All assessments will be graded using marking rubrics.
Assessment 1 – Population Background Essay (10%)
Students will choose a population from the list provided, situate the population within a geographical area, and identify a major health problem affecting the population. Students will write a 500-word essay describing the characteristics of the population (situated in the geographical area) and a major health problem that affects them. The essay will also discuss how the determinants of health affect the population, identify the health inequities experienced by the population, and explain how the health inequities experienced by the population threaten health as a human right. The details about the chosen population, region and health problem must be approved by the teaching assistant before the essay is begun. Since this choice will be used for all of subsequent assignments, the teaching team wants to ensure that students are on the right track.
Assessment 2 – Health Needs Assessment (15%)
For this assignment, students will be required to write a 1000-word report in order to address the needs of their chosen population. Students will quantify the level of need in regard to their population’s health issue. This will be done by estimating the “ideal state” with respect to the health issue and identifying gaps between the current and ideal states. Students will be required to justify their choice of “ideal state.” Students will then identify numerous root causes related to their assigned population’s health need and pick one they would like to address further in the next assessment (Intervention Plan). Finally, students will identify barriers and enablers to addressing their chosen cause.
Assessment 3 – Intervention Plan (20%)
For this assignment, students will design an intervention plan to address the chosen cause identified in assessment 2. The intervention should be tailored to the identified cause and include an effective justification of how and why it will address that cause. Students should extract “best practices” from previously deployed interventions to strengthen and legitimize their proposal, while using the identified barriers and enablers from assessment 2 to inform their intervention plan. In addition to describing their intervention, students should make predictions about the effects it will have. This may include estimating how much their intervention could reduce the need of the population, and anticipating any unintended outcomes.
This assignment will be completed in two parts. The first part will be a draft of the proposed intervention, which will then be shared with 3 to 4 peers to receive stakeholder feedback about how to improve the effectiveness of the intervention. The second part will be the final version of the proposed intervention, which should include background information, objectives of the intervention, description and feasibility of the intervention, and the incorporated stakeholder feedback. Students should also include a one to two paragraph description summarizing why the feedback was or was not incorporated to improve intervention effectiveness.
Assessment 4 – Stakeholder Feedback (10%)
Working in groups, students will provide feedback to each other, acting as a different stakeholder for each other member of the group. Students will provide their feedback to their peers during an online session, and will submit the feedback they provided in written form to their peer, as well as to the teaching team, for grading.
Assessment 5 - Discussion Board Responses (15%)
Throughout the course, students will participate in weekly discussions related to important concepts in Global and Population Health. Students must answer the provided question and respond to the posts of their peers to facilitate discussion and a sense of community.
Assessment 6 – Midterm Exam (10%) & Final Exam (20%)