Assignment #1 (35% of final grade) 1. Objective: To develop an understanding of the foundations underlying responses to health-related issues
2. Selecting a topic/issue:
a. Identify a health-related issue in which you are interested; students are free to select any issue they choose (see Section 6.2 for previous students’ selected issues and community responses; see also Appendix C for a range of possible issues).
b. Identify an intervention/response to the selected health-related issue
i. This intervention can be one that is undertaken by a practitioner, a community, an organization/agency, an institution, a government; the intervention can take any form including but not limited to a program, policy, community action, advocacy/interest group
ii. This intervention can be one with which the student has experience ORone about which the student can acquire adequate information
3. Assignment tasks/analyses:
a. Part 1: Identify, analyze, and discuss the foundations underlying the student’s selected intervention. This analysis should consider the following:
i. The intervention’s underlying goal/objectives
ii. The theories and beliefs underlying the intervention
iii. The evidence underlying the intervention, including: the body of evidence upon which the intervention is based; the nature of the evidence; and the ways in which evidence is used
iv. The intervention’s underlying values and ethical positions
v. The strengths and limitations of the underlying foundations currently employed in responding to the selected health-related issue
b. Part 2: Analyze the socio-ecological context in which the health-related issue, and the intervention/response to this issue, operate including:
i. The socio-ecological factors related to the nature and origins of health-related issue, that is, the underlying individual and social-environmental determinants identified/assumed by the intervention in addressing your chosen issue/problem
ii. The socio-ecological factors related to the intervention/response to the health-related issue—that is, constraints and opportunities imposed by the broader environment and the organizational structure within which the intervention/response is operating
4. These analyses should be based upon:
a. Documentation about the response (where this is available), and/or communications from key informants (where this is available), and/or inferences drawn about the intervention/response (based upon the student’s knowledge and/or understanding of the intervention)
b. Students should clearly identify the source/bases of their analysis and the conclusions they draw regarding the foundations underlying their selected intervention
5. Submit electronic version of report (35% of final grade)
a. Early feedback: Reports submitted by Friday, February 12, will be given electronic feedback and preliminary grade; these reports can be re-submitted if desired. (NOTE: February 24 is the last date for dropping courses without academic penalty)
b. Final date for submission: Reports due no later than Friday, February 19 (last day of Reading Week)
c. Minimum of 8 pages SINGLE-SPACED (more, if more than one student); 1” margins all round; 12-point typeface (PLEASE!!) | 
