The Population Health Project (PHP) is a discussion and description of the health of the population in a specific community or region. This assignment is divided into parts that are completed separately in different weeks. Please review the instructions and rubrics for each section of this assignment closely prior to submitting them.

In the Population Health Project, you will:

- Select a specific community of interest to you. The community can be a demographic group (eg. race/ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, etc.), a geographical area (eg. state, city, region), or some combination of the two. The community should be specific enough so that you can identify research articles about the group, but broad enough so that you have a sufficient amount of information to discuss in the project. An example of a community you might choose is African American women in the southeast US.

- Describe the community you selected. Be sure to include information about why the community should be focused on and what some of the population's unique characteristics are (eg. location, behaviors, socioeconomic status, culture, etc.).

- Describe the health issues affecting the community. Be sure to include information about what the health issues are and the prevalence and incidence of the health issues in the community. Focus specifically on those health issues that are more prevalent in the selected community than the population overall.

- Explain the determinants of health for the selected population. That is, explain why the selected community experiences higher rates of particular health issues and what is influencing their health status. Refer back to the characteristics of the community in the second bullet.

- Select one health issue that is particularly prevalent in the selected community and discuss this particular health issue in depth. Be sure to include information about what the health issue is, how the health issue develops, what happens to a person who has the health issue, and why the community you selected is particularly affected by it.

- Discuss future trends for the community's health. Be sure to include information about if the community is getting healthier or unhealthier, what current predictions are for the community's health, and what is being done to improve the health of the community.

- Suggest a strategy for improving the health of the community. Consider what would be the best way to improve the health of the community given what you know about it. This strategy can be based on current research about the community.

PHP Part 1: Presentation Screencast

For part 1 of the assignment, you will create a six to eight-minute presentation via a screencast of your PHP project. (Please see the separate section on Creating Screencast Presentations.) Your screencast should address each of the above bullets (recommend one slide per bullet).

After the screencast has been created, you should have a link to the screencast from the screencast website or it can be uploaded to a video sharing website, like YouTube or Vimeo. This is the link you should submit for your assignment along with the PDF of your presentation slides. You can put the link in the comments box of the assignment page in Blackboard. You are not required to include a video of yourself in your screencast, but you are welcome to do so if you would like. For your assignments, the screencast is only required to have your presentation slides and your voice-over.

Submission guidelines:

For this assignment you should submit two things in Blackboard, a PDF file of your presentation slides and a web link to your screencast presentation. If you do not submit these two things as directed, I will not accept the assignment and will ask you to resubmit it.

Please include an introductory slide with your name and title of your presentation.

All information in your presentation that is quoted or paraphrased must be cited correctly with in-text citations and on a reference slide (you do not need to say all of the citations during your spoken presentation) in APA style. You must use at least three scholarly sources other than the course textbook, which should be included on a reference slide at the end of your presentation.

Please submit the presentation as both a PDF file of your slides (save your presentation file as a PDF) along with the web link to your actual "live" presentation. Large PowerPoint files that have not been converted to a PDF will not be accepted. Your "live" presentation should be submitted in the form of a link to a screencast website or YouTube. The link to your presentation will also be posted to BB for your classmates to view and comment on next week (see PHP part 2).

Part 2: Class "Presentation"

For this portion of the project, you will "do your presentation in front of the class" by posting the presentation you created for the PHP Part 1 to the discussion board. Your initial post should include the title of your presentation and a web link to the screencast of your presentation (you do not need to upload your slides to the discussion - just a link to your presentation screencast will suffice). Then, you should then watch the presentations of at least three of your classmates and provide comments to each of them. Your feedback should pose at least one thoughtful question about the population they researched, identify potential gaps in their findings, and offer suggestions on how to expand their thinking on the population and its health. Please make an effort to "spread the love" when choosing which of your classmates' presentations to comment on by trying to even out the number of responses that each presentation has. If you see a presentation with lots of responses, consider moving on to one that has fewer responses. Feel free to watch and respond to more than three presentations. Lastly, you should reply to the comments that your classmates provided on your presentation. Your responses to your peers' comments should be substantial, answer any questions they posed, and consider how to address any gaps they identified. Note that this discussion is arranged differently than other discussions in our course - pay attention to due dates and requirements!

Part 3: Written Paper

For part 3 of the assignment, you will create an eight to 10-page written paper that addresses each of the bullet items in the assignment description. Your paper must be written in a formal, academic, scholarly style. You should utilize the feedback you received from me and your classmates on your PHP presentation to help craft your final written paper.