NURS 8400 Design and Evaluation of Programs and Projects Week 1 Essay Assignment
NURS 8400 Design and Evaluation of Programs and Projects Week 1 Essay Assignment
What are the building blocks for creating programs that successfully address health care–related problems? What does it mean to apply effectiveness-based program planning? How has the “era of accountability” influenced the design, management, and evaluation of programs?
In the first week of this course, you explore these questions and more as you are introduced to the process of planning a program and its evaluation. Sound planning and evaluation are essential for creating programs that contribute toward the establishment of effective health care delivery—and, as a DNP-prepared nurse, you have an opportunity to positively impact health-promotion and disease-prevention goals through your work at the aggregate or systems level. To establish a foundational context for this, this week you engage in a Discussion on social problems and consider how this relates to the program planning.
This week you also begin your Practicum Experience for this course, crafting learning objectives and a plan for achieving them.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
- Assess the significance of approaches to program planning and evaluation
- Develop learning objectives and activities aligned to specialty competencies for the practicum experience
NURS 8400 Discussion: Defining Social Problems
In this course, Design and Evaluation of Programs and Projects, you examine aspects of program planning and evaluation while also engaging in a Practicum Experience. As you do this, you may notice the differing terminologies and approaches that are applied in various circumstances. For instance, you are likely quite familiar with the phrase “health problem” from your previous coursework and professional practice. This Discussion looks at understanding “social problems” as part of a framework for program design. What is the distinction between these terms? Why is it important to notice this divergence?
Problem analysis is a cornerstone for effective program planning and should be conducted at the outset. With this first Discussion, begin to pay close attention to the language and perspectives that will inform your program planning work as you move forward in the course.
To prepare:
- Consider the following scenario:
- Data from the Appalachian region show lower numbers of women receiving mammograms compared to the national average, indicating a need to increase use of this procedure in this area. However, the data also show that women from this region are reluctant to participate because of their attitudes toward mammograms (Royse & Dignan, 2009).
- Review Chapter 1 of Designing and Managing Programs to be sure you have a clear understanding of the sequencing of program design and evaluation, as well as the importance of each element of this process.
- Then, review Chapter 3. Analyze the scenario above in light of the concepts presented:
- Why is it important to avoid stating the problem as a solution?
- How does this scenario illustrate a “social problem”?
- What responses to the problem analysis framework questions (pp. 45–49) could you develop given the information provided?
By Day 3
Post a cohesive scholarly response that addresses the following:
- Describe three key insights or strategies you would share with your team if you were engaged in planning for a program related to the scenario described above.
- How do you expect that your intended approach to developing an understanding of social problems could affect program planning? Be sure to support your response.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.
By Day 6
Respond to two of your colleagues in one or more of the following ways:
- Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence, or research.
- Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.
- Offer and support an alternative perspective, using readings from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.
- Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.
- Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.
- Expand on your colleagues’ postings by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence.
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