Principles of Public Health Practice/CHD-PHP

Community Health Development-Principles of Public Health Practice

Subject Intended Learning Outcomes (SILOs)

Intended Learning Outcome 1:

Accurately describe the various concepts, values and strategies relating to public health practice.

Enabling Outcomes: By the end of the teaching period, you should be able to:


 * Identify key aspects of public health philosophy and principles;
 * Discuss critically the various determinants of health in terms of the environment, society and behaviour;
 * Delineate the different types of interventions with regards to different understandings of public health activity.

Intended Learning Outcome 2:

Adequately outline the often conflicting roles and interests held by the various stakeholders engaged in or affected by public health activities.

Enabling Outcomes: By the end of the teaching period, you should be able to:


 * Identify and discuss key aspects of the health system as they relate to public health policy;
 * Outline the roles and interests of government, non-government, commercial and non-commercial stakeholders;
 * Articulate the influence of various types of legislation (e.g., various Health, Safety, Sanitation and Food Acts) as they relate to public health, primary health care and health promotion.

Intended Learning Outcome 3

Critically articulate the applicability of various strategies engaged in by public health practitioners at various levels.

Enabling Outcomes: By the end of the teaching period, you should be able to:


 * Delineate the scope, importance and suitability of surveillance and monitoring strategies;
 * Identify the commonalities and difference relating to health protection and preventative services;
 * Compare and contrast the previous strategies with those relating to health promotion and primary health care.

Intended Learning Outcome 4

Define the limits of public health practice as a discipline with regards to work with ‘vulnerable’ communities within societies.

Enabling Outcomes: By the end of the teaching period, you should be able to:


 * Recognise the various value systems that historically inform the aspects of public health practice;
 * Suggest reasons why certain ‘vulnerable’ groups might resist health promotion strategies and the potential consequences of this resistance;
 * Demonstrate an understanding of how certain principles and practices might either hinder or enable ‘vulnerable’ groups to engage in the determinants of health in a culturally appropriate manner.

Here are some thoughts about topics and their deployment…

What is public health and what have the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people taught us about why explicit principles are important?

Upon completion of this topic, through your own investigations, group preparation, tutorial participation and lectorial explorations, you should be able to:


 * Identify and explain the similarities and differences between public health, population health, primary health care and empowerment.
 * Identify the key themes that you will engage and use during the semester to begin to solve problems in the lectorials, tutorials and the larger context.
 * Outline the various tasks that you will be undertaking to both learn your craft and demonstrate your learning through group work and assessment tasks.
 * Explain to a class-mate what to do if they are experiencing difficulties in the subject or the course so that they can access and use appropriate resources

[To identify, analyse and reach consensus about the issues to be addressed.] [To determine the appropriateness and adequacy of measures to be taken in response to issues and opportunities.] [To delineate and mobilise the resources within various circles of influence.] [To ensure equity and fairness in the engagement of the concerns, the participation of all those concerned and satisfaction of those most affected by action or lack thereof.]

What are the three key practice domains of public health and the two supporting practices and how do they interrelate?

Upon completion of this topic, through your own investigations, group preparation, tutorial participation and lectorial explorations, you should be able to:


 * Sketch out the principles, priorities and processes that public health practitioners and advocates engage in as key aspects of their practice.
 * Compare and contrast how these might operate in the three key practice domains of public health (Protection, Prevention and Promotion).
 * Summarise how the two supporting practices (Surveillance and Monitoring) can contribute to the three primary practice domains.
 * Contrast these understandings of public health with a population approach to identify commonalities and distinctions.

[Protection] [Prevention] [Promotion] [Surveillance and Monitoring]

What are the core values underlying public health practice and how might they be contested by various interest groups (e.g., governmental, non-governmental, commercial and non-commercial)?

Upon completion of this topic, through your own investigations, group preparation, tutorial participation and lectorial explorations, you should be able to:


 * Explain how an understanding of primary health care developed from the Alma Ata Declaration can inform participation in public health practice.
 * Discriminate between the concepts of efficacy and effectiveness and explain the importance of the distinction.
 * Outline the various understandings of efficiency and evaluate them to in terms of accessibility, affordability and acceptability in primary health care.
 * Justify a position on the concept of equity as it might relate to the engendering, access and use of resources in public health practice.

[Effectiveness] [Efficiency] [Equity] [Accessibility, affordability and acceptability]

How do the various determinants of health influence the manner in which public health might be practiced and why?

Upon completion of this topic, through your own investigations, group preparation, tutorial participation and lectorial explorations, you should be able to:


 * Formulate a variety of personal factors that influence health outcomes among people across populations and identify their importance for PH interventions.
 * Relate the various social factors that may have an affect on the health outcomes of people within populations and indicate their significance for PH interventions.
 * Outline the types of environmental factors that are known to have an impact on the health outcomes of people within populations and appraise their salience for PH interventions.
 * Devise a means of explaining the interconnectedness of these various factors through an ecological model that can inform development of PH interventions.

[Personal] [Social] [Environmental] [Ecological]

What is the role of THE public or various publics and their participation in terms of public health practice?

Upon completion of this topic, through your own investigations, group preparation, tutorial participation and lectorial explorations, you should be able to:


 * Assess the strengths and limitations of using a concept such as citizenship to describe the PUBLIC in public health.
 * Identify and evaluate the usefulness of other ways of considering the publics of public health in terms of regional, state, national or international contexts.
 * Justify a position that either supports the use of the term vulnerable group or calls this categorisation into question in terms of PH interventions
 * Delineate the roles and functions of advocates, champions, brokers and alliances in terms of engaging special interest groups in PH policy development.

[Advocates] [Champions] [Alliances] [Brokers]

What is the influence of public policy, regulation, legislation and treaties on public health practice?

Upon completion of this topic, through your own investigations, group preparation, tutorial participation and lectorial explorations, you should be able to:


 * Outline and critically comment upon the similarities and differences between public health policy and healthy public policy in terms of PHP.
 * Identify and predict the impact of key public health policies on the processes, principles and priorities of public health practice in Australia.
 * Outline the similarities and differences between public health legislation and public health regulations and explain their influence on PHP.
 * Examine and explain the pertinence of relevant treaties on public health practice in Australia and predict trends that might adversely affect Australians.

[Policy] [Regulation] [Legislation] [Treaties]

What are the typical means available to public health practitioners to assess both the desirability and feasibility of interventions?

Upon completion of this topic, through your own investigations, group preparation, tutorial participation and lectorial explorations, you should be able to:


 * Reproduce the typical aims of of public health interventions in terms of the various levels and scope of intervention (e.g., primary, secondary, tertiary).
 * Compare and contrast various factors involved in and ways of assessing the health of a population and their relative risk.
 * Summarize the elements and importance of logic models in outlining the various aspects of assessing, planning, implementing an intervention.
 * Discuss the various ethical issues involved in considering a public health intervention from the point of view of autonomy, justice and equity.

What are the various strategies used for public health interventions and how are they influenced by the context of their implementation?

Upon completion of this topic, through your own investigations, group preparation, tutorial participation and lectorial explorations, you should be able to:


 * Recount the development of public health strategies from the mid-Nineteenth Century to the present and appraise their suitableness for various circumstances.
 * Distinguish the influence that the social, cultural and environmental context plays on the various strategies.
 * Outline the sorts of evidence that should be used in determining which strategies might be successful for the various contexts.
 * Explain the importance of using multiple strategies and engaging multiple partners and sectors to implement strategies.

[Personal] [Communal] [Intersectoral] [Societal]

How might various approaches to evaluation and the concerns of funding bodies shape public health practice and why?

Upon completion of this topic, through your own investigations, group preparation, tutorial participation and lectorial explorations, you should be able to:


 * Relate the various issues involved in assessing a situation or circumstance with the view of preparing a public health intervention.
 * Explain the substantive reasons for conducting process evaluations of a public health intervention and identify potential stakeholder concerns.
 * Outline the strengths and limitations of engaging in impact evaluations of public health interventions and articulate arguments justifying their use.
 * Describe the how the various activities within a system might confound the outcome expectations and predict what this might mean in terms of future resource allocation.

Which ‘vulnerable’ groups are most likely to benefit from public health interventions, and which might resist regardless and why?

Upon completion of this topic, through your own investigations, group preparation, tutorial participation and lectorial explorations, you should be able to:


 * Outline a typical definition of vulnerability from a public health perspective and discuss the definition's strengths and weaknesses.
 * List a number of groups which might be typically described as vulnerable from the point of view of public health practice and describe their characteristics.
 * Provide both an argument and a counter argument for why each of a number of groups might be considered vulnerable.
 * Articulate reasons why it might be practically beneficial for a group to consider itself vulnerable and why it MAY NOT be beneficial.

Why is it important to understand the relationship between public health practice and the health systems of a country or region?

Upon completion of this topic, through your own investigations, group preparation, tutorial participation and lectorial explorations, you should be able to:


 * Explain how it is possible for public health to be both a part of and a context within which the health systems of a country or a region operate.
 * Describe the various ethical and economic concerns by which public health practitioners might evaluate a health system in terms of performance.
 * Interpret various health policies in terms of their capacity to prioritise the use of resources within a health system individually and collectively.
 * Anticipate how resource allocation targeting workforce and community capacity development might influence public health practice within a health system.

What will be the challenges to and opportunities for public health practice in Australia and globally during the next decade?

Upon completion of this topic, through your own investigations, group preparation, tutorial participation and lectorial explorations, you should be able to:


 * Identify salient trends in social arrangements in Australia and globally and estimate their likely impact on the various publics of concern to public health educators, practitioners, and advocates.
 * Distinguish various economic trends in Australia and the Western Pacific Region and explain their significance for public health practice over the next decade.
 * Categorise the various global cultural and technological trends and predict how they might influence public health advocacy during the next ten years.
 * Summarise the various stances taken towards climate change and identify the challenges that these stances create for public health education.

What is public health and what have the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people taught us about why explicit principles are important?

What are the three key practice domains of public health and the two supporting practices and how do they interrelate?

What are the core values underlying public health practice and how might they be contested by various interest groups (e.g., governmental, non-governmental, commercial and non-commercial)?

How do the various determinants of health influence the manner in which public health might be practiced and why?

What is the role of THE public or various publics and their participation in terms of public health practice?

What is the influence of public policy, regulation, legislation and treaties on public health practice?

What are the typical means available to public health practitioners to assess both the desirability and feasibility of interventions?

What are the various strategies used for public health interventions and how are they influenced by the context of their implementation?

How might various approaches to evaluation and the concerns of funding bodies shape public health practice and why?

Which ‘vulnerable’ groups are most likely to benefit from public health interventions, and which might resist regardless and why?

Why is it important to understand the relationship between public health practice and the health systems of a country or region?

What will be the challenges to and opportunities for public health practice in Australia and globally during the next decade?