Program Goals, Objectives, and Strategies

The Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu said, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Developing a public health program is a complex task, and beginning by establishing mission statements, goals, and objectives is essential for any program to be successful. Planning public health programs with a clear vision and direction can increase the likelihood that the program will be effective.

This week, you explore the importance of mission statements, goals, and objectives for public health programs and then develop the mission statement and corresponding goals and objectives for your Course Project. You also complete your second Check Your Knowledge.

Goals and Objectives: Long-term and Short-term Objectives

A group of Native Hawaiians was discouraged when they noticed a high obesity rate in their population. While the community had tried commercial weight-loss programs in the past, the community as a whole was unsuccessful at maintaining weight loss. As a group, they gathered together and decided to request help from their health care system, which in turn developed a program tailored for their culture (Gellert et al., 2011).

They established their mission as decreasing their chronic disease risk, and they identified the goals of changing lifestyle behavior with social support, group support, and community involvement. The community then chose a planning model and assessed the needs and resources of the group. They developed short-term objectives of recruiting participants and conducting 12 weekly classes.

Their stated long-term objectives were to help participants maintain healthy habits for 1 year. Strategies were to post flyers, organize support groups and develop classes to be taught by health educators. At the end of their 3-month pilot, they experienced a 30% greater loss in weight than they had with the commercial programs that had been tried earlier.

As seen in this case study, setting goals and objectives is critical to the success in planning for any public health program. Goals define the overarching mission of the program while the objectives are specific, measurable outcomes needed to meet those goals.

For this Discussion, you focus on long-term and short-term objectives to use in public health program planning.

Prepare for this Discussion:

• Review Chapter 7 in the Doyle text and Chapter 6 in the McKenzie text. Consider the importance of long- and short-term objectives in planning public health programs.

• Think about your own experience creating objectives to meet personal or professional goals.

• Consider how you might create and apply long-term and short-term objectives in planning for your own public health program.
term and short-term objectives in planning your public health program. Support your responses using the Learning Resources and current literature.