Welcome to e-Public Health: Design, Development and Testing of Effective Online Public Health Interventions B. R. Simon Rosser, Joe Konstan, Keith J. Horvath,

Welcome to e-Public Health: Design, Development and Testing of Effective

Online Public Health Interventions

B. R. Simon Rosser, Joe Konstan, Keith J. Horvath, William West(Course Co-Directors)

Gene Danilenko (TA)

Division of Epidemiology & Community HealthUniversity of Minnesota School of Public Health

Unit 1 Overview

1. Orientation (15 minutes)• Introduce the faculty (Rosser)• Student introductions • Identify specific features of this course (West)• Overview the curriculum and major assignment (Konstan)• Specialized content lectures (Horvath)• Q&A

2. Introduction to the course (Rosser)• Key definitions • Introductory exercises• Introduction of students• Q&A

Introducing the Faculty

By way of introduction, each member of the team was challenged to submit • a photo of themselves that also speaks about e-Public Health • a 30-second clip introducing

• who they are and their role on the course• what they’ll be teaching• why they chose this photo

Picture of Joegoes here

Picture of Genegoes here

Picture of Keithgoes here

Picture of Carolgoes here

Want to know more: go to https://wiki.umn.edu/twiki/bin/view/EPubHcourse/WebHomeand download the bio’s of the team.

Example Intro

• “Hi, I’m Simon Rosser, I’m a professor in public health. My training’s in psychology, behavioral medicine, epidemiology, with specialization in sexual health promotion. Since 2000, I’ve been principal investigator of several NIH-funded studies researching how to design e-Public Health HIV prevention programs, especially targeting Men who use the Internet to seek sex with men, and transgender populations who use the internet for social support. I chose this photo of myself in Ireland under a 3,500 B.C. burial chamber, because I think even in 50 years, when they look back at what we’re designing now in e-public health, it’s going to look very crude and rudimentary, but kind of exciting … we’re at the beginning of something new.

Student Introductions

• Please introduce:– Your name, – Your discipline/major, – And one quesiton about what motivated you to

take this course,

What’s different about this course?

• Making history. First course of it’s kind offered at a major university, possibly any university, and first year it’s been offered.

• Face-to-Face pilot for what we anticipate will eventually be an online course (given international demand)

• Highly interdisciplinary faculty because the topic is inherently multidisciplinary. We take the view that no one person can teach this course.

• Review of enrollments show highly interdisciplinary students.

• Area of study very new and still emerging.

Implications & Ground Rules• Team-work: respect each other’s disciplines and expertise.

Do NOT assume you speak the same language or share same assumptions.– E.g., take time to meet virtually or physically with each other, peer

mentor, expect some cultural shock, rely on each other’s expertise.• Read: background readings before class (especially those

outside your discipline).– E.g., computer scientists need to read public health; public health

need to learn e-design, etc. • Communicate and question: No question is dumb and at

least one “truth” or “assumption” of your discipline will turn out to be “untrue.”– E.g., see exercises in part 2 of this unit.

• Be flexible: As a first course, the faculty will be adjusting the curriculum as we go to best meet the class’s needs. – We need to learn from you and welcome your feedback as we go.– How: questions outside of class, email: [email protected]

Specialized Content Areas

Virtual community health promotion and e-public interventions can be so broad, we have designed specialized lectures and examples addressing the following content areas:

• Buddy email support systems for smoking cessation• Online tailored cooking interventions for obesity• E-interventions for diabetes self-management• Interactive sexual risk reduction for HIV prevention• Internet-based disaster preparedness communicationWe encourage you to apply what is being researched in

these and other areas of e-public health to your particular areas of interest

Curriculum Overview: Topics

• Please go to: https://wiki.umn.edu/twiki/bin/view/EPubHcourse/WebHome, and scroll down to VI. Course Outline.

• Course review

Curriculum Overview: Major Assignment

• At: https://wiki.umn.edu/twiki/bin/view/EPubHcourse/WebHome, see Studios.

• WHAT: Overview of major assignment.• WHO: Working in design pods• WHEN: All assignments due midnight Wed CST. (Any

problems encountered can then be fixed Thursday)• HOW: What is a “studio”• PRODUCT: Expectations and student presentations

Q&A

• Questions so far about the course

Introduction to e-Public Health

Methods:

• 4 introductory participatory exercises to review key skills needed for this course

• Review of definitions

Identification of possible topics for major assignment

Exercise 1.

• On the next slide you are challenged in 2 minutes to write down or type (whatever you prefer) as many different uses for the named object as you can think of.

• In doing this exercise avoid redundancy.– For example, if the object was “pencil,” different uses

would be “to write a letter,” “tattoo a body,” “sketch a diagram,” “as a bookmark”

– Redundant uses would include “to write a letter,” “to write a poem” “to write an essay”

– See how many different uses you can write down for the following:

Write down as many different uses

as you can for a: brick

Observations

• 1. How many uses did you come up with?• 2. What are some of the conventional uses for a

brick?• 3. What are some of the most significant uses

for a brick? • 4. What were some of the most innovative uses

for a brick?• 5. What was more satisfying for you: thinking

conventionally or thinking innovatively?• 6. What are the strengths and limitations of each

way of thinking?

Applications to e-Public HealthThe National Institutes of Health (NIH) Roadmap for Medical Research

(2002), which includes public health, is the nation’s document detailing medical discovery in the 21st century. Three themes are emphasized:

1. New pathways to discovery will invest in “emerging areas of research” (e.g., bioinformatics; computer applications to medicine) as these are predicted to be where major advances are made

2. Research teams of the future will be multidisciplinary (values creativity, interdisciplinary discovery, high risk research)

3. Re-engineer the scientific enterprise to emphasize multidisciplinary training, new networking and translational research.

By taking this course, you are being trained in the new priorities for research and scientific discovery: Think creatively, train multidisciplinary, translate knowledge to your areas of interest.

• For more, see: http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/overview.asp

Exercise 2: Brainstorm

• Take 2 minutes to write down as many different uses of the Internet to promote health and prevent disease. (Again avoid redundancy).

• E.g., an online group for people with rare diseases to share experience and support each other.

Observations

• 1. How many uses did you come up with?• 2. What are some of the conventional uses for

Internet-based public health?• 3. What are some of the most significant uses

for Internet-based public health? • 4. What were some of the most innovative uses

you thought for Internet-based public health?

Exercise 3

• Find the answer to: Who was Thomas Kuhn and why is he important to this course?

Instruction:• Students on the left side of the class

please use whatever search engine you prefer (e.g., google) to find the answer.

• Students on the right, please go to wikipedia for the answer.

Processing the Exercise

Processing content: The Internet has been described as a “revolution” and we predict that in 20 years time, most public health will be Internet-based.

1. Is e-Public Health a scientific revolution in Kuhnian terms?

2. If e-Public Health is a scientific revolution, what can students taking a course in e-public health expect?

Processing process: 3. When seeking information, do you prefer the freedom

to search however you choose or being guided to specific information?

Exercise 4: This week’s assignment

• As a class, you are now forming a virtual community (technically a hybrid online/offline).

• Your first e-intervention is to come together online.

• The challenge is for each member to work out what you want to do, sort out the skills of each other, and divide into pods by Wednesday midnight.

• You all have been granted access to a bulletin board to facilitate this. The address has been emailed to you.

EXERCISE

• You may find it helpful to go to www.healthy people.gov, review the top ten priorities of public health in the USA, and discuss common interest areas …

List of the Top Ten Public Health Priorities of Preventable Disease in the United States –

1. Physical activity (heart attacks)2. Overweight and obesity (CVD;

diabetes)3. Tobacco use (lung & other cancers)4. Substance abuse (drug addiction)5. Responsible sexual behavior

(HIV/STIs, pregnancy, rape)6. Mental health (depression, ADHD,

suicide, anxiety)7. Injury and Violence (accidents, guns)8. Environmental Quality (COPD)9. Immunization (measles, mumps,

rhubella, tetanus)10.Access to Health Care (diagnosis and

treatment)

• Office of the U.S. Surgeon General’s Healthy People 2010. At:

www.healthypeople.gov

Summary

In this class we:1. Reviewed the course, curriculum, and major

assignment2. Introduced key terms, proposed definitions and

philosophical assumptions underlying this course.

3. Introduced key values in e-Public Health: creativity, thinking multidisciplinary, teamwork.

4. Began thinking about what the Internet and e-Public Health is or can be

5. Commenced the process of pod selection.

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