Description
Purpose
This assignment will allow students to utilize the basic tools of public health inquiry to identify and describe the distribution of diseases and/or health-related outcomes.
CEPH CONTENT COMPETENCIES
Explain the role of quantitative and qualitative methods and sciences in describing and assessing a population’s health (3)
List major causes and trends of morbidity and mortality in the US or other community relevant to the school or program (4)
Instructions
Purpose
This assignment will allow students to utilize the basic tools of public health inquiry to identify and describe the distribution of diseases and/or health-related outcomes.
CEPH Content Competencies
Explain the role of quantitative and qualitative methods and sciences in describing and assessing a population’s health (3)
List major causes and trends of morbidity and mortality in the US or other community relevant to the school or program (4)
Instructions
You have already completed an Exercise where you learned about the quantitative (numerical) information that is available from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). That site is not working so we have found another similar site for you to use to complete this assignment, the CDC’s United Cancer Statistics Data VisualizationLinks to an external site.s site. You will explore the distribution of mortality from one type of cancer by sex and race/ethnicity across two states.
From this “Cancer Statistics at a Glance” page, make selections from the drop-down menus as follows:
Area: Choose any state; you will do a second state afterwards to compare.
New Cases (Incidence) or Deaths (Mortality): Choose “Rate of Cancer Deaths”.
Sex: Start with male or female; you will come back to the other.
Cancer Type: Choose one cancer that occurs in both women and men (not corpus and uterus, cervix, ovary, prostate, breast, testis).
Year: Choose 2016-2020.
Race and Ethnicity: Start with ALL Races and Ethnicities. You will come back for the others.
Using this “Cancer Statistics at a Glance” site (and other reputable internet sources), write a 2-page essay that addresses the following:
Explain why you selected the states you chose. Use internet sources to find information that allows you to briefly describe the states you selected, including demographics and other important features.
Explain why you selected the cancer you chose. Use internet sources to write one paragraph about this cancer including risk factors, prevention strategies, treatments, how common it is, how deadly it is and/or any other information you think is valuable.
Use the drop down menu options to find the mortality rates (not the number of cases) for your selected cancer in each of the two states for each race/ethnicity for males and females. Hover your mouse over the state to see the rates. Organize this information in a table you create and put in after your references as an Appendix.
Discuss the distribution of this disease/health indicator by state, sex, and race/ethnicity. Who is most at risk of death from this cancer? Who is least at risk? Did anything surprise you?
Discuss why it is important to have this evidence and suggest how a public health expert might use this numerical information.
