The Project brief:

Write a proposal (Policy Brief) for your State Health Minister addressing one of the following areas to indicate what the problem is and what should be done about it (based on the available evidence):

• micronutrient deficiency;
• metabolic disease; or
• food insecurity.

This assignment comprises three parts.

Part A (15%): Provide an introduction to your topic by clearly articulating the problem at the state level – what is the prevalence, who is affected, what are the determinants etc. Select a subgroup within the population which has a particular issue with the problem – provide evidence of the problem, how it affects the subgroup and what the determinants are. A clear description of determinants will help you to then provide a rationale for the public health approaches most likely to improve the issue.

You will need to choose a circumscribed topic under the broad heading you’ve selected from above. For example, under metabolic disease you might choose childhood obesity; under food insecurity you might choose a focus on a subgroup like homeless youth; under micronutrient deficiencies you might choose iron deficiency in remote indigenous children. These are just some of many potential examples – please follow your interests here. Your assignment should be a pleasure to undertake, providing you with an opportunity to expand on your passions and interests.

Part B (60%): Propose to the Federal Health Minister the public health approach (or combination of approaches) you would recommend the Government adopt to address this issue. This section needs to be evidence based and provide a clear argument for why you’d propose this approach over another.

Some pointers:

• Be specific to your target group here – you may want to outline a whole of population approach to begin with but the emphasis here is on what approach you’d propose for your target group specifically.
• You will need to show evidence of having read widely and deeply on your chosen topic. You are expected as a post-graduate student to show evidence of your skills at critical appraisal of literature – so write to illustrate this.
• We anticipate the inclusion of at least three studies, preferably more, that will provide support for your approach. Avoid repeatedly citing one paper.
• Discuss the likely advantages and disadvantages of this approach or program (s).
• Write this with conviction – this is the advice to a Minister and they need to have the facts as best they stand. Ask yourself what you’d need if you were in their shoes. This should be a high quality review with a well-balanced analysis of what to do and why; of what the strengths and limitations (advantages and disadvantages) of this approach are going to be; and of what the political ramifications are likely to be (see Part C).
• You do not need to detail specific program objectives, methods or evaluation – the main emphasis is on providing evidence for the approach, for example you may propose that conducting a social marketing campaign is the most appropriate approach. You don’t need to detail the key messages, the timetable of media releases and the media monitoring you would use. But you do need to use the evidence to show that this would be appropriate and the best approach – eg, it has been used previously in xxx communities and it has been
  successful in changing behaviour/increasing awareness/whatever by zz%. You might want to go into some details about elements of the approach that are shown to be more effective than others, eg TV ads at prime time have a better reach and effectiveness than print media (ref) and hence that is why you would be suggesting TV ads over print media.

Part C (15%): Discuss the political sensitivities that may arise from this proposal and discuss ways in which these might be approached/dealt with. For example, the banning of smoking in public outdoor areas, or the setting of limits on liquor licences provide some nice topical examples in the media of the sorts of responses arising – and from where – when public health strategies are mooted. These provide you with some tangential examples that might stimulate your thinking around this part of the assignment. You might also like to reflect back on some of the issues raised in module 1. The supplementary readings around sociology and the various ‘isms’ may help your thinking here too.

Writing style and presentation – 10%

Some further explanatory notes:

• This is a 2000 word assignment (no plus or minus 10%). Use the proportion of marks
  allocated to a task to guide the number of words used – e.g.15% equates to around 300
  words. Words in tables, figures, headings and references are not included in the word limit.
  The exception is if a table is word content-heavy (i.e. full of paragraphs).
• A formal university cover sheet is not required however please do create a front page
  indicating the title of your assignment and the Unit code, your name, student ID and word
  count.
• Assignments in this unit must use Vancouver referencing style. The Vancouver style consists of the following elements:
  (1) citations in the body of the paper, using consecutive numbers in parentheses. Note that some journals use superscript (raised) numbers rather than numbers in parentheses.
  (2) a numbered reference list at the end of the paper giving the details of each source referred to.

  For more information go to: Referencing using Vancouver style

• There is no example assignment provided for this unit given this would be highly likely to answer the questions posed. As with all written assignments it is key that you answer the questions posed in a succinct, coherent way and provide the assessor with evidence of your knowledge and understanding. For example – the comment “this shows the engagement of public health principals” is very different to the comment – “this shows the engagement of public health principles and is evidenced by…….”. The latter provides the reader with evidence of your knowledge – the former does not.
• I have put some examples of Policy briefs in Cloud Deakin – so you have a bit of a guide to writing your own. You can format your own work in any way you like – either like some of the examples I have provided or more like an essay format.