Basic Concepts in Public Health Statistic-Classmate (Samantha) response (1) Topic 1 DQ 1
QUESTION- TOPIC 1 DQ 1 -Statistics is an important component of public health. Explain the relevance of statistics in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of a health promotion intervention. How do you envision using statistics in your current or future career?
Classmate Response- (Samantha Valois) Response (1)
Statistics are techniques used to summarize data in order to answer questions. Statistical techniques were developed because humans are limited information processors(Core 2016). Statistics is an essential part on public health because of all research components that it could lead to a health promotion intervention. We use statistics all the time in public health. We keep records of events (births, deaths, infections, etc.). In most situations, when trying to understand these recorded events, we naturally start talking about trends or averages. Statistics give us an approach to do this more systematically and accurately( Population Health Assessment 2021). As I am trying to open my open behavioral hospital one day, I envision using statistics in every step of the way of completing this. There are the business components of the certification of opening up a facility but the specific components requires statistics. I would need to figure out the population that needs mental health resources or in the specific community and the lack of. I would also need to do research on how the other mental health resources at different facilities are, what did not work at that facility and how I could avoid any issues that has already occurred at other facilities in the community. The research of what works in previous facilities, as well as what doesn’t are important components in the planning part of the health promotion of behavioral health. There are a lot of components, but I think that statistics is where I would start to plan the base of opening the facility.
Resources
Corty, E. W. (2016). Using and interpreting statistics (3rd ed.). Macmillan Learning.
Population Health Assessment. (n.d.). Basic statistics for public health. Population Health Assessment. Retrieved September 12, 2021, from https://phesc.ca-central.catalog.canvaslms.com/browse/pha/courses/basic-statistics-for-public-health.
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Solution
Samantha Valois Response
I agree with you that statistics are essential in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of various health promotion interventions. This is because statistics are the only way that public health practitioners can utilize to understand the health issues of different communities and populations. For instance, through statistics, public health practitioners can understand the incidence and prevalence of certain diseases, illnesses, or conditions in a given population (Hayat et al., 2017). By understanding the extent of given diseases or conditions in a given community, public health practitioners can therefore come up with strategies and plans for adequate health promotion activities in target populations. Public health practitioners can also utilize statistics to evaluate the implementation of various health promotion interventions and the effectiveness of such interventions (Hayat et al., 2017). For instance, public health practitioners can attempt to understand the prevalence of obesity in a given community. Public health practitioners can also rely on statistics to understand the main risk factors related to obesity in a given community, for example, the availability of many fast food shops. Finally, after the implementation of health promotion interventions to reduce obesity in a given community, public health practitioners can utilize statistics to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention strategies. Without statistics, health care practitioners, including public health practitioners, can therefore not clearly understand the extent of a health issue and clearly evaluate the effectiveness of their health promotion interventions. Statistics are therefore utilized to prove the existence of a given health care challenge or problem in a community, guide interventions related to health promotion, and evaluate the effectiveness of such health promotion interventions (Hayat et al., 2017).
References
Hayat, M. J., Powell, A., Johnson, T., & Cadwell, B. L. (2017). Statistical methods used in the
public health literature and implications for training of public health professionals. PloS one, 12(6), e0179032. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179032