- Proposed Research Question
Post your research question for your session-long project and indicate how your research question meets the following criteria: Is the substandard housing in Owsley County, KY a predictor for poor health among the elementary school children.
- Is it relevant to the field of public health?
There is a clear link between substandard housing and health. 57% of the children come from households that live below the poverty level. This is an indicator of poor health conditions that requires government intervention.
- Is it novel (e.g. previous studies have been limited or inconsistent)?
Previous studies focus more on modern urban housing in the city’s poorer neighborhoods but not the older houses in rural areas. Rural areas have been ignored by most researchers.
- Is it specific, focused, and concise?
The research question is specific, focused and concise. It is address three major issues of concern; the problem of substandard housing in Owsley County, its relationship with health provision, and the impact on elementary school children.
- Does it examine relationships between variables?
The two variables are substandard housing and the number of elementary school children exhibiting poor health conditions. There is a direct relationship between the two variables in that substandard housing influences health conditions of the children.
- Is it feasible?
It is a small study involving a sample size of 829 children and 2328 housing units. Give adequate time and resources to work with, there health care of the people living in Owsley County can be improved.
- Cultural Competence
In examining whether a public health program is culturally appropriate for a specified target population, what factors would be important to examine? Provide examples using the public health program you selected for your case assignments.
It is important that the health programs adopted for specific groups of people should embrace cultural diversity among the people. The people of Owsley are a conservative rural community, which engages primarily in subsistence farming. An estimated 5000 people inhabit the small rural area of Owsley. Most of these people are of Caucasian descent. Tobacco farming in the area has led to high rates of smoking among the people. This includes teenagers and pregnant women. In addition to the law outlawing the sale of alcohol in the county, campaigns should be conducted to sensitize the people on the negative effects of tobacco smoking despite its revenue generating effect on the government.
- Literature Review
Re-state your proposed research question.
Did you find many peer-reviewed studies that were related to your research question? Were most of these studies consistent or inconsistent with your hypothesis? What are possible reasons for inconsistent studies? Does your literature review support that studies are limited or inconsistent regarding findings related to your research question?
A review of the existing literature on cases of poverty in the United States was restricted to urban areas. A lot of research work has been done regarding the challenges of urban development such as congestion, unemployment and the high cost of living. However, rural poverty in the United States is a topic that has not received much attention.
- Study Methods
What factors should be considered in selecting a study design? What factors should be considered in selecting controls for a study? What is the advantage of random sampling over non-random sampling?
The study will involve conducting an investigation on the living conditions that the sampled elementary children are exposed to and how this impacts on the health. A prospective cohort study will be conducted to ensure the continuous flow of information about the various groups of elementary school children. Stratified sampling method will be used to cover the children living in various communities in the region. This will help reduce sampling bias.
- Presenting to Target Audiences
What factors are important to consider in tailoring presentations or communications to your target audience? Provide specific examples of how you would tailor a presentation or communication based on the factors you identified.
The federal, state and local governments and other development partners are the most likely users of the output of this study. Addressing the health care needs of all citizens is a critical issue. This will require the preparing of reports to be presented to the relevant stakeholders. The reports should be accompanied by research proposals on how the improve on the poverty levels and health concerns in the region.
- Integration and Reflection
In this course, we focused on developing a research proposal and plan for evaluating a public health program. What do you think are important factors for getting research proposals funded? Briefly discuss what you believe to be future trends in public health research and program evaluation.
A research proposal communicates the needs of the people to their potential donors, partners and collaborators and therefore forms a basis upon which potential health sponsors decide whether or not to fund them. The important factors to consider in funding a research proposal include: financial, technical and managerial sustainability.
Financial sustainability means that the health project can continue to be sustained after the donor funds have been expended. Technical sustainability implies the availability of the necessary training, skills and expertise to continue with the project while managerial sustainability means the capability of the target group to exhibit that it can manage the project to completion.
In the future, health research and programs should be tailored towards increasing accessibility and quality of healthcare services to all people. This is because the prosperity of any population heavily relies on good health.
