final paper, students are required to write a minimum five-page paper (not including title, references, or abstract). See Legislation paper Instructions for details

COH 435 Public Health Legislation Paper – Signature Assignment

Public Health Legislation Paper- Signature Assignment Description

For the final paper, students are required to write a minimum five-page paper (not including

title, references, or abstract) that reflect knowledge and understanding gained in your

coursework.

Identify a legislation (passed in the United States) that has had a significant impact on the

burden and distribution of disease, injury, and affects health disparities.

Students are advised to only look at policies that have been in effect for more than three

years so that data may be collected and reported, enabling you to compare the policy impact,

even preliminarily. For example, this course is taking place in mid-2020, therefore, only policy

implemented in 2016 or prior. The selected legislation could impact behavior, social

determinants of health, or the environment in the context of where people live, play, or work.

Your text is a wealth of information that includes many different policies and associated

references.

When choosing the policy to write your paper on, consider the significance of a piece of

legislation in terms of impact. In general, the broader or deeper the impact on a population, a

health issue, an important health disparity, or social or economic aspects, the more significant

it is. For example, legislation that has resulted in setting legal blood alcohol concentration

levels has positively impacted health outcomes and decreased economic costs.

It is not recommended to select legislation that is disjointed, or does not have a large amount

of readily available information for you to review (this should tell you that the impact of the

legislation is not necessarily significant). It is suggested that different topic should be chosen.

Impact. Definition: have a strong effect on someone or something (Merriam-Webster, 2019). In

policy, we measure impact as what do health outcomes look like BEFORE and what do health

outcomes look like AFTER the policy was enacted. This tells us the impact of the policy on the

population. See the Policy Impact Resource in week 4.

Components that need to be addressed and included:

• Describe the health problem that the legislation was intended to impact and provide descriptive statistics (incidence, prevalence) related to the health issue in the jurisdiction (State, county, nation, zip code, etc..) of the law before legislation was enacted.

• The statistics you provide should be appropriate to the level of government that the policy was intended to address. For example, if it is a statewide policy, include statistics that are relative to that state.

• Describe public health legislation (law, policy, ordinance) in the United States. Through

description of the specific legislation (policy) and the level of government (federal, state, local jurisdiction) that enacted the legislation.

COH 435 Public Health Legislation Paper – Signature Assignment

• Describe the group(s) (adults, children, elderly, gender, etc.), communities (ethnic, socio-economic status, urban, rural, etc.) and municipalities, state or governments it is hoping to impact (what is the goal of the legislation?).

• Compare the burden and distribution of the disease distribution (across age groups, ethnicities, SES, gender), injury, or health problem using statistics that clearly illustrate the impact (before and after) of the legislation. How did/has it changed?

• Identify and describe health disparities among populations (differences across groups) that exist before the policy was enacted and after policy implementation. Did the implementation have a positive or negative impact?

• Explain the financial impact of the disease and the impact the legislation has had. Include research that shows the burden of cost before the legislation was enacted (health care costs, productivity, etc.) and show the difference or make a comparison on the cost savings after the law was adopted. Economic impact can be inferred from other economic data related to the problem, population or policy.

• Correctly identify and use primary and secondary data to support the impact assessment of the burden of disease and financial costs.

• Integrate course concepts into your analysis. Students are expected to use concepts learned in this course, such as, policy description/understanding; advocacy, etc…

• Conclusion: Your critical analysis (backed by facts) is key to this paper. (For example, when you are comparing impacts, think about what did it impact, to what degree, what factors might have played a complementary role, why did this occur.) You might also pose what might have improved this legislation or what some of the problems and recommendations you might make.

• You should have at least 4 scholarly sources cited and referenced in your paper.

• Print should be 12-point font (Times New Roman or Arial), with margins of one (1) inch on all four sides. All papers submitted must have APA formatting. The written assignments must reflect college-level writing and thinking. Please view this link for an example APA formatted paper: http://www.apastyle.org/manual/related/sample-experiment-paper-1.pdf. No abstract is required. Papers not following proper APA format will be deducted appropriately.

Research Resources: • Your course text, Prevention, Policy and Public Health (Eyler, Eds.) has a

wealth of resources on specific policies you may use to identify Scholarly

COH 435 Public Health Legislation Paper – Signature Assignment

sources are from peer-reviewed journal articles, or data analysis from

public health departments, at the state, national, or local levels.

• Scholarly sources can be searched using the National Library database

and the COH 435 Library Guide.

• See the resources placed in the assignment link in week 4

Writing resources:

• The National University writing center can support you with consultations

to improve your writing. Successful students will make an appointment

for a consultation if they want to improve their writing skills. A link to the

NU writing center can be found in the course resources.

So… How do I write this Paper? See below for:

• What are good policies to research vs those that are not

• Sources that can assist you in locating a topic and policy outcomes

• Sample outline of the paper

Good Public Health Policy Issues – Federal, state, or local (ordinances)

• Increasing safe workplace practices

• Alcohol – Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC); tax; minimum drinking age; drunk driving checkpoints

• Speed Limits

• Tobacco- tax; second-hand smoke; minimum smoking age; marketing/packaging • Immunization (not recent, but older policies) • School lunch policy/Nutritional standards (but not focusing on the change/impact

on obesity rates) • Infectious disease – healthcare associated infections; HIV • Seat belt laws • Laws allotting funding for specific health programs – Condom Program

• Family Planning – long acting reversible contraceptives (e.g. I.U.D.) • Affordable Care Act

COH 435 Public Health Legislation Paper – Signature Assignment

• Prescription drug laws • Illicit drug use- public health harm reduction, such as, needle exchange

programs • Emergency preparedness laws • Zoonotic transmission reduction laws

Policy that is Difficult to Evaluate (a.k.a. may be too difficult for this paper):

• Injury prevention – helmet policy • Violence prevention policy • Illicit drug use – decriminalization, such as medical marijuana laws. Too early to

determine impact (effect of)

Use these CDC Policy Impact Briefs:

https://www.cdc.gov/policy/hst/hi5/index.html

• To help select a topic • Review epidemiology about the public health issue

• Review “impact” statements – these statements show the effects of the policy implementation

• Assist in guiding your research

Seat belts: https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/seatbeltbrief/index.html

Alcohol Impaired Driving: https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/pdf/PolicyImpact-

Alcohol-a.pdf

Clean Needle Exchange Programs:

https://www.cdc.gov/policy/hst/hi5/cleansyringes/index.html

Alcohol Pricing: https://www.cdc.gov/policy/hst/hi5/alcoholpricing/index.html

Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs & Pain Clinic:

https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/policy/successes.html

Graduated Driver Licensing (teen driving safety)

https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/pdf/PolicyImpact-TeenDriverSafety-a.pdf

COH 435 Public Health Legislation Paper – Signature Assignment

Paper Outline (Suggested)

• Introduction • Describe the health problem that the legislation was designed • Provide a minimum of 5 descriptive statistics (incidence, prevalence)

related to the health issue • The statistics you provide should be appropriate to the level

of government that the policy was intended to address. For example, if it is a statewide policy, include statistics that are relative to that state.

• Legislation • Thoroughly describe the United States public health legislation (law,

policy, ordinance) • Include the level of government (federal, state, local jurisdiction) that

enacted the legislation. • Describe the group(s) communities, and state or governments it is hoping

to impact (what is the goal of the legislation?).

• Impact on Disease (or Injury) Outcomes • Compare the burden and distribution of the disease distribution, injury, or

using statistics that clearly illustrate the impact (before and after) of the legislation.

• Disease distribution means describe the pattern of the disease outcomes

• How has the outcome of disease changed since the policy was implemented?

• Impact on Disparities • Identify and describe health disparities among populations (differences

across groups) that exist before the policy was enacted and after policy implementation.

• Did the implementation have a positive or negative impact?

• Economic Impact • Explain the financial impact of the disease and the impact the legislation

has had. Include research that shows the burden of cost before the legislation was enacted (health care costs, productivity, etc.) and show the difference or make a comparison on the cost savings after the law was adopted.

COH 435 Public Health Legislation Paper – Signature Assignment

• Advocacy About the Issue • Is there an organization that supports(ed) this policy? How so? • Is there a health campaign about this program? Describe it.

• Conclusion: • Final thoughts about the legislation and impact • You might also pose what might have improved this legislation or what

some of the problems and recommendations you might make.