Epidemiology is the science public health practitioners use to study the patterns, causes, and effects of health conditions in defined populations. Public health practitioners rely on epidemiology to understand the risks and protective factors associated with health conditions, and to identify health disparities and specific populations at risk for disease. Studies in epidemiology inform the development of public health policy and targeted interventions to prevent disease and reduce health disparities.
For your final project, you will complete an epidemiological research study report based on the provided research study, “Salmonella in the Caribbean.” Epidemiologists in the field often must develop recommendations to address specific health issues, and part of that process is analyzing what other communities and epidemiologists have already done to address the issues. In your epidemiological research study report, you will analyze a health issue, the population impacted, and the prevention strategies used. You will then develop a research question and determine an appropriate research design to further investigate the issue.
The final project is divided into two milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Three and Five. The final product will be submitted in Module Seven.
Prompt
For your final project, you will develop an epidemiological research study report on the provided research study, “Salmonella in the Caribbean,” which investigates a public health issue impacting a specific population. In your project, you will analyze the population impacted by the public health issue to accomplish the following:
- Make connections between social and behavioral determinants and disparities.
- Analyze the health issue to determine key epidemiologic principles and identify patterns and trends.
- Examine the levels of prevention used in the research study.
For the conclusion to your research study report, you will develop a research question to further investigate the public health issue and population, and to determine an appropriate research design for investigating the research question.
Specifically, you must address the critical elements listed below. Most of the critical elements align with a particular course outcome.
- Population: In this report section, you will summarize key elements of the research study and analyze the population impacted by the health issue.
- Summarize the people, places, and times represented in the research study to provide context for your report.
- Describe three social and behavioral determinants strongly associated with the public health issue in the research study. Be sure to cite specific examples from the research study to support your description.
- Describe three known disparities associated with the health of the specific population. Be sure to cite specific examples from the research study to support your description.
- Explain how the identified social and behavioral determinants relate to the disparities you identified, and explain your reasoning.
- Health Issue: In this section of your final project, you will analyze the health issue that is the focus of the research study. You will draw conclusions about the health issue by reviewing the research study and conducting outside research on the topic.
- Describe the risk factors associated with the public health issue. Support your description with evidence from the research study and your independent research.
- Describe the mode of transmission of the public health issue. Support your description with evidence from the research study and your independent research.
- Determine the incidence and prevalence of the health issue using the data from Table 1 of the research study to perform the appropriate calculations.
- Determine the mortality rate of the health issue using the data from the research study to perform the appropriate calculations.
- Interpret the odds ratio to determine the strength of association between the potential sources of exposure and the disease using the odds ratio given in Table 2.
- Using your research and analysis, draw connections between the population and public health issue. Consider where you identified common elements, what you learned about the public health issue by studying the population, and what you learned about the population by studying the public health issue.
- Levels of Prevention: In this section, you will describe the prevention strategies the epidemiologists used in the research study. You will identify a strategy for each level of prevention and then differentiate between the strategies.
- Describe a primary prevention strategy represented in the research study, and explain how it addresses key factors impacting the health issue of the specific population.
- Describe a secondary prevention strategy represented in the research study, and explain how it addresses key factors impacting the health issue of the specific population.
- Describe a tertiary prevention strategy represented in the research study, and explain how it addresses key factors impacting the health issue of the specific population.
- Explain how the primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention strategies differ in how they address the key factors impacting the health issue in the research study.
- Conclusion: Now that you have analyzed the research study, you will develop a research question to further investigate the specific health issue and population, select an appropriate research design, and explain the importance of the research to the field of public health.
- Using your analysis of the research study, develop a research question to further investigate the specific public health issue and impacted population.
- Determine whether an observational or experimental research design would be more appropriate to investigate your research question. Be sure to justify your determination.
- Explain the importance of further research for improving the quality of health in the specific population. What is the potential benefit?
Expert Solution Preview
In this final project, students will develop an epidemiological research study report based on the provided research study, “Salmonella in the Caribbean.” The purpose of this project is to analyze a public health issue impacting a specific population and create recommendations for further investigation. The report will consist of several sections, including Population, Health Issue, Levels of Prevention, and Conclusion.
In the Population section, students will summarize key elements of the research study and analyze the population impacted by the health issue. They will provide context by summarizing the people, places, and times represented in the research study. Additionally, students will describe three social and behavioral determinants strongly associated with the public health issue in the research study and provide specific examples from the research study to support their descriptions. They will also describe three known disparities associated with the health of the specific population and cite specific examples from the research study. Students will explain how the identified social and behavioral determinants relate to the disparities they identified and provide reasoning for their explanations.
In the Health Issue section, students will analyze the specific health issue that is the focus of the research study. They will describe the risk factors associated with the public health issue and support their descriptions with evidence from the research study and independent research. Furthermore, students will describe the mode of transmission of the public health issue and provide evidence to support their descriptions. They will determine the incidence and prevalence of the health issue using the data from Table 1 of the research study and perform the appropriate calculations. Additionally, students will determine the mortality rate of the health issue using the data from the research study and perform the appropriate calculations. To interpret the odds ratio and determine the strength of association between potential sources of exposure and the disease, students will refer to Table 2. Lastly, students will draw connections between the population and public health issue based on their research and analysis, considering common elements and the reciprocal relationship between studying the population and studying the health issue.
In the Levels of Prevention section, students will describe the prevention strategies used in the research study. They will identify a primary prevention strategy, a secondary prevention strategy, and a tertiary prevention strategy, and explain how each strategy addresses key factors impacting the health issue of the specific population. Furthermore, students will explain how primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention strategies differ in how they address the key factors impacting the health issue in the research study.
Lastly, in the Conclusion section, students will develop a research question to further investigate the specific public health issue and impacted population. They will determine whether an observational or experimental research design would be more appropriate to investigate their research question and justify their determination. Additionally, students will explain the importance of further research in improving the quality of health in the specific population and discuss the potential benefits of conducting such research.
Overall, this final project allows students to apply their knowledge of epidemiology and public health principles to analyze a real-world research study. By completing this project, students will be able to understand the connection between social and behavioral determinants and health disparities, identify key epidemiologic principles, and examine levels of prevention used in a research study. They will also develop critical thinking and research skills as they formulate a research question and determine an appropriate research design.
