Public Health Basics
What is Health?
Physical, mental, and social well-being of individuals and communities. Not just a lack of illness/disease.
What are the 3 levels of prevention?
Primary, Secondary, Tertiary
Name three reputable places to find existing health data.
What are two reasons for using evidence-based strategies?
Shown to be effective, smart use of money and time
How do you calculate incidence of a disease? Incidence
number of newly diagnosed people divided by eligible population
What Is Public Health?
A population perspective to promote, protect, and improve the health of the population
Name an example of each level of prevention.
Primary- general health promotion, raising smoking age to 21 .
Secondary- targeted at people who are at risk, anti-smoking courses in high school health classes
Tertiary- health care for those who developed lung cancer or other diseases
What is the purpose of a community assessment and why is it important?
Community assessments identify the needs, resources, and strengths of a community
What are two organization websites where you can find evidence-based practices?
County Health Rankings
What Works Clearinghouse
How do you calculate prevalence of a disease?
total number of cases divided by eligible population
What is Public Health Perspective?
Population perspective
What are prominent social determinants of health and name an example?
Social determinants of health= economic and social conditions that influence the health of people and communities
Examples: -housing status- leads to inadequate sleep, -education status- determines the jobs you can get-income- impacts what food, health care you can afford
What methods are used in assessing community health problems?
Focus groups, photovoice, environmental audits, appreciative inquiry, review existing data
What are the studies on the top of the hierarchy of evidence and why are they important?
Meta-analysis and systematic reviews look over multiple studies and review their contents together.
How do you calculate incidence rate?
incidence x 100,000
What are the 5 of the 10 major public health achievements?
Vaccinations, motor-vehicle safety, safer workplaces, control of infectious diseases, decline from heart disease deaths, safer/healthier foods, family planning, fluoridation of drinking water, recognition of tobacco use as a health hazard
What is the difference between risk factors and social determinants of health?
Risk factor= something specific that increases your risk of a disease or injury
Social determinant of health= economic or social condition
What are six strategies for creating community change?
Consciousness raising
Community development
Social action
Health promotion
Media advocacy
Policy and environmental change
What is transdisciplinary problem-solving?
Many people working together to rise above their specific disciplines and come up with a solution together
How do you calculate prevalence rate?
prevalence x 100,000
What are the roles and responsibilities of the federal, state, and local public health departments?
Federal- Policies, financial resources, financing research, support scientific evidence
State- screening and treatment for diseases, laboratory services, technical assistance and training
Local- local health departments, fiscal decisions, food safety education, school/daycare inspections, food service establishment
What is the internal ethic of Public Health?
A movement toward social justice
When does prevalence go up verses down?
Prevalence goes up when new cases get added (i.e. incidence goes up)
Prevalence goes down when people die
What is Relative Risk and how do you calculate it?
the probability that an event will happen to an exposed group compared to an unexposed group
Relative Risk= Incidence in exposed/incidence in unexposed
When RR > 1; increase in risk
When RR < 1; decrease in risk
Incidence & Prevalence Example:
calculate incidence, prevalence and incidence rate/prevalence rate for this example
There are 10 newly diagnosed cases of diabetes, 100 current people living with diabetes, and 300 people total eligible in the population
Incidence= (10/300)
Incidence rate= (10/300) x 100,000
Prevalence= (110/300)
Prevalence rate= (110/300) x 100,000