Epidemiology in Action

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Epidemiology in Action
Unit IV Understanding and Preventing Health and
Safety Problems
FINAL ACTIVITY Putting It All Together
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Epidemiology in Action
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The basic purpose of epidemiology is to help us
understand and prevent a wide variety of health
and safety problems. For example, as a
result of epidemiological studies, we instituted
a number of prevention and intervention programs
that helped lower the rate of deaths from lung
cancer. (And epidemiologists statistically
showed that these programs had an effect on
lowering the death rate.)

SourceCDC
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Epidemiology in Action
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PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER STUDENT
ASSIGNMENT

• To apply all youve learned and try your hand at
  understanding and preventing health/safety
  problems, you will complete the following STEPS
• STEP I Choose a health/safety problem to
  investigate. Please choose a problem that you
  have a personal interest in (maybe something that
  has become interesting to you as you have been
  working on this unit), and that will have
  research available through easily accessible
  databases.
• Then, complete the activities described on the
  following screens (see worksheet)

Health? Food? Diet? Fitness? Flu? Asthma? Cancer?
Heart Disease? Eating Disorders? Learning
Disabilities? Depression? Pollution?
Car/Biking/Skating/Boarding Accidents? Violence?
Crime? Pregnancy? Sexual Risk Behaviors?
Drugs/Alcohol?
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• STEP 2 RESEARCH. Find studies that have
  already been conducted on your subject. Find at
  least TWO different types of studies
  (descriptive, case-control, cross-sectional,
  cohort, or experimental). Describe these studies
  by identifying WHO, WHAT,WHEN, WHERE, and HOW.
  Also document correctly the source for your
  statistics.
• Identify in the studies at least one measure of
  each of the following (these can be from
  different years, different samples, etc.)
• Prevalence of the condition ______________
• Incidence of the condition ______________

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER STUDENT
ASSIGNMENT

Health? Food? Diet? Fitness? Flu? Asthma? Cancer?
Heart Disease? Eating Disorders? Learning
Disabilities? Depression? Pollution?
Car/Biking/Skating/Boarding Accidents? Violence?
Crime? Pregnancy? Sexual Risk Behaviors?
Drugs/Alcohol?
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Epidemiology in Action
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PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER STUDENT
ASSIGNMENT

• STEP 3 HYPOTHESIS. Consider all you know, and
  all you have learned about your health/safety
  condition, and possible risk factors. Then,
  write a carefully considered HYPOTHESIS, in terms
  of one risk factor you could test that has not,
  to your knowledge, been tested so far in any of
  the studies youve read .

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PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER STUDENT
ASSIGNMENT

• STEP 4 STUDY DESIGN. Once you have your
  hypothesis, DESIGN a study you could do that
  would support your HYPOTHESIS. Imagine that
  time, money, and all logistical considerations
  are no object you have all the resources you
  need at your disposal.

In your study design, address the following
questions Who would be your subjects, and how
would you select them? How would you avoid
bias? From where would you get your data, and how
would you collect it? How would you avoid
bias? What type of study would you use, and why
would it be best for this type of study? What
would be some confounding variables that might
affect your results, and how would you prevent
them from doing that?
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PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER STUDENT
ASSIGNMENT

• STEP 5 STATISTICS
• Part I. How would you analyze your
  hypothetical data, once youve collected it?
  Create hypothetical statistics (what MIGHT you
  find, if your hypothesis proved correct?) and
  calculate two hypothetical examples of the
  statistical measures you would use to determine
  the validity of your hypothesis. Present your
  hypothetical findings using the best format for
  the type of analysis you conducted (pie chart,
  bar/line graph, etc.)
• Part II Collect REAL data on some aspect of
  your health/safety condition (does not have to
  specifically address your entire hypothesis, but
  it must relate). This can be data from the
  sources weve used in this unit, from other
  sources widely available, or original data you
  collect. Then, analyze this data using
  appropriate statistical measures, and present
  your findings using the best format for the type
  of analysis you conducted (pie chart, bar/line
  graph, etc.)

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• STEP 6 Imagine that your hypothetical results
  HAVE proven to be statistically significant.
  What changes will you recommend that
  people/organizations/companies/countries make,
  and why?
• Finally, design a plan to communicate your
  information, and your recommended changes to the
  world. As a part of this plan, complete your
  project by designing a persuasive poster about
  your condition, similar to these historical
  posters on health issues

Source Library of Congress, 1938, 1941 -WPA
project, and 1973.
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Epidemiology in Action
An Integrated High School Curriculum for Math,
Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, and
Health
By Annette Holmstrom Curtis High School Tacoma,
Washington 98422