it improve

the health outcomes of the community?

• Did a media advocacy campaign focused on eliminating trans-fats from foods lead to

successful policy change? And, therefore improve CVD rates?

Additional Ideas for Health Promotion Strategies & Tactics Paper

For the target population/community that will frame your research:

• It could be a population defined by/as: o Chronic disease such as Obesity: trans-fat labeling; sugar/soda taxes/Schools o CVD o Tobacco o Alcohol o Seat belts o Workplace safety o Cancer o Prescription drug use o Drug abuse o HIV o Vaccine preventable diseases o Nutrition o Diabetes

Behavioral tactics & strategies:

According to HP 2020 (ODPHP, 2020), individual behavior also plays a role in health

outcomes. For example, if an individual quits smoking, his or her risk of developing heart

disease is greatly reduced.

Many public health and health care interventions (programs/implementations) focus on

changing individual behaviors such as substance abuse, diet, and physical activity. Positive

changes in individual behavior can reduce the rates of chronic disease in this country.

• For example, students could explain and describe a program implemented with the

goal of improving physical activity behaviors in a target population. Then, students

would describe the success of the implementation and the changes in health

behaviors. Provide statistics.

Other example ideas:

• Education

• Attitudes • Beliefs • Values • Actions • Calorie counting, control of sugar intake • Could be a specific campaign or program aimed at increasing or decreasing

behaviors (increasing knowledge of more healthful eating practices) • Could be a treatment (smoking cessation) • Think programs specific to behavior change

Environmental tactics & strategies:

According to HP 2020 (ODPHP, 2020), social determinants of health reflect the social

conditions and physical conditions of the environment in which people are born, live, learn,

play, work, and age. They impact a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life

outcomes. Poor health outcomes are often made worse by the interaction between

individuals and their social and physical environment.

• For this paper students would describe an implementation (intervention/program)

that changed social or physical conditions of the environment and as a result

positively impacted health outcomes. Describe the changes in outcomes and provide

statistics.

Examples of social determinants include:

• Availability of resources to meet daily needs, such as educational and job opportunities, living wages, or healthful foods

• Providing community resources to reduce or limit specific behaviors • Access to healthcare services • Exposure to crime, violence, and social disorder

• Social support and social interactions

• Exposure to mass media and emerging technologies

• Socioeconomic conditions, such as concentrated poverty

• Quality schools

• Transportation options

• Public safety

• Residential segregation

• Increasing access to areas/locations to exercise

Examples of physical determinants include:

• Natural environment, such as plants, weather, or climate change

• Built environment, such as buildings or transportation

• Worksites, schools, and recreational settings

• Increasing the number of safe walking paths so children are more likely to walk or bike to school

• Housing, homes, and neighborhoods

• Exposure to toxic substances and other physical hazards

• Physical barriers, especially for people with disabilities

• Aesthetic elements, such as good lighting, trees, or benches

• Drunk driving checkpoints • Increasing safe or healthy workplace practices • Prohibit smoking in the workplace

Policy tactics & strategies (federal, state, or local)

According to HP 2020 (ODPHP, 2020), policies at the local, state, and federal level affect

individual and population health. Increasing taxes on tobacco sales, for example, can

improve population health by reducing the number of people using tobacco products.

Some policies affect entire populations over extended periods of time while simultaneously

helping to change individual behavior. For example, the 1966 Highway Safety Act and the

National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (MVSA) authorized the Federal Government to

set and regulate standards for motor vehicles and highways. This led to an increase in

safety standards for cars, including seat belts, which in turn reduced rates of injuries and

deaths from motor vehicle accidents.

• For this paper, students would describe the MVSA and then describe how much

injury rates and deaths decreased as a result of the policy. Provide statistics.

Other example ideas:

• Laws • Ordinances • Tobacco tax

• School lunch policy/Nutritional standards • Seat belt laws • Laws allotting funding for specific health programs • Affordable Care Act • Advocacy campaigns leading to policy enactment/development and/or law(s) • Media efforts