Overview

The purpose of this assignment is to pull together the work you have been doing to find a way to address a particular public health concern, and to begin to shape it as a formal plan of action. The name of my topic is “Racial and Ethnic Disparities in HIV/AIDS among Teens in Rural America” In the meantime, I have studied public health policies and health care quality measures, public health organizations and how they are structured, as well as health care information systems, and how healthcare is financed in the United States. This assignment asks you to bring all of these elements to bear on the creation of a plan.

To complete this assignment successfully, you will need to do three things:

1. First, you will need to come up with what you see as the best ideas for addressing the health issue that you chose. These ideas might include any resources that your organization could have at its disposal and the organization(s) (The Health Services Center and Office of Adolescent Health Organization) that are to be located in Alabama. Focus on the issue, use your research to determine what approaches are likely to be effective, and think through the options you might have for making a difference.
2. The second thing you will need to do is take the time to explain, in clear, well-constructed writing, exactly why the ideas you have chosen are likely to be effective. Explain the logic of how you want to approach the problem. For example, if we know that people make appropriate dietary choices when they have clear information about food ingredients, you will need to explain at least two things. You will need to provide the evidence that your idea is true—that is, evidence that they really do make appropriate choices. You will also need to clarify what you mean by “clear information,” and how you propose to provide it. This explanation of the core ideas in your plan is the heart of the assignment.
3. Finally, the third thing you will need to do is to outline all of the elements of your plan so that the pieces fit together. You will need to do this in a way that helps an intelligent management or executive type of audience see how the plan could work. For this assignment, this part of your plan can be done in outline form, ideally following the outline provided in the directions below.

Directions

The structure below is also the structure is how this assignment should be done. Here is the structure for your outline, following APA formatting for Cover Sheet, Table of Contents, Section Headings, and References:

• Cover sheet.
• Table of Contents.
• Executive Summary. List bullet points to summarize the identified public health concern and the proposed action plan.
• The Problem Statement. List bullet points to describe the issue, why it is important, evidence to support the need, and your case to justify expending resources. My problem statement should (Identifies a specific health issue or problem which is listed, providing evidence to support reasons for concern, explains why a particular health problem is a public health issue, citing the appropriate public health principle and providing evidence that this problem qualifies, justifies the need to address a specific public health problem or issue, supporting assertions with citations of facts and data (statistics).
• Possible Solutions. This is the heart of this assignment, as described in the Overview section above—the second thing you will need to do. This is the portion of the assignment that needs to be submitted in paragraph form. Start by summarizing possible approaches to addressing the public health issue.
  • First, describe each approach, including steps that could be taken and why.
  • Next, assess advantages and disadvantages of at least two different approaches in relation to the community involved.
  • Describe at least two organizations that might have a stake in addressing this issue in this community, and provide your rationale for the organization you would choose. (Note: You have done the work for this step in your Unit 5 assignment. Use that explanation here, with your improvements based on the feedback you received from your instructor.)
  • Finally, analyze and explain any legal or ethical concerns that might arise from each of the approaches you described, particularly in relation to the organization you would choose.
• Recommended Action Plan. Provide a bullet-point outline of the action plan you envision, including:
  • Statement of public health goals to be achieved.
  • Specific actions to be taken.
  • Organization to be involved:
    • Human and financial resources required to enact the plan.
    • Information system components required to support the enactment of the plan.
• References. Provide scholarly and peer-reviewed references and citations list to support the ideas in your plan, formatted in APA style.

Public Health Action Plan Draft Scoring Guide

• Describes a specific health concern, including the affected population, the danger to the public, and key stakeholders, and explains why action is a priority for the local public health agency and other stakeholders.
• Describes public health goals based on a shared vision with a public health organization and detailed explaining how those goals address a particular health concern.
• Evaluates approaches to addressing a particular health concern, detailed explaining the assumptions behind each approach.
• Create an outline of a plan for addressing a particular health issue, including actions to be taken, the organization that will lead, and the resources required to achieve specific goals, outlining the contribution of each of these elements.
• Applies effective academic writing skills, organizing the content in a clear, logical format.