Comparing Popular vs Academic Health Information

This two-part exercise will help students compare the quality of health information found in popular versus academic sources and gain practice in critically assessing the quality of a research study.Health Literacy Exercise Overview This two-part exercise will help students compare the quality of health information found in popular versus academic sources and gain practice in critically assessing the quality of a research study. In Part One, students will compare and contrast a CBS News HealthPOP story about a research study examining candy consumption and child/adolescent health and the academic journal article about the study. In Part Two, students will critically assess the methodology and results of the aforementioned study. To complete this exercise, students review the “Health Literacy Library Guide” tool that can be found in the “Health Literacy Module. Please read ENTIRE health literacy guide (e.g. Getting Started, “Good or Garbage,” etc) prior to completing this assignment. Part One – Comparing Popular and Academic Sources of Health Informationa Directions: Please read the CBS News HealthPOP story entitled “Does Candy Keep Kids from Getting Fat?” located at http://www.cbsnews.com/news/does-candy-keep-kids-from-gettingfat/ and the Food and Nutrition Research journal article “Association of Candy Consumption with Body Weight Measures, other Health Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease, and Diet Quality in US Children and Adolescents: NHANES 1999-2004“ located at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/fnr.v55i0.5794 on which this news story is based. Analyze and record your observations about how these two sources compare the below characteristics. Prior to starting this assignment, review the “Taxonomy of Periodicals” comparison table under the “Popular vs. Academic Sources” tab of the Health Literacy Library Guide, a component of the Apply It! Website module on Health Literacy. The “Popular vs. Academic Sources” tab is located under the “Good or Garbage” Section of the Health Literacy Library Guide. a These lab exercises are adapted from two exercises available in “Teaching Information Literacy: 50 Standards Based Exercises for College Students” by Joanna M. Burkhardt and Mary C. MacDonald with Andrée J. Rathemacher.” A pilot project conducted by the NH Institute for Health Policy and Practice and the Dept. of Health Mgt and Policy with funding from the UNH Office of the Provost. Comparing Popular Versus Academic Health Information Sources CHARACTERISTIC CBS News HealthPOP Story Food & Nutrition Research Journal Article Intended Audience Who would be likely to read this and why? Authors a) How many are there? b) What are the author(s) expertise/credentials? Purpose (research, general news, entertainment, educate a specific audience?) Reliability/Accuracy a) Is the study methodology described? b) Are the limitations of the study defined? c) How much data is presented? d) What type of data is presented (disease registry data, survey data, hospital discharge data)? Article Length (in pages) Reading Level a) Simple or technical language? b) Difficult or easy to understand? Graphics a) How many? b) Types (cartoons, photos, charts, graphs, data tables) Footnotes a) Are sources cited? b) Bibliography of resources? 1. How accurately did the popular article summarize the research study? Did the popular article leave out anything that you think it should have included? 2. To what extent was the scholarly article what you expected based on the popular article summary? A pilot project conducted by the NH Institute for Health Policy and Practice and the Dept. of Health Mgt and Policy with funding from the UNH Office of the Provost. Part 2 Assessing the Quality of a Research Study Directions: Review and complete the below set of questions to evaluate the quality of this research study “Association of Candy Consumption with Body Weight Measures, other Health Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease, and Diet Quality in US Children and Adolescents: NHANES 19992004“ located at http://www.foodandnutritionresearch.net/index.php/fnr/article/view/5794/8675. Before completing this section, review the “Evaluating a Health Research Study” section of the Healthy Literacy Library Guide. 1. What question(s) (the hypothesis) was the study seeking to answer? 2. Describe the population being studied in terms of size, gender, race/ethnicity, and age. 3. What health behavior (exposure) was examined by the study? How was this exposure measured? Could the way the exposure was measured lead to skewed results? If so, how? 4. What outcome(s) of interest were studied by this study? How were they measured? Could the way the outcome(s) was/were measured lead to skewed results? If so, how? 5. What was the observed relationship(s) between the exposure and the outcome(s)? How strong was the relationship and in what direction (e.g. positive, negative, none)? 6. What type of study design was used to examine the relationship between the exposure and the outcome(s) of interest? Discuss the limitation(s) of this type of study design and their impact on being able to make definitive conclusions based on this study. 7. What conclusions did the researchers make based on the outcomes observed? If you were asked by a reporter from your local newspaper to comment about the conclusion(s) made by study authors, what would you say? 8. Are the results of the study consistent with others who have examined this same question? If yes, please describe how. If no, what do the researchers ascribe to the differing result? Does this rationale make sense? 9. Who funded the study? Did the funding source or the researchers have a vested interest in the study outcomes? Did the funders have a say in how the study was conducted? A pilot project conducted by the NH Institute for Health Policy and Practice and the Dept. of Health Mgt and Policy with funding from the UNH Office of the Provost. …