Public Health Question

The Individual Research Paper assignment asks you to identify a cultural group that you identify with and explore a disparity that the group experiences using data to describe and define the disparity, including comparisons to other groups (without that last piece it wouldn’t be a disparity, just a health outcome).

This in-depth analysis of the health disparity in a specific cultural group should be 7-8 pages long (not including cover page, references, and attachments), and address the following components

1. Choose a cultural group that you feel you have an active identity around or involvement with and provide some background on the culture:

• Describe your relationship to this culture.
• Provide historical context for the culture, including its origins and key developments that have helped shape the culture and the experience of its members, including challenges to social justice and equity.
• Membership demographics and characteristics – who makes up this culture, such as nationality, race/ethnicity, spirituality/religion, and location.

2. Identify and describe a disparity experienced by this group specifically in the U.S. This can be a health disparity which is a higher burden of illness, injury, disability, or mortality experienced by one group relative to another, a health care disparity which typically refers to differences between groups in health insurance coverage, access to and use of care, and quality of culturally appropriate care (KFF, 2018) or a disparity in the social determinants of health such as access to quality education or housing and how that affects the group’s health.

• Describe how these differences impact health outcomes

3. Present data that support the identification of this issue as a disparity in this population.

The data and analysis should include:

• Who experiences the disparity, who is/are the comparison groups, and data on the specific disparity?
• The significance (or implications) of the disparity within your population for example:
  • Related health-care expenditures
  • Comorbidity/mortality rates
  • Stigma
  • Life expectancy outcomes, etc.
• Factors that affect the disparity such as
  • Policies or the absence of policies
  • Access to culturally appropriate care
  • Location and the built environment
  • Access to education

4. Identify a public health initiative that has been implemented for the disparity in the identified cultural group:

identified cultural group:

• What was the initiative(s) about, including the region it was conducted, priority population, and strategies and activities that are utilized in the initiative?
• Which level(s) of the Social-Ecological Model did the intervention activities address?
• What makes the initiative culturally competent?
• How did the organization engage their identified population?
• How successful were the initiatives in addressing the disparity and improving health outcomes in your chosen population group?
• Provide the outcome data that was used to determine how the intervention impacted the disparity in the population.

5. Based on the data reported in the identified intervention, critically analyze the outcome of the intervention.

• Discuss whether or not this intervention reduced the disparity in the population
  • Why or why not?
• Specify suggestions or recommendations you have to supplement or improve the initiative(s), and in developing future programs or public health initiatives for this population group based on the concepts you have learned in this class, and argue what you think the best course of action would be to address the issue.
  • How does your population’s shared values, practices, and worldviews provide an entry point for generating effective solutions?
  • What level(s) of the Social-Ecological Model should be used to address this disparity in the identified population?

General Requirements:

• Be sure to begin with an introduction, and end with a conclusion.
• The paper should be organized around the Social-Ecological Model and a Public Health framework
• The paper is to be written in APA format (7th Edition) with the following requirements:
  • 1” margins
  • A properly formatted title page
  • Page numbers
  • Times Roman 12 pt. font with double spacing
  • Proper use of level headings to guide yourself while writing and to guide the reader through your work. At a minimum you must use level I headings for the major portions.
  • Research is a necessity for this assignment (outline Required). You must use at least five (5) scholarly resources. If you are unclear as to what is a scholarly source, please see your instructor.
• You must use APA formatted in-text citations for information from external sources, and an APA formatted reference page.

Rubric

Individual Cultural Research Paper