Assignment Preparation

Your first assignment, in which you will develop an environmental hazard fact sheet and a persuasive professional memo, is due in this unit. You will need to gather information from government websites on the topic you choose to address in the fact sheet.

In preparation for your Unit 3 assignment, complete the following:

●     Read the assignment instructions and scoring guide to ensure that you understand all criteria.

●     Begin considering a topic for your assignment.

●     Review the following Internet and Capella library resources:

○     Hazardous Waste

○     EPA. (n.d.). Links to hazardous waste programs and U.S. state environmental agencies. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/hwgenerators/links-hazardous-waste-programs-and-us-state-environmental-agencies

○     Landrigan, P. J. et al. (2015). The NIEHS Superfund Research Program: 25 years of translational research for public health. Environmental Health Perspectives, 123(10), 909.

○     Healthy People Goals

○     Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Development of the national health promotion and disease prevention objectives for 2030. Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/About-Healthy-People/Development-Healthy-People-2030

○     Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). 2020 topics and objectives – Objectives A–Z. Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives

○     Fact Sheets and Infographics

○     Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Global health infographics. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/infographics/default.html

○     Center for Rural Health. (n.d.). Communication tools: Fact sheets. Retrieved from https://ruralhealth.und.edu/communication/factsheets

○     Communicating With Diverse Audiences

○     van Opzeeland, P. (2016). Understanding cultural diversity in customer service [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.userlike.com/en/blog/cultural-diversity-customer-service

○     The two items you will create must be designed for distinct audiences. The fact sheet should be directed at the general public, and the memo is for a professional audience of public health stakeholders. In each case, your communication tool will be designed as a “call to action” to your audience.

Meeting Healthy People Goals

Overview

This assignment has two components: a fact sheet for the general public, and a memo for public health educators working with targeted populations. Read through the instructions, then identify a recent environmental event in your state or region as the focus of your intervention.
Imagine that you are working for an organization whose job is to help mitigate a recent negative event, such as an industrial accident, and to improve the environmental health for people living nearby. You have been asked to develop a one-page fact sheet to help educate those affected by the issue. After you develop the fact sheet, you must submit it to your supervisor for approval before it is produced and distributed.
Additionally, you must draft a memo to your supervisor that provides an evidence-based rationale for your design decisions and that details ways in which public health workers can ensure that they address the specific needs of diverse neighborhood residents with the aid of the fact sheet.

Instructions

You are encouraged to use the Environmental Health News website linked in Resources to find examples of recent events with environmental implications. Once you have chosen an issue, navigate to the appropriate government websites to gather relevant data to create the following:

• Fact sheet: This handout should be designed to give citizens an overview of the environmental hazard they are facing, answers to frequently asked questions, and suggestions for action steps to reduce risks to themselves and their family members. Consider including contact information for additional resources as well.
  • Remember to design this fact sheet for a general public audience. While you may include images as appropriate to reinforce key points and add visual interest, keep your fact sheet clean and simple.
• Memo to supervisor: This is a one-page workplace memo that contains an evidence-based rationale designed to gain approval from the organization to distribute the fact sheet to the neighborhood. Any APA citations supporting your evidence should be added as an appendix to the memo. Be sure to include the following:
  • Distribution strategy: Include talking points to help your colleagues understand how the fact sheet is to be used.
  • Special considerations: Describe the types of cultural considerations and strategies that you took into account when designing the fact sheet and talking points.
  • Indicators of success: Describe the ways the organization will be able to know whether the fact sheet is accomplishing its educational goals.

Additional Requirements

The fact sheet will be evaluated on how well you accomplish the following:

• Use data from a government website to create an educational fact sheet about an environmental health issue.
• Recommend actions an average person can take to reduce the risks posed by a hazardous agent in his or her home or neighborhood.
• Communicate clearly to a diverse audience. Write clearly and logically, with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.

The supervisor memo will be graded on how well you accomplish the following:

• Demonstrate awareness of the cultural values and practices of a specific population in the design of an educational initiative addressing an environmental health issue.
• Develop a strategy to guide colleagues in the implementation of a public health education initiative.
• Write clearly and logically, with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.
• Follow current APA guidelines for style and formatting, including in-text and reference citations where appropriate.

Resources

• Meeting Healthy People Goals Scoring Guide.
• APA Module.
• Public Health Masters Research Guide.
  Print
  https://www.ehn.org/

●     Meeting Healthy People Goals Scoring Guide

• Due Date: End of Unit 3
• Percentage of Course Grade: 19%.

CRITERIA	NON-PERFORMANCE	BASIC	PROFICIENT	DISTINGUISHED
Use data from a government website to create an educational fact sheet about an environmental health issue. 20%	Does not use data from a government website to create an educational fact sheet about an environmental health issue.	Uses data from a government website to create an educational fact sheet about an environmental health issue, but the fact sheet is unclear, or the data is inappropriate or incomplete.	Uses data from a government website to create an educational fact sheet about an environmental health issue.	Uses data from a government website to create an innovative, clear, and concise educational fact sheet about an environmental health issue.
Include examples of the cultural values and practices of a specific population in the design of an educational initiative addressing an environmental health issue. 20%	Does not include examples of the cultural values and practices of a specific population in the design of an educational initiative addressing an environmental health issue.	Includes inappropriate or unclear examples of the cultural values and practices of a specific population in the design of an educational initiative addressing an environmental health issue.	Includes examples of the cultural values and practices of a specific population in the design of an educational initiative addressing an environmental health issue.	Includes examples of the cultural values and practices of a specific population in the design of an educational initiative addressing an environmental health issue, and identifies assumptions underlying the chosen examples.
Recommend actions an average person can take to reduce the risks posed by a hazardous agent in his or her home or neighborhood. 20%	Does not recommend actions an average person can take to reduce the risks posed by a hazardous agent in his or her home or neighborhood.	Recommends unclear or incomplete actions an average person can take to reduce the risks posed by a hazardous agent in his or her home or neighborhood.	Recommends actions an average person can take to reduce the risks posed by a hazardous agent in his or her home or neighborhood.	Recommends actions an average person can take to reduce the risks posed by a hazardous agent in his or her home or neighborhood and identifies assumptions on which the recommendations are based.
Develop a strategy to guide colleagues in the implementation of a public health education initiative. 20%	Does not develop a strategy to guide colleagues in the implementation of a public health education initiative.	Develops a strategy to guide colleagues in the implementation of a public health education initiative, but the strategy is unclear or incomplete.	Develops a strategy to guide colleagues in the implementation of a public health education initiative.	Develops a strategy to guide colleagues in the implementation of a public health education initiative, and identifies criteria that could be used to evaluate the results of the initiative.
Follow current APA guidelines for style and formatting, including in-text and reference citations. 10%	Does not follow current APA guidelines for style and formatting, including in-text and reference citations.	Mostly follows current APA guidelines for style and formatting, including in-text and reference citations, but there are lapses in style use.	Follows current APA guidelines for style and formatting, including in-text and reference citations.	Consistently follows current APA guidelines for style and formatting without errors, including the use in-text and current reference citations.
Write clearly and logically, with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics. 10%	Does not write clearly and logically, with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.	Writes somewhat clearly and logically, with some errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and/or mechanics.	Writes clearly and logically, with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.	Writes exceptionally clearly and logically, with error-free spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.