In this first part of the Scholar Practitioner Project (SPP), you will analyze a
In this first part of the Scholar Practitioner Project (SPP), you will analyze an area of critical need for leadership within public health. This should be an issue with significant disparities between population groups in need of evidence-based interventions to address the issue. The public health issue you choose should consider specific group(s), for example, addressing racial disparity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Topic areas where public health issues arise could include bioterrorism, famine/obesity, infectious disease, emergency preparedness, opioid addiction, health communication, public health infrastructure, global warming, genomics, preventative care, and mental health, to name a few.
As a future leader in public health, developing your skills for effectively assessing current literature and evaluating problems is critical; one of the goals of the SPP is to help you develop such skills, specifically writing a literature review and a problem statement.
A literature review: “a written approach to examining published information on a particular topic or field. Authors use this review of literature to create a foundation and justification for their research or to demonstrate knowledge on the current state of a field.”
—Walden Writing Center
Students often misinterpret the term “literature review” to mean merely a collection of source summaries, similar to annotations or article abstracts. Although summarizing is an element of a literature review, the purpose is to create a comprehensive representation of your understanding of a topic or area of research, such as what has already been done or what has been found. Then, also using these sources, you can demonstrate the need for future research, specifically, your future research.
A problem statement: “a statement where the writer describes a problem and presents an argument as to why further research on this problem is necessary.”
—Walden Writing Center
Provide a clear and focused statement that is the result of a review of research findings and current practice and that contains a descriiption of the problem along with evidence that provides a justification that the problem is meaningful to the discipline.
Therefore, a problem statement needs:
A logical argument for the need to address an identified gap in the research literature that has relevance to the discipline and area of practice. Keep in mind that a gap in the research is not, in and of itself, a reason to conduct research. Make sure to clarify the problem that caused you to search the literature in the first place. The situation being experienced is described within the problem statement.
Preliminary evidence that provides justification that this problem is meaningful to the discipline or professional field. Provide several key citations that support the relevance and currency of the problem. These references need not all be from peer-reviewed journals but should be from reputable sources, such as national agency databases or scholarly books, and should ideally be from the past 5 years.
Review the Scholar Practitioner Project (SPP) Overview.
Review the module Learning Resources, specifically those focusing on writing a literature review and writing problem statements.
Consider a pressing public health issue and a critical area of need for leadership in public health.
Research the topic by examining the published information specific to your chosen public health issue in preparation for writing a brief literature review.
Think about how you could articulate the public health issue in a problem statement and how you may incorporate implications for positive social change.
SCHOLAR PRACTITIONER PROJECT: PART 1
In a 3- to 5-page paper (not including title page and references):
Write a brief literature review and problem statement. Be sure that you:
Describe the public health issue, providing an in-depth overview.
Analyze effective and ineffective leadership in addressing this issue, providing examples from the literature.
Discover a leadership need to address the public health issue presented in the research; this can be an area that is missing, underrepresented, ineffective, or controversial that warrants further exploration.
Write a problem statement that addresses the leadership need.
Explain how your problem statement incorporates implications for positive social change.
References
Support your statements/arguments with evidence: seven or more scholarly references that are less than 5 years old.