Project Instructions

HIM 1430- Principles of Disease

Project Due Week 7

 

The goal of this assignment is to conduct library research on the epidemiology of a disease or health condition that interests you. You will select a disease or condition, search the published scientific literature to answer the questions below, and prepare a concise fact sheet that describes the disease.

What is a fact sheet?

A fact sheet provides meaningful information about a topic in a format that is extremely brief and easy to read. Fact sheets are used to provide an overview, to provide recommendations and advice, and sometimes to convince the reader to change their behavior. The focus is on providing what is essential and presenting the information in a way that is visually appealing and accessible.

Example- provided below.

Fact Sheet Format for this assignment:

1. The fact sheet should be between 2-3 pages double spaced typed pages, not including the reference list.

2. Use 12 point font.

3. Figures or table can be used.

4. The fact sheet should be based primarily on at least 3 recently (within the last 5 years) published review articles of your topic (from a public health or medical journals). You may augment this information with data from websites or other publications, but published reviews will form the basis of your research. The course textbook can be used to gain a basic understanding of your chosen disease or condition.

5. All references used to create our fact sheet should be cited in the text and referenced at the end.

6. APA format should be used.

Steps in Preparing your Fact Sheet:

1.    Choose a topic- The focus is a disease or condition that affects humans. It may help to explore texts of infectious disease, chronic disease, or public health to see what catches your interest.

2.    Conduct a search of the literature

3.    Limit the scope of the topic- After researching your topic to get a sense of its scope, you may decide to study the disease in general (for example, “heart disease” ) or limit your topic by focusing on a specific group according to race, age, gender, or geographic location. (For example, “heart disease in women”, or “heart disease in African-Americans”, or “heart disease in Orlando, FL.”) If there are too many review articles on your topic you need to limit the scope of your fact sheet further or select another disease/condition. If there are not enough reviews, you may want to check in with the Professor about your topic.

4.    Focus on Reviews: Identify all published reviews on your topic during the past 5 years.

5.    Summarize your review & create your fact sheet.

 

******** Click on the tab in the course called “Library Guide” to begin your research.

 

Content of Fact Sheet:

The following questions should be answered in your assignment. For some topics, these will not be appropriate, but if that is the case, be sure to clearly state that there is a gap in the literature otherwise, I will think you have missed something. This list is written in the order information usually appears in a fact sheet. If you decide to deviate from this, you should have a reason for doing so.

A.    What is the name of the disease or condition? How is it defined and diagnosed?

B.    Why is it a problem? Describe its symptoms, morbidity, and mortality.

C.   What are the major risk factors of the disease? Is there a known agent or cause

D.   What populations are at risk for this disease or condition?

E.    What is the incidence of the disease?

F.    How is the disease treated?

G.   How is the disease prevented?