531 Class Assignments

Assignment	Date Due	Points
Public Health Nutrition Program	February 19, 20 & 26	60
Class preparations & participation Facilitated Discussion Guides (48 points) Active participation in class exercises, questions asked of guest speakers, contributions to class learning (12 points)		60
Science to Policy Paper	March 13	200
Total		320

Public Health Nutrition Program

Objectives:

Students will be able to analyze public health nutrition programs through the framework provided by course objectives.
Students will be able to organize and synthesize information from several sources into a concise document and presentation.
Students will be able to utilize public health nutrition resources for individuals and populations in their work.

Process:

Students will sign up for a public health nutrition program on the first day of class.
Students will gather the following information from legislation, published evaluations, materials provided by the programs, peer reviewed literature, key informants, commentaries and critiques

Why is there a need for the program? Describe the conditions that lead to the initiation of the program. For programs that serve people, include information about numbers of people affected by problems the program addresses, potential adverse outcomes the program is designed to prevent, etc.
What are the mission, goals, and objectives of the program?
What might a logic model for this program look like?
If this is a program that provides services, who is served by the program? What are the criteria for receiving services? How many are served by the program at the local, state, and national level?
Who advocates for this program?
Who are the stakeholders?
Describe any opposition to this program or criticism of this program.
What are the legislative/regulatory and/or non-profit structure and history of the program? Are there proposed changes in regulations?
How is the program funded? Is current funding adequate to meet needs? Are there proposed changes in funding?
If this program includes services other than nutrition, how is nutrition integrated into the larger program?
What role do nutrition professionals play in this program?
How is the program marketed to potential clients, the community, legislators?
Has the program been evaluated? What performance measures or outcome measures where used? Was the program found to be effective?
How does one contact the program to receive services, join the coalition, participate in advocacy efforts?
What opportunities does this program offer for UW students for concurrent fieldwork placements, practicum experiences, and thesis research?

Students will make a 10 minute presentation to the class that covers the points listed above and will prepare a two page hand-out to distribute to the class.

Evaluation

	Points
Addresses all the points listed above	30
Critical Thinking: Demonstrates clear understanding of the program & ability to analyze& synthesize information from several sources	10
Clarity and organization of the class presentation	10
Clarity and organization of the handout	10
Total	60

Science to Policy Paper

Objectives

Students will be able to summarize complex basic scientific information so that it is easily understood by a well informed adult who is not a nutrition scientist.
Students will be able to access scientifically rigorous information about the effectiveness of clinical and population-based guidelines and recommendations for nutritional practices that are based on nutritional science.
Students will be able to network with agencies and stakeholders to develop a project that meets the needs of these constituents.
Students will be able to search policy databases
Students will be able to develop potential policies that are feasible within the context of current political and social environments.
Students will be able to analyze the policy environment for specific nutrition environments and the impact of those who will oppose or support these policies.

Nutritional Sciences to Policy Framework

Process

Week 1 - 3	Sign up for a Science to Policy topic that has been proposed by a public health agency preceptor
	Complete preliminary reading about the topic, prepare a list of potential resources and a general outline and generate a list of questions for the preceptor. Submit these to instructor for review and meet with instructor.
	Mail the outline and questions to the preceptor and set up a time for a phone call for further discussion and plans for completing the project.
Week 3-7	Describe the state of the science about this topic including recent peer-reviewed meta-analysis, well done reviews, any rigorous clinical trials with adequate power and designs, etc. Describe the current state of this evidence and outline any limitations of current knowledge. Provide a short summary that can be understood by a well informed adult who is not a nutrition scientist.
	Discuss clinical or population-based applications of the basic science. Support this discussion with research, guidelines and recommendations that have been based on evidence about this nutritional issue.
	Discuss policy implications of the science about this topic. Are there existing policies in the US, in Washington State? In other countries? What is the impact of existing policies? What additional research is needed to support policy change?
	Recommend at least one policy change. Who would support this change? Who might oppose this change? What steps could be taken to initiate this policy change? Apply the concepts of the Kingdon policy change model.
Week 8	Complete a 15-20 page (double spaced, 12 font,1 inch margins) paper with the results of steps 4-7. Submit to instructor and schedule meeting with instructor to review paper
Week 9-10	Complete a 5 page policy brief that uses bullets, charts, attractive graphic layout with white space, etc. to present the findings from the longer paper and submit both papers to the preceptor.
Week 10	Revise papers based on comments from preceptors.
Week 11	Disseminate the highlights of your work to the class and preceptors during a 5 minute presentation during finals week.

Calendar

January 11	Introduction to Project: T359
January 18	Searching the “Grey” literature for Guidelines, Recommendations and Policies: lab C Health Sciences Library
January 25	Meet with Instructor: each student has 10 minute appointment
February 1 - 22	Independent work: Meet with instructor as needed
February 29	Meet with Instructor: Each student has 10 minute appointment
March 18	Present Project

Evaluation: Criteria for each Component

	Points
Science to Policy Paper
Concise and comprehensive presentation of current state of basic science	20
Review of efficacy of applications of this science	20
Review of existing recommendations & guidelines	15
Policy options	15
Strength and organization of arguments made for chosen proposed policy change (s)	15
Application of policy process – action steps and Kingdon Model	15
Organization of paper, flow, introduction & conclusions	10
Quality of references	20
Communication: Briefing Paper & Presentation & Collaboration
Readability & ease of comprehension of short policy brief	15
Selection of information to include in policy brief	15
Presentation to class and preceptors	20
Evaluation of collaboration skills from preceptors	20
Total points	200

Science to Policy Preceptor Evaluation Form

Return to Nutrition 531 Homepage

531 Class Assignments

Public Health Nutrition Program

Class preparations & participation

Science to Policy Paper

Public Health Nutrition Program

Objectives:

Process:

Evaluation

Science to Policy Paper

Objectives

Nutritional Sciences to Policy Framework

Process

Calendar

Evaluation: Criteria for each Component

Science to Policy Preceptor Evaluation Form