Define/describe the public health problem and the population of interest (e.g., age range, geography, urbanicity).
Present epidemiological data on its major causes and mortality/morbidity trends
Present racial/ethnic and/or socioeconomic disparity data
Comprehensively summarize behavioral risk factors and/or social/environmental determinants of the problem that have been identified in the literature
Provide references to support all claims. A “claim” is any statement of fact or interpretation that can be challenged. All evidence cited in your paper – for mortality/morbidity trends, race/SES disparities, risk factors, etc. – must be supported with citations. Citations should be PRIMARY sources, including peer-reviewed data-based scientific articles and government data repositories (e.g., https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/index.htm). Do not rely on summaries of research from third-party websites (e.g., https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org), newspaper articles, Wikipedia, etc. In using peer-reviewed scientific articles, be sure to use primary sources, i.e., data-based articles that present original research findings. Do not rely exclusively on “narrative reviews” of research findings (described here: or cite articles that are described “second hand” in another research article – find and read original research studies to support your claims using Pubmed, Psycinfo,or a similar health sciences database available through The University of Memphis Libraries. Although narrative reviews should not be used to support claims, it is acceptable to make use of systematic reviews and meta-analyses (described here:
Be sure that in-text and end-of-document citations are properly formatted in APA or AMA style. (See useful websites below for APA and AMA formatting guidance).
Paper Section 2:
From the comprehensive list of behavioral and social determinants of the public health problem that you developed in Paper Section 1, select those that have the most potential to be modified (i.e., changed through public health intervention or policy). Present evidence from primary research articles and systematic reviews/meta-analyses to support that these determinants can be modified. Remember that the strongest evidence will come from 1) interventions or 2) prospective observational studies in which the exposure (i.e., a behavioral or social determinant) is assessed prior to an outcome (i.e., an indicator of the health problem).
Identify a health behavior theory that has (or could be) applied to modify determinants of the public health problem. Describe how the theory’s constructs have been applied to prevent or treat the problem by addressing its behavioral and social determinants. If the theory has not been applied to the particular problem you are investigating, you may review studies that applied the theory to another problem and describe how/why you think it can be applied to the problem you are studying.
Using the selected health behavior theory, describe plans for a CBPR intervention aimed at multiple levels of influence (i.e., individual, interpersonal, and community). This should be an intervention that you design rather than a description of an existing intervention from the literature. Because you will design an evaluation or the CBPR intervention you describe here in the final section of your paper, it is important that you are specific about what risk factors and outcomes will be targeted and how you propose to change these risk factors based on your selected health behavior theory. The clearer you are in the specifics regarding your intervention, the easier it will be to develop your evaluation plan.
State who your community partners will be and define their specific roles on your project. Your proposed intervention should be truly “community-based.” Don’t merely propose hiring individuals to run the project. Instead, describe how the intervention program will be embedded in the community. What essential tasks will each person or organization perform to make your CBPR intervention successful?
Paper Section 3:
Describe a comprehensive plan to conduct needs, process, impact, and outcome evaluations of your CBPR intervention. Refer to Tables 2 and 3 and accompanying text in Israel et al., Health Education Quarterly, 1995 . Describe and apply both quantitative and qualitative methods in your evaluation plan. Examples of methods that are typically used in evaluation are focus groups, structured or semi-structured interviews, Photovoice, cross-sectional surveys, longitudinal surveys, direct observation, and experimental designs such as single group pre/post tests or randomized controlled trials. Several readings and videos from Weeks 8 and 9 discuss these methods and will be helpful.
Describe a plan to evaluate your CBPR intervention’s generalizability/external validity, i.e., how useful your intervention is likely to be beyond your own project. Use a standard framework to assess your program’s generalizability/external validity such as RE-AIM. The Glasgow et al. paper and the “Using the RE-AIM model in a faith-based dissemination & implementation study” video will be useful to select methods for this. Methods typically used to evaluate generalizability typically are the same as the examples I gave above (surveys, focus groups, etc).
Propose a detailed budget and explain basic principles and tools of budget and resource management in the budget justification to carry-out the project.
