Author: Jason Thompson

Introduction to Qualitative Research

Course Objective

Describe the rationale for using qualitative research to answer a particular question or to study a phenomenon of interest
Describe critical elements of each of the five main approaches to qualitative research
Describe the four main types of qualitative data collection methods including the main procedures and challenges associated with each
Select an appropriate data collection method(s) for a given study question or approach
Discuss commonly used strategies to ensure validity and reliability in qualitative research

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Date: December 14, 2018

Presenter:
New York City-Long Island-Lower Tri-County Public Health Training Center with revisions made by the Region 2 Public Health Training Center

Qualitative research is “an inquiry process of understanding whereby the researcher builds a complex, holistic picture, analyzes words, reports detailed views of informants, and conducts the study in a natural setting,” (Creswell 249). In ‘Introduction to Qualitative Research,’ learners follow along with two staff members from the Huntsville Department of Health as they discuss key concepts in qualitative research and decide how to examine an underutilized program using qualitative methods. Through interactive exercises and feedback, learners will explore the most common approaches to and data collection methods in qualitative research. The following discussion was based on John W. Creswell’s Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design, a text commonly used in qualitative research methods courses. Additional resources and suggested readings are provided for those who are interested in learning more about specific topics and concept introduced in this training.

Introduction to Qualitative Analysis with ATLAS.ti

Course Objective

Critically interpret the meaning of textual data using inductive reasoning
Develop a preliminary classification scheme using interpretative reading
Categorize inferences with meaningful conceptual labels and/or codes
Formulate conclusions based on relationships between established categories and/or codes
Perform basic qualitative analysis techniques in ATLAS.ti software, including:
- Prepare primary documents for importing into ATLAS.ti’s Hermeneutic Unit
- Generate output of coded textual data
- Troubleshoot key importing, coding and output operations in ATLAS.ti

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Date: December 14, 2018

Presenter:
New York City-Long Island-Lower Tri-County Public Health Training Center with revisions made by the Region 2 Public Health Training Center

Qualitative research produces rich, narrative data that requires both analysis and interpretation. In this section, learners are guided through the basic steps of the analysis process: Organize, Reduce, and Describe. An interactive practice exercise accompanies each step. Following this discussion, ATLAS.ti is introduced as a computer assisted software package that can supplement and improve pen and paper coding processes. Users follow instructional videos to learn how to use ATLAS.ti to manage large bodies of textual, graphical, audio, and video data. It is recommended that users download a trial version of ATLAS.ti software to follow along with the instructional videos in Part III and to practice at home. Download a trial version of ATLAS.ti.

Introduction to Mixed Methods

Course Objective

Compare the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative and quantitative research.
Explain how mixed methods research design can take advantage of the strengths of both approaches.
Identify the five main types of mixed methods design and the goals of each type.
Match the appropriate type of mixed methods design with the aims of the research question.
Recognize the implications of mixed methods design on other aspects of the research design, including the sampling, measurement, and analysis.
Describe the main ways in which qualitative and quantitative data may be appropriately integrated during analysis.

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Date: December 14, 2018

Presenter:
New York City-Long Island-Lower Tri-County Public Health Training Center with revisions made by the Region 2 Public Health Training Center

The following course is designed to provide the learner with an introduction to the benefits of mixed methods, different mixed methods research designs, and methods of analyzing and integrating mixed methods data.

Facilitating Focus Groups

Course Objective

Identify focus group standards for planning and logistics.
Moderate a focus group utilizing listening, open-ended questioning, and probing techniques while encouraging active participation.
Manage the logistical execution of the focus group with attention to conversation flow, group participation, and time-keeping

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Date: December 14, 2018

Presenter:
New York City-Long Island-Lower Tri-County Public Health Training Center with revisions made by the Region 2 Public Health Training Center

In this video-based training program, participants sit in on a mock focus group and watch as the moderator models different techniques to carry out the focus group. The program addresses techniques including ice-breaker exercises, validation techniques, and other strategies to probe group members for clarity and deeper meaning, while encouraging group interactions and active conversation.

Building Logic Models

Course Objective

Construct a public health program logic model based on given program information

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Date: December 14, 2018

Presenter:
New York City-Long Island-Lower Tri-County Public Health Training Center with revisions made by the Region 2 Public Health Training Center

In this training program, participants will build a logic model based on a scenarios related to improving access to healthy food in underserved neighborhoods. Participants will be asked to create a logic model based on components in the scenario and will be able to compare their logic model to an expert logic model.

Advanced Program Evaluation

Course Objective

Appreciate that a comprehensive evaluation plan addresses a program logic, stakeholders, evaluation questions and evaluation design.
Assess advantages and limitations of evaluation designs, including randomized, quasi-experimental and pre-post designs.
Appraise and compare options for data collection methods, measures and sampling strategies.
Identify and address associated threats to validity.
Identify strategies for addressing budget, time, data and political constraints in evaluation practice.

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Date: December 14, 2018

Presenter:
New York City-Long Island-Lower Tri-County Public Health Training Center with revisions made by the Region 2 Public Health Training Center

*This course is Certified Quality through the Public Health Learning Navigator, an initiative of the Public Health Learning Network (PHLN) and National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI).

Learners will take on the role of a staff member at the Middleton County Health Department who is tasked with helping to develop an evaluation plan for an obesity-prevention program recently launched in Middleton County. Using the CDC Program Evaluation Framework, learners will connect each step of the framework with a section of the evaluation plan, going into detailed discussion about: incorporating stakeholders, logic models and evaluation questions in the process; characteristics of different research designs for evaluation and considerations for choosing an appropriate design; options for data collection methods and sampling; and thinking through threats to validity. Additionally, the learner will review strategies for conducting rigorous evaluations within constraints of budget, time, and resources.

Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs and Drug Poisonings: What do we know? What do we need to know?

Course Objective

Define prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMP)
List the measurement issues that arise when studying PDMPs and their effect on prescription opioid and heroin poisoning rates
Describe the evidence surrounding the effects of PDMPs on rates of nonfatal and fatal prescription opioid and heroin poisoning

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Date: December 4, 2018

Presenter:
Silvia Martins MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Epidemiology
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Magdalena Cerda, DrPH
Associate Professor, Department of Population Health
New York University School of Medicine

David Fink, MPhil, MPH
PhD Candidate, Epidemiology Department
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Participants learn from Dr. Silvia Martins, Dr. Magdalena Cerda and Dr. David Fink about the use of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) in the United States. First, Dr. David Fink provides an overview in current PDMP practices, explains the inconsistent evidence related to their success in reducing fatal and nonfatal prescription drug poisoning, and explores the unintended consequences of PDMP implementation such as increased heroin poisoning rates. Then, Dr. Cerda categorizes different PDMPs as proactive and reactive, then describes their research of PDMP implementation from 1999 to 2016. Lastly, Dr. Martins explains how proactive PDMPs–which proactively provide unsolicited information to PDMP users, provide open access to law enforcement, and require frequent data reporting–are less likely to be associated with increased in fatal heroin poisonings than reactive PDMPs.

Activism and Health Promotion: A Primer

Course Objective

Describe influential frameworks for understanding activist successes and failures
Discuss contemporary social movements and their relevance to health promotion and public health
Describe common strategic challenges that face health activists

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Date: October 2, 2018

Presenter:
Merlin Chowkwanyun, PhD, MPH
Donald Gemson Assistant Professor of Sociomedical Sciences
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

In October 2018’s Log-in2Learn webinar, participants learn from Dr. Merlin Chowkwanyun about the history and role of social movements in driving public health and health promotion efforts in the United States. The lecture addresses the considerations made by activists in health advocacy work, such as: opportunities for conciliation, confrontation, or compromise; rhetoric and framing of messages; audience sensitivity in social movements; positionality of activist groups; and the use of coalitions. Dr. Chowkwanyun applies these frameworks to describe and evaluate the strategies of past health topics associated with activist efforts, including: healthcare access, mass incarceration, HIV/AIDS, breast cancer, environmental justice, and vaccination. At the end of the lecture, Dr. Chowkwanyun describes three recent movements – Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, and Me Too – and forecasts their role in health policy development.

E-Cigarettes and Evolving Challenges for Tobacco Control

Course Objective

Describe potential health risks posed by electronic cigarettes
Evaluate the effectiveness of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation
Describe the health risks posed by hookah smoking

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Date: September 27, 2018

Presenter:
Kevin R. J. Schroth, JD, BA
Associate Professor
School of Public Health, Rutgers University

This webinar will describe how the market for tobacco products has grown more diverse. It will focus on the emergence of e-cigarettes, addressing trends in use, marketing, effectiveness for quitting, potential health impact, and government regulations. It will also address issues related to hookah smoking.

Strategies to Advance Health Equity: State and Local Health Departments’ Role in Building Pathways to Higher Education

Course Objective

Explain the rationale for expanding public health practice to promote health and equity by supporting access to high-quality, affordable education
Summarize evidence documenting how high school and college completion can improve health
Describe structural, social, political, and economic barriers to high school and college completion
Identify three specific strategies designed to support high school completion, transition to higher education, and college completion to advance health equity
Explain how LHDs can leverage “upstream” strategies to support these initiatives, including partnering with other agencies, social movements and community organizations

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Date: September 24, 2018

Presenter:
Nicholas Freudenberg
Distinguished Professor of Public Health
City University of New York School of Public Health

Emily Frazosa
Senior Researcher
City University of New York School of Public Health

The relationship between health and education is well documented. However, not everyone in the United States has the same access to high-quality education, which creates wide disparities in high school and college graduation rates and future life success. Additionally, people with more education live longer lives and have lower rates of chronic disease and less drug use, less smoking and better birth outcomes. Advancing health equity means we must work to make sure everyone in our communities has access to equitable, high-quality, affordable educational opportunities. In this module, participants will explore specifically on how high school and college completion influence health, and what prevents students from earning a degree. While high school and college each present some challenges that are different, you’ll see that many of them overlap. Also, learners will review barriers that keep students from academic success, and the public health tools we have to break down those barriers. Lastly, learners will look at real-world examples of how schools, governments and health departments are working to help all students succeed.