Faculty of Health Sciences
Department of Health Promotion and Community Health Course: Community Health and Development
HPCH 332 [2credits] Course Syllabus
Spring 2013-14
“Go in search of people. Begin with what they know. Build on what they have.” -Old Chinese proverb.
Class Time and Venue: Tuesdays 3:30-5:30pm in VD 332 Course Instructors:
- Judy Makhoul, DrPH
Office: VD 308; Ext: 4669; e-mail: jm04@aub.edu.lb Course Description
In this course, students learn concepts and acquire skills which are necessary for successful community health promotion and development programs. They study the basic principles of community organizing and critique current trends of community development practices using relevant literature. Students also investigate alternative approaches necessary to improve on community development practices through applications in the field.
Course Competencies [CCs]
By the end of the course, the students will be able to:
1. Apply theoretical models/frameworks to identify determinants and assess needs of communities
2. Use assessment tools for different populations and settings to identify community assets, resources and needs
3. Discuss ways to solicit the participation of those who will affect or be affected by community health development programs
4. Use community organizing principles to guide community development practice 5. Critique current approaches to community development
6. Analyze the influence of development approaches on community health 7. Discuss ways to apply participatory community development practices 8. Discuss ways to incorporate environmentally sound practices in community
Course Requirements and Learning Outcome Evaluation
There is no single textbook for the course. However, there is a reading pack of book chapters and journal articles relevant to each session of the course available for purchase in the AUB Bookshop.
Students are required to read the relevant assigned reference material prior to class sessions, and to complete the following:
a. Participation in warm up presentations and class activities 10%
b. Community mapping assignment [Assess CC1,2] 30%
c. A critique of a Community dev’t project [Assess CC 3,4,5,6,7,8] 30% d. Take home subjective exam [Assess CC 1,2,3,7,8] 30% a. Participation in warm up presentations: 10%
Every student presents an example or case relevant to the topic of the session in the first 15 minutes of class using the community toolbox website: ctbu.ku.edu and other sources. This serves as a warm-up exercise for the day. Topics will be assigned at the beginning of the course. Assessment includes creativity, relevance,
presentation skills and use of time.
b. Community Mapping Assignment: 30%
For this assignment, students work in groups of 3-4. They visit a community of choice [urban or rural] and write a report of the physical and social settings of the community as well as the wider conditions that affect the health of this community guided by Eng and Blanchard (1991) checklist [to be distributed in class]. Students are required to make a number of field visits to the community and collect the relevant information through observing community life, speaking with community residents and
gatekeepers, and drawing a map of the community. A hard copy of a report on the process and findings is written. Further instructions will be distributed in class. c. A critique of a Community Development Project: 30%
In this assignment, the groups orally present a critique of a community development project, from the community of their choice. They collect relevant information about the project from both interviews with the implementing organization and the residents. The assignment includes an analysis of the project: strengths and weaknesses of the
approach used in implementation as well as suggestions to improve. It also includes an overview of the agency [international, local or non-governmental] implementing the project. A copy of the report is to be given to the agency involved. Further instructions will be distributed in class.
d. Take home subjective exam: 30%
Students prepare for a subjective exam of the material assigned by the course instructors up until the day of the exam. It is in the form of a case study they read and answer questions about individually. They take the exam home and return it on a due-date to be determined later.
Academic Integrity
Education is demanding and time management is essential. Do not hesitate to use the resources available to you in the University [Libraries, Writing Center, Academic Core Processing Systems]. Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated. It is the student’s responsibility to become familiar with the Student Code of Conduct [AUB Student Handbook pages or AUB website]. Read the definitions and penalties. If you are in doubt as to what constitutes plagiarism, ask your instructor. AUB has a strict anti-cheating and anti-plagiarism policy. Penalties include a zero on the assignment in question, failing the course, suspension or expulsion from University and a record of the disciplinary action in the student’s file. HPCH 332 Schedule of Sessions
Date Topic and Readings Due dates
Jan 30 Introduction to the course
Feb 6 C1
Problematizing ‘community’
- Walter, CL (2008) Community building practice. In Meredith Minkler [ed]. Community Organizing and Community Building for Health [2nd edition].Rutgers University Press, New Jersey.
Feb 13 C2
Problematizing ‘community development’
- Makhoul, J and Harrison, L (2002) Development
perspectives: views from rural Lebanon. Development in Practice, 12 (5), 613-623.
Feb 20
Community Organization
- Bracht, N. et al (1999) A five-stage community
organization model for health promotion. In Neil Bracht [ed] Health Promotion at the Community Level 2. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks. [pp83-104].
- Abdulrahim, S. et al (2010) The Potentials and Challenges of an Academic– Community Partnership in a Low-Trust Urban Context. Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 87 (6), 1017-1020.
Feb 27 C 1,2,3,4
Community needs assessment I
- Hancock,T and Minkler, M (2008) Community health assessment or healthy community assessment: whose community? Whose health? Whose assessment. In Meredith Minkler [ed]. Community Organizing and Community Building for Health [2nd edition].Rutgers University Press, New Jersey.
- Makhoul, J. (2003) A Structural Perspective of Poverty and Health Inequalities in Lebanon. Bulletin of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies, 5(1),25-41
Mar 6 C 1,2,3
Community needs assessment II Photovoice:
- Wang, C. et al (2004) Flint Photovoice: Community
Building Among Youths, Adults, and Policymakers. AJPH, 94(6) 911-913.
Meredith Minkler [ed]. Community Organizing and Community Building for Health [2nd edition].Rutgers University Press, New Jersey. Pp358-60 only.
March 13 C 2,3
Community needs assessment III
- Chambers, R (1994) The origins and practice of
participatory rural appraisal. World Development. 22(7): 953-969.
Rapid appraisal techniques for emergency/refugee crises
-Medicines Sans Frontieres (2006) Rapid health assessment of refugee or displaced populations. [3rd Edition]. MSF, Paris.
-Bradt, D A. and Drummond, C M (2002) Rapid Epidemiological Assessment of Health
Status in Displaced Populations—An Evolution toward Standardized Minimum Essential Data Sets. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 17(4),178-185.
March 20 C 2,3
Agencies of Community Development and humanitarian assistance-who they are and the challenges they face
- Foster, GM (1999) Bureaucratic aspects of international health programs. In Robert A. Hahn (ed)Anthropology in Public Health: Bridging differences in culture and society. Oxford University Press. New York. Pp: 345-364.
- Crisp, J. (2001). Mind the gap! UNHCR, humanitarian assistance and the development process. International Migration Review, 35(1), 168-191. Mapping Assignment Mar 27 C 5,6 Community Participation
- Makhoul,J., Nakkash, R., Hapham, T., Qutteina,Y. (2013) Community based participatory research in complex settings: Clean mind-dirty hands. Health Promotion Int'l. doi:10.1093/heapro/dat049
Apr 3 C 3,4
Community Based Participatory Research
- Israel, BA et al (2003) Critical issues in developing and following CBPR principles. In Meredith Minkler and Nina Wallerstein [eds] Community-Based Participatory
Research for Health [ed] Jossey-Bass. San Francisco. - Afifi, R, Makhoul,J, Nakkash,R, and el-Hajj, T (2011) Developing a logic model for youth mental health:
Participatory research with a refugee community in Beirut. Health Policy and Planning, doi: 10.1093/heapol/czr001
Apr 10 C 7
Ethics and community development and relief work
- Frances E. Racher (2007) The Evolution of Ethics for Community Practice Journal of Community Health Nursing, 24(1), 65–76.
Ethics and refugee populations-TBA
Take home exam due
April 17
Environmentally sound development and relief work
