One of the most dramatic changes to health care and program delivery came with the advent of the internet.

Individuals and community members now use the internet to seek health information, and ultimately make decisions about the type of care they want and receive.

As a result, web resources have given Health Educators creative freedom to design and implement programs in ways never imaginable.

For your Final Project, you will have the opportunity to design a program that takes advantage of the web resources we have available in our society today.

Since many of our community members use the internet to obtain information and education, you will be challenged to design a user friendly virtual resource that members can use to access health education services. Keep in mind that you are not responsible for actually creating the resource, but you are responsible for using your creativity and knowledge to design it.

As a first step for this project, choose an emerging health issue as your focus (i.e., obesity, heart disease, STDs, diabetes, hypertension, H1N1, etc.). You can select any health condition of your choice - just be sure that it is relevant to our current health challenges and you are encouraged to pick a topic in which you have a strong interest. Once you have chosen your health issue, select a target population - children, adolescents, older adults, minorities, etc.

This group will be the focus of your campaign. When both the health issue and target group have been identified, create the components of a health education campaign that addresses the health issue of your target population. For example, you might design an online smoking cessation program for rural adolescents, or an STD prevention program targeting Latino college women through social blogs or youtube.

Remember, your campaign will be presented in a virtual format, so make sure it is relevant, engaging, educational, and interactive. You can use any methodology of your choice in the design, but it must be virtual, and the campaign itself must follow the steps 1-10 of the community building outline below

Recognizing the Issue

Gaining entry into the community

Organizing the people

Assessing the community

Determining the priorities and setting goals

Arriving at a solution and selecting intervention strategies

Implementing the plan

Evaluating the outcomes of the plan of action

Maintaining the outcomes in the community

Looping back

You will be responsible for submitting two deliverables for your Final Project:

An 8-10 page formal paper describing the health issue, target population, your campaign, and the components of Figure 9.2 as they relate to your campaign and community.

A 10-15 slide PowerPoint presentation showcasing all the aspects of your program design. What does the program look like?

How do you plan to launch it, and how will individuals access it? If I were a member of your community, what would you want me to see?

What information will I learn from your virtual program? What action do you want me to take after exposure to your program/campaign?