Nutrition 531, Winter 2013

Tap Water Access Project

Fridays 12:00pm – 2:50pm, January 11 – March 15, 2013 in T359

Instructor: Erin MacDougall, erinmac@u.washington.edu

Final Report

Final Slide Presentation

Overview

Purpose:  To apply the process and practice of public health nutrition to the issue of access to free drinking water on the University of Washington Seattle campus so that actions can be taken to  promote water consumption on campus

Objectives of the Drinking Water Access Project:  

1.    Synthesize information on policy, systems and environmental approaches to assuring free drinking water access.

2.    Assess access to free drinking water on the of University of Washington campus and summarize this information to guide recommendations.

3.    Develop policy, systems and environmental recommendations to promoting free drinking water consumption by students, employees, visitors, and other stakeholders.

The project will be divided into "deliverables."   Students will work on these deliverables in teams.

All class members should complete these readings:

•         Boston Public Health/Harvard efforts: http://www.bphc.org/programs/cib/chronicdisease/healthybeverages/Pages/Home.aspx and http://www.bphc.org/programs/cib/chronicdisease/healthybeverages/Forms%20%20Documents/toolkit/AppendixG_Tool-for-Assessment-of-Beverage-Access-in-City-Agencies.pdf

•         CDC Drinking Water Week: http://www.cdc.gov/Features/DrinkingWater/index.html

•         CDC World Water Day:http://www.cdc.gov/features/worldwaterday/

•         World Health Organization, Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality, Fourth Edition 2011: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/2011/9789241548151_ch01.pdf

•         Park, S, Sherry, B, Wethington, H and Pan, L (2012). “Use of parks or playgrounds: reported access to drinking water fountains among US adults.” J Public Health 34 (1): 65-72.

•         You Can Lead the Students to Water, but . . . the Current State of Drinking Water Availability and Intake in School and Child Care Settings: https://apha.confex.com/apha/140am/webprogram/Session36569.html

•         Public Health – Seattle & King County youth sugary drink consumption report:http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/data/datawatch/Volume1103.aspx

The following will be useful for understanding campus-related water policy:

·         The website link below is where you will find the Washington State drinking water regulations. The UW is within the water distribution system of Seattle Public Utilities, which is a Group A system under WAC 246-290. However, you may want to look over all of the drinking water regulations, these being WAC 246-290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, and 296. The building and plumbing codes address the type, location and installation of drinking fountains, but does not address the drinking water aspect:

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246

·         UW Environmental Health campus water survey: http://www.ehs.washington.edu/ohssan/index.shtm

·         Additional relevant documents will be provided in hard copy to Group C who will be responsible for summarizing water policy issues

Deliverables

 Phase One:  What do we know?

Student groups will develop an assesment tool and assessment plan, and collect primary data on free drinking water access and quality on the University of Washington Seattle Campus.

Review existing assessment tools to establish a unique assessment tool for this project:

•     Review the Boston Public Health/Harvard and Center for Public Health Nutrition assessment tool examples.

•     Review tool/measures for assessment of drinking water access and quality for this project (we will do in class). Assign a group to write a summary of the assessment methods.

•     Work with instructor to develop a plan for how the data will be analyzed.

Map UW Seattle campus buildings along with age of building (data provided). Identify a sample of buildings/sites to assess, identifying at least 8 sites per group.

Collect, enter, verify and analyze the data:

•     In your team, collect the data from the assigned sites.

•     After all the data is collected and entered into one table in a spreadsheet (use shared workspace through Catalyst Tools), come together to look at all the data. Discuss possible explanations of the data and document this discussion, especially where there is lack of agreement between views of different team members. Summarize data using visual tools as well as a written summary of findings and interpretation of the data.

Phase Two:  What does it mean?

You will be in new groups for phase two from the groups you were in for data collection.

Team A: Create tables or other visuals describing the assessment results; develop a public health promotion campaign for promoting water consumption on campus

•     Write the methods description section for the report

•     Prepare tables/other visuals summarizing the data for the report and executive summary (if appropriate)

•     With team B, write a section on assessment lessons learned as well as project outcomes for the report,

•     After consulting with teams B-D on project outcomes, apply public health communication principles (e.g. http://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/cdcynergy/cdcynergylite.html) to develop messaging and promotional materials (e.g. graphics, social media platform product, or other relevant communication product) to a) address decision makers for any needed policy or environmental changes to enhance water access on campus, and b) directly support water consumption by students, employees, and visitors on campus.

Team B:  Lead the development of the final report and executive summary

•     Outline the report elements and run by the other teams, get agreement

•     Draft the report and Executive summary

•     Work with Team A as they develop the visual descriptions of the data for the report

•     Collaborate with Team C as they summarize policy-related issues for the report.

•     Collaborate with Team D as they prepare the Presentation version of the entire written report and Executive Summary

•     Finish the report and summary with sufficient time to receive feedback from Teams A, C, D.

Team C:  Describe the evidence for best practices related to promoting free drinking water, especially as it pertains to obesity prevention for youth and adults (or just adults?)

•     Identify and summarize policies that drive availability of access to free drinking water in campus buildings (e.g. facilities or zoning code requirements).

•     Conduct a search of peer reviewed (pubmed & agricola) and "grey" literature about policies and practices that may work to support increasing consumption of free drinking water., BRIEFLY describe relationship to water consumption vs. sugary drink consumption.

•     Build a table of the policies and practices that emerge, the references that support each policy & practice, and the level of the science (i.e., controlled trial, comparative study based on "natural experiments, "case study, practice-based evidence, etc.)  For more information about types of study designs, visit: http://www.gwumc.edu/library/tutorials/studydesign101/

•     Develop a list of the top 3-8 policies and practices that emerge from this review

Team D:  Prepare a presentation (e.g. using Powerpoint) to summarize this project and conduct outreach to stakeholders

Part I: Identify and communicate with stakeholders to attend presentation

•     Invite stakeholders to final presentation (March 19, 2013 from 10:30-12:20; room to be decided by UW facilities by mid-quarter.

•     Identify stakeholders and get agreement from other groups (ideas include Employee Wellness, Campus dining services, Charles Easterberg from Environmental Health)

Part II: Prepare presentation

•     Create template with sections for the presentation

•     Communicate with Teams A-C to assure you’re in agreement of presentation structure in advance of the actual findings being included in the final presentation

•     Collect information from groups A-C to finalize presentation (working directly with Team B may make the most sense)

•     Design day of presentation plan (e.g. which team will present which parts)

•     Schedule and do practice run-through with teams. Modify as needed for final presentation

Phase Three:  Dissemination & Communication (see Phase 2 for team assignments)

1.  A full report of all the findings and recommendations

2.  Executive Summary

3.  A forty five minute PowerPoint presentation to Stakeholders for March 19

4.  One-page briefing document with highlights of the findings and recommendations

 SCHEDULE

Evaluation

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