Health Education Development/Implementing a group-based lesson

Make healthy choices poster

We will be continuing our move towards planning, implementing and evaluating a teaching lesson in terms of outcomes, activities (outputs) and inputs. We will consider the importance of having an explicit theory of change to inform this process and to help us be explicit about our assumptions. Your assessment about a program logic narrative will be supported by the last session and the next sessions as well. So, please review anything that you have missed.

Learning activity instructions

Each week we hold a lectorial and a tutorial. The lectorial is a lecture involving audience participation. The tutorials are for discussing the and group activities relating to the topic, and for working on the assignments.

Lectorial

1. Watch the videos in this playlist here.
2. Review the learning outcomes for this and previous topics and decide to what degree you are getting the point of the various topics and the whole subject to this point. How do you think that the materials, lectorials and tutorials are linked? How might your assessments be the clue?
3. Read the story for this topic and the background, and review learning outcomes here. If you have time, see if you can find and scan the references and resources.
4. Visit and explore the following web-sites for important insights and resources on obtaining funding for and planning, implementing and evaluating projects.
5. Continue to read through and think about the various theories and models of change in Chapter Four of Health education: theoretical concepts, effective strategies and core competencies (WHO 2012) and read through Chapter Seven (very short chapter), Health education code of ethics, pages 52-53.
6. Attend the lectorial and be prepared to work through an application of program logic to a particular situation.

Tutorial

1. Hand in your team contracts!
2. Review the activities for Team 3 (page 109) and Team 4 (page 115). The teams will have already been preparing; so, this instruction is for everyone else.
3. Attend the tutorial.

What are the important program-logic considerations for Implementing a group-based lesson?

What did the community of residents and health professions discover? That it was not possible for most of the people to buy nutritious food. It was too expensive. This is also true in many rural and remote Australian communities as well. When the community sought to work with the retailers, they were not interested in working through the problem. So, the community decided that they would form a cooperative. They did their resource and found that they could play the role of the 'middle-man' for themselves. They would work directly with the suppliers. They discovered that by learning the requisite skills and information, rotating responsibilities and leadership and dividing the labour, they could bring in AND equitably distribute the food in large enough quantities that the net cost to each member of the cooperative was within their food budget. Imagine the trust that had to be developed for that to happen! Now, it was possible to hold those nutritious cooking classes. But, how do you implement something like cooking classes? That is what this topic is about.

Background

We are continuing our problematique of 'nutrition for life'. Planning asks and answers the question of how you are going to get to where you want to go. The program-logic narrative associated with Implementation has to do with spelling out what you are going to actually do when you finally get there. Imagine a trip to the beach. The planning program-logic narrative will include specifying how to get to the beach, what to take for various weather conditions, what to take to do various activities and how to deal with problems along the way. The Implementation program-logic narrative tells what you will do there and how it will be done. If you wish to play volleyball, you had better ensure that you get the equipment there. When you are there, you had better know where you are going to set up, how to set up the equiprment and how to play the game. You would also want to ensure that you have sufficient resources to cool-down or to fuel-up or to attend to the odd twisted ankle. Are you meeting peoples' expectations and are things working out the way you planned are 'in the moment' evaluations that you need to both plan for and implement. Some people may still be having difficulty with the logic of program logic. If you are having this difficulty, the University of Wisconsin Extension program provides a marvelous resource which everyone should download to their computer (UWEX 2003). We often talk about implementation in terms of activities or procedures which require us to consider a number of issues. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (2004) Logic Model Development Guide is very much too the point and a valuable resource; you will have to leave your name and an email address with them. The lesson plan might be outlined on one page and a narrative explaining the whys and wherefores on another. Or, it can be a part of a more extensive program. Have a look at what the National Education Association Health Information Network has done in terms of lesson plans for teen sexual health (NEAHIN nd) [nd indicates no date]. Here is a link to an important resource relating to mental health:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/theliteratureofprescription/education/c2HighSchoolHealth.html

If you direct your browser to the following site, you find a number of health related lesson plans which highlight both the implementation activities (with process outcomes) and assessment or evaluation strategies:

http://www2.mcrel.org/lesson-plans/health/healthpelessons.asp

The Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) development guide (below) is a gold mine. It is a must have resource. Please Google and download a copy!

References and Resources

NEAHIN (nd) Teen sexual health and vaccine education lesson plans. Washington, DC: National Education Association Health Information Network.

UWEX (2003) Enhancing program performance with logic models. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin-Extension.

WKKF (2004) Logic model development guide: Using logic models to bring together planning, evaluation, and action. Battle Creek, MI: W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this topic, through your own investigations, group preparation, tutorial participation and lectorial explorations, you should be able to:

1. Distinguish various ways of displaying a ‘program-logic’ narrative for the purpose of implementing a health education session relating to a two-hour ‘mental health first aid’ lesson.
2. Formulate appropriate aims and intended learning outcomes for the particular groups with whom you will be working in terms of their aspirations and realistic expectations.
3. Defend the means that you will use to facilitate activities that are aligned with the outcomes and are appropriate for the developmental stages of the people with whom you are working in accordance with sound pedagogical and adult learning principles.
4. Devise appropriate means for evaluating ‘in the moment’ both teaching and learning activities that accounts for issues relating to gender, ethnicity and class.