Exercises - PH 427: Community Engagement

In addition to a variety of learning activities, there are 3 instructor-evaluated activities associated with PH 427: (1) complete the individual exercise; (2) participate in a multi-learner conferencing exercise; and (3) complete and submit the assessment quiz. Each of these is explained below.

Learning Activities (Note: these ARE NOT to be submitted!)

A series of individual learning exercises for this module are provided below. Completing these exercises will familiarize you with the knowledge, skills and attitudes that relate to the competency expectation for this module that is described above. Note that learners are not required to submit written response for these learning exercises. Completing these exercises, however, will prepare you for components of this module that are assessed and scored.

1. Review the basic content for PH 427, which is provided in several online resources:
   • CDC: Principles of Community Engagement
   
   
   • National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO): Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) web site (click on the MAPP link to register for access to the MAPP information and resources). Then review the sections on Organizing for Success: Partnership Development and on Visioning (including vignettes and tools) in the MAPP resource materials. Also see the MAPP Field Guide, A Strategic Approach to Community Health Improvement (in PDF format)
   
   
   • Center for the Advancement of Collaborative Strategies in Health
   
   
   • Community Tool Box: Training for Conflict Resolution
2. List five barriers to community involvement in public health practice/ health promotion and propose solutions to each.
3. Organize an agenda for your first meeting with the partnership, discussing the assessment model you will be applying.
4. Introduce a visioning process. How will you facilitate the process?
5. If you are directing a coalition composed of community members and public health professionals, how would you approach a disagreement over whether or not a factor played a causal role?
6. How can conflict between public health professional (largely outsiders) and members of communities of interest be minimized and resolved?
7. After reviewing the national Study of Partnership Functioning and Partnership Evaluation questionnaires, describe how you would define partnership "synergy," and list several success factors for effective community partnerships.

Evaluated Activities (Note: these ARE to be submitted!)

(1) Individual Exercise

Each learner will submit a brief response to the following exercise. Produce your response on a separate document to be uploaded at the "Submit Assignments" link. Please use "PH 427 Individual Exercises" as the title of your submission.

Prepare a draft list of your partnership composition and describe how would you design an effective planning (including assessment) coalition that included community (both lay and health leaders) and outside public health members?

(2) Conferencing Exercise

Add your contributions to this multi-learner conferencing exercise after reviewing any available submissions by other learners. Produce your response on a separate document to be uploaded at the "Submit Assignments" link. Please use "PH 427 Conferencing Exercises" as the title of your submission.

Everyone has had some sort of experience in working with broad constituencies in the community. For your group exercise, develop a fictitious, composite case of about 300 words, describing a scenario in which public health professionals are working with a community coalition on a community health improvement project. Set the scene with the primary purpose of the coalition, key organizations and, drawing upon your experiences, list some potential points of conflict, power differentials and ethical conflicts in the public health community collaborative. Be realistic about the scenario and be sure to change any descriptors so that no one person or organization could be identified (change names and places and do not sue proper names). At the conclusion of your scenario, identify 1-3 key issues (they may be interrelated) relating to the partnership that need to be addressed if the partnership is to succeed in its goals. Briefly propose a solution.

(3) Assessment Quiz

Follow the LearningSpace link to the Assessment Quiz. You may be asked for your login ID and password to access the quiz through your Preparedness Center Personal Page. Complete the quiz and submit your responses. You make take the quiz several times.

Course Evaluation: All learners are asked to electronically complete a Course Evaluation Questionnaire; this is available to you as an electronic form and will be transmitted to a data base without your identity being known, and your instructor will have no way to link your identity to your comments. Before participating in these course evaluation activities, students should review the specific learning objectives established for this course (and others you may have taken as part of this series); these are available in the Syllabus. Evaluation of the course should focus on the extent to which these objectives were achieved.

PH 427 Exercises last revised June 30, 2005 (dkapadia)