Purpose

The concepts of epidemiology provide the framework for the study of infectious and chronic diseases, which provides a rich source of data for the analysis of trends in disease and health. This assignment will offer the opportunity to explore the health effects associated with hookahs.  You will identify populations at risk, and to design an educational intervention for your target population.  In addition you will look at what outcomes will be addressed to determine if your interventions work.  You will integrate HP2020 and CDC information into your paper.

Course Outcomes

Through this assignment, the student will demonstrate the ability to:

CO 3:  Identify appropriate outcome measures and study designs applicable to epidemiological subfields such as infectious disease, chronic disease, environmental exposures, reproductive health, and genetics.

CO 6:  Identify important sources of epidemiological data.

Total Points Possible: 125 Points

Due Date: Submit your file(s) by Sunday, 11:59 p.m. MT at the end of Week 2

Requirements

Criteria for Content

Research the health effects of hookahs and select three to five health effects to address.  Identify your target population (for instance, age or other demographic, aggregate population); this must be in your city or state. Design a population based health education intervention for your target population that is aimed at reducing morbidity and mortality for the problem. Be sure to review the research literature and HP2020 for interventions. Decide what outcomes you will use to determine whether your educational intervention works.  In a three (3) page summary, address the following.

1. Identify the problem in the introduction section.
2. Provide an overview of the problem in your city/state
3. Review of descriptive epidemiologic and demographic data on mortality/morbidity and risk
4. Present the goal, overview and objectives of Healthy People 2020 for the paper topic. Also, include an overview of the national snapshot by HP2020.
5. Create a population focused intervention that includes activities and implementation strategies. Use of scholarly literature and HP2020 is recommended for writing the Intervention Program Plan.

Solution:

Problem identification

Over the past couple of years, hookah cafes have increasingly gained popularity across the globe including the United States.  More so, the use of hookahs by colleges’ students as well as youths, in general, is increasing steadily.  In fact, recent studies have revealed a high prevalence of hookah use among the US college students had increased from 22 percent to 40 percent (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019). This can be attributed to the adolescents’ perceptions in that they believe that Hookah is harmless hence the widespread acceptability.   This has posed a challenge to the public health sectors in that despite the state laws in some state limiting smokes in public places, most of the adolescents can purchase hookahs and use it at home.

Overview of the problem in New Jersey

The acceptability and use of hookahs among the adolescents in New Jersey has consistently increased. For instance,  recent studies have found that ever use of hookah in New Jersey among the high school students increased to 20.9% in 2010 from  17.9 percent in 2008 (Kulak et al., 2018).  In light of this, most of the adolescents between the age of 13 and 15 have been found to use hookahs in New Jersey, which raises concerns on the spread and the relevant strategies to mitigate the use of hookahs among the adolescents. This increased can be attributed to the adolescents’ perceptions of Hookah, in which most of them believe it is harmless. …..Please click the icon below to purchase full solution at $10