Health Promotion Project Plan Assessment Answers

Project Plan

You are required to prepare a Health Promotion Project Plan for a defined health issue either:

1. Dental caries (decay) prevention in a HICOR
2. Malaria prevention in an LMIC is your topic for this assessment however you need to define your own specific target group.

Your project plan should be for a small-sized project that will run for approximately one year and has $50 000 AUD of funding. You can choose the target group based on the evidence of your research.

The preparation of a project plan is an important competency for any health promotion practitioner forming the basis of funding proposals, strategic planning, etc. Some areas such as budget, evaluation, and sustainability will follow in subsequent years of study. The project plan will hone your skills in being able to provide a rational argument as to why a particular health issue is worthy of a health promotion intervention. As a health promotion professional, you will be faced with having to provide evidence as to why a particular project should receive funding and resource support. You need to clearly articulate what the problem is, why it is a worthy area for intervention, who the target group or community is, and what factors contribute to this health issue. You will need to present evidence that justifies the development of a health promotion intervention to reduce the stated problem. You will not be carrying out your own data collection but relying on available data sources. This may mean that you need to make inferences from regional, state-wide, and even national data, applying that to your selected target group/community.

This assessment is a combination of written academic text and tables and figures to show how the ideas fit together. Samples will be given in the tutorial and on Blackboard to illustrate this.

Health issue and rationale:Introduce, describe and discuss the health issue, why it is a health problem, the consequences and importance of the problem compared to other health issues, the scope of the problem including the epidemiological evidence (including data on the nature of the problem, why it is a problem, severity, numbers of people affected, who is affected age and gender distribution, trends, the cost to the community including tangible and intangible costs and a comparison with other health issues. You may include graphs or tables to support the evidence you present in this section. This should be a discussion written in an academic style and you must include references to scoring well in this section. You can use sub-headings to support the structure of this section.

Target group:describe who will your health promotion program be aimed at based on the evidence you have provided in the rationale. In identifying your target group it is advisable to restrict the size of the target group to a small geographical location (e.g. a metropolitan suburb or a country town) or you could use a settings approach (e.g. a small cluster of pre-school groups or mother's groups, a small cluster of lawn bowling clubs, an aged care facility, or an institution such as a hospital/university).

Behavioral theory:This is an important part of the Program Proposal assessment. You need to choose one (1) behavioral theory and discuss critically how this model underpins your approach and the program you are planning. Do not simply describe the theory, you must show how the constructs of the theory may inform your overall program plan and/or the target group selection, and/or your risk and contributing factors, and/or strategy selection. You should use examples from the health promotion literature to highlight the importance of using behavioral theory to underpin program design and delivery. This section should be a discussion (and may include a diagram to show how the theory underpins your program but not limited to a diagram only). This must include references.

Risk and contributing factors:Identity one clear (1) behavioral and done (1) clear environmental risk factor together with the contributing factors for each of these risk factors. The risk and contributing factors must be evidence-informed i.e. you need to include a citation with the description ofeachcontributing factor. A table format can be used and a suggested template will be provided on Blackboard.

Project Plan:The Project Plan should include:

1. Title of the proposed program: e.g. Seniors Pedestrian Injury Prevention Program (SPIPP) (Be creative and think about what would appeal to your target group.);
2. Program goal: A SMART program goal for your health promotion program (1 sentence only);
3. Objectives: You will need to specify two (2) objectives that align with the risk factors listed above. (Ensure that they are SMART). (this equates to 2 sentences only).
4. Strategies: You need to discuss 3 strategies: 1) Communication; 2) Environmental and 3) Advocacy or a Policy strategy. These must be clearly articulated and provide enough detail for the reader to get a good sense of what you are implementing over the course of a one-year program. In selecting strategies, clearly illustrate a relationship between the objectives and each chosen strategy. List and briefly describe the strategy along with the relevant details, all three strategies must be addressed to pass this section. Each of your strategies needs to be realistic so keep in mind your 12-month timeline and finite resources. You should include citations with reference to the peer-reviewed and grey literature to support your strategy selection.

Conclusion:briefly present the main conclusions arising from the information you have presented in your assessment justifying why this is a health problem that should ultimately receive funding and resource support for a health promotion program. Do not introduce new information into your concluding comments.