Think about your current knowledge of public health and the work you will do in your practicum. The goal of your practicum and public health work is to promote prevention to improve population health and maintain healthy communities.

• As public health professionals, how can we impact the behavior of an entire community?
• What are examples of literature that explains the various options for behavioral change at a community level?
• What is one specific health behavior among the population you are studying or serving during your practicum that could be changed or improved through your practicum experience?
• How does the relationship of the identified health behavior to the structure and function of health care, public health, and regulatory systems in your practicum community compare to those relationships in another American city and another country?
• How do we encourage healthy lifestyles and promote community safety? How might you make a long-lasting impact on proactive community health behavior? Provide and cite evidence to show that your approach could be transformative.
• What potential problems do you see with your approach?
• What additional information would you need to answer these questions more thoroughly?

Response Guidelines

Respond to posts that have had few responses thus far.

Refer to the Faculty Expectations for Response Guidelines.

Take the following into account as you read the posts of your peers and respond:

• What determines the difficulty level of making healthy choices? What are some examples of healthy choices?
• How do we identify our catchment area and engage people who may not be using community resources?
• How do we develop or sustain organizational systems that support, change, or enhance positive population health outcomes?
• What questionable assumptions can you uncover in the posts of your fellow learners? Cite evidence to support your assertions.

If you and a peer were to work together to address his or her strategy for population impact, what additional suggestions would you propose? Provide and cite evidence to show that your suggestions could be successful in addressing this gap.

Learning Components

This activity will help you achieve the following learning components:

• Briefly describe the background of a social issue or community problem.
• Describe the population(s) affected by a social issue or community problem.
• Identify a social issue or community problem.
• Describe baseline level of core public health and environmental health services.
• Define public health needs and capacities.