Credit: Photo by United Nations on Unsplash
From Problem 2 Solution is a semester-long project that was done during my Fall semester in Public Health. This project had several learning objects in that the overall goal is to apply weekly teachings to different parts of the project. This project was broken up into 3 parts (4 sections within) in which the first two are done independently and the last two are done collaboratively with an assigned group. The group I worked with throughout the entire semester was wonderful. We learned to adapt to each other work ethic, for we are all different. My group and I decided to work and focus on Diarrheal Disease. I will say that there were times I did slightly struggle researching further information pertaining to this disease. This has taught me that certain diseases are not mentioned enough and should because they are such huge Public Health problems, whether it is relevant here in a current location or somewhere else. The goal of Public Health is to protect and improve the health of people and their communities by promoting healthy lifestyles and research, detect, prevent, and respond to infectious diseases. I am glad I had a glimpse of what the world of Public Health consists of by doing this project. As mentioned before, this project was broken up into different sections and all had different purposes.
Part 1: Data Collection and Infographic
The beginning/introduction portion is all about collecting data and information about the Public Health topic, Diarrheal Disease. The goal of Part 1 is to locate key public health data online, master the descriptive epidemiology terminology and statistics, create charts and graphs in Excel, communicate statistical information to a non-expert audience, and create an effective infographic to communicate and support statistical information.
Part 2: Determinants
Individual Section: The second part of the project focuses on researching and analyzing three literature articles, journals, or papers about determinants that relate to the health problem using an ecological approach. Furthermore, this should address two different levels of the socio-ecological model. The purpose is to understand and utilize analytical epidemiology peer-reviewed articles that present data on the statistical associations between determinants and the outcome by using different types of study designs and their way of measurement (odds ratio, case-control study, cohort study, and relative risk).
Group Section: Once the determinants are determined from each person in the group, we came collectively to combine our findings. We used these findings to create a visual conceptual model of the determinants and the relationships between them. Conceptual models are designed to show the connections among the factors contributing to diarrheal disease and to identify strategic interventions that might act on this health issue.
Part 3: Product, Proposal, and Presentation
This last segment of this project is done by collect information from Part 2 to present an idea for an evidence-based strategy to address the problem. To achieve the start of a proposal, additional research was performed to understand the importance of the problem, setting and targeting a specific population, provide a few theories of the problem, and develop an intervention strategy. This then allows us to determine an intervention product. Collectively as a group, we decided that our intervention strategy would be implementing sanitation programs that will educate our chosen population on the importance of sanitation, such as utilizing the proper technique on how to wash hands, as well as, how to make soap at home. Furthermore in our intervention, installing water pumps and providing monthly hygiene baskets–consisting of soaps, hand sanitizers, and water purification pills or powder packets–should provide a decrease in cases of diarrheal disease. Finally, we were able to put everything in a presentation format to showcase our beginning to end semester ideas to the rest of our peers.
