This is the course blog for PH 663 - the theory-based, practical, action-packed Health Communication course for ace Health Promotion students in the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University. Are we having fun or what!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Week 14 - Health Communication Careers and More
KEY CONCEPTS - Cycle of Evaluation - ROI - Health Communication Careers
It was nice to actually talk about futures after this program and options with this field. I think it is important to discuss where we go from here and really, what money we are looking at since we would all like to see that we get jobs in the end of all of this hard work. Evaluations of programs are just as continuous as the programs themselves, with us always looking over our work as a way of checks and balances.
I agree with the previous post that it was a nice way to end the class with a discussion of future careers in public health and health communication. Its always helpful to have a perspective on how to apply what we learn in ph into our careers. Our discussion on evaluations was interesting because I am taking PH 666 and in that class we had just finished discussing program evaluation. So it was helpful to discuss evaluation in terms of health communication as opposed to interventions. Finally, I must say that I am really excited to apply my health communication knowledge into practice.
I, like dbc, really enjoyed thinking about evaluation from a health communication standpoint. We have spent the entire semester in 666 talking about evaluation, so it's cool to learn about other applications. And thanks so much for the career chat. What a great way to wrap up the class! I always enjoy learning about career opportunities since I am always on the fence about that. Thanks for opening up the horizon a bit!
First off I want to say that all of the groups did a terrific job presenting their message campaigns. It is great to see how each group came up with such different ideas to reach their target audience. Moshe has taught us well :) (OPEN FACE). I am excited that our target group wants to incorporate our campaign into their church health program. I guess if they do we absolutely will get an ROI (return on investment) on our hard work into the project. From this class I definitely have a different perspective of the health campaigns that I have been exposed to and will be. With all the different health campaigns out there I wonder which ones actually evaluated the campaign. Like “this is your brain on drugs”, I remember it but I don’t think it had the impact it was suppose to, people still did drugs. I am not sure about a career in health communication, but it is good to know I have some the skills I need to do so.
With all this schooling, we definitely need a ROI! Just kidding... well not really. I hear people say all the time, public health is not where the money is at. Yes, our salaries may not be as high as other professions, but we work or at least try to make the world a better place. It's a dirty job, but some body's got to do it! I find helping others very rewarding especially when it comes to promoting education and good health. Education allows you to see the world in a different light and helps you make critical decisions on just about anything. Go Public Health!!!
It was great to see the hard work all of the groups put into their presentations, and to see how everyone really seemed to incorporate the various concepts of health communication we've learned about into the creation of their messages and throughout their projects. This course has definitely taught me numerous skills about conducting formative research, creating health communication campaigns, and about health communication in general. Hopefully all the skills and information I've learned will be put to good use when I land that fabulous job after graduation! Although we did get to touch on it during the last class, I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to spend more time discussing program/campaign evaluation. In my current student position at the Institute for Public Health that is what I get to do all the time and I have come to realize how important evaluation is to programs. Evaluation is vital for convincing funders that your program is wonderful and effective and should continue to be funded, thus helping the public plus ensuring us jobs for at least that much longer :)
Again, good job to all of the groups; it was great to see everyone's second presentation because it showed how everything came together following the work on Mini-Project 1. It was cool to see how differently the same assignment was presented due to the various projects. Also, I felt the ROI information was very important to talk about, especially with how closely it ties into evaluation. Holding us (in public health) accountable through evaluation of programs that we investigate, research, develop, and market is the only way to truly see a return on the investment. If we don't evaluate our own work, who will? Probably no one, and that is the reason for a lot of unsuccessful programming in our schools, hospitals, outreach programs, etc. Making a career out of public health is not going to be easy, but at least the field is wide open with options, hopefully alluding to the fact that none of us will ever have to hate our jobs.
I also appreciated the information on careers in health communication. I have really enjoyed this class this semester and would be really interested in going into a health communication profession. The lecture on formative evaluation was also helpful as it showed how the research aspect in health campaigns is a cyclical process. In creating our messages for the pan flu project, we learned the great importance of formative research, as it is not only necessary in the beginning stages of message development, but also during and after. We ended up changing our messages and strategies several times throughout the semester based on the helpful information we received from our target audience. Had we not done any research and created messages and channels based on our assumptions of the target audience, we would have been way off track!
I have to say that I agree with Jellybean here as far as public health being a very rewarding profession. I personally am so happy I chose public health although I'm having a little difficulty trying to choose which area of public health really interests me. I understand that there are plenty of options and careers within the field of public health and that is great because you can experience different fields once you're looking for a new change. So, this education is very valuable and in my opinion should pay at least a little more since public health professionals contribute a lot to the society's health and well being.
I really liked the presentations as well. It has been really rewarding to see how much everybody has been able to apply what we have learned in class out in the real world. people seem really confident when they are up there talking about their projects. Also, as everybody else, i really enjoyed the health communication carrers talk. Thanks
All those fabulous group presentations gave me a better idea of how to address and present a broad range of topics, and what people did to modify aspects that did not work with their audience. I think coordinating with the main contacts for our different groups gives us an idea of what and how to pull together in order to have the best outcome. Like Katie mentioned, evaluation of programs will be vital to make sure we are continually reaching our changing audience and not wasting scarce PH funding and can have more ROI. Although us PH folk might be underpaid and have to fight for funding, I (like some of you mentioned) feel its rewarding and will always be a good challenge. This class has given me some perspective and hands on tools which I will definitely apply to my future career.
First let me say, excellent job on the presentations...Though I’m not graduating until next year, the idea of what I’m going to do after graduation remains a prominent thought in my mind. I didn’t become a public health student for the love of money. Ideally, I would just love to do what I love to the point where my work didn’t feel like a job. Is that too much to ask for? Maybe not, but is it too much to ask for that my dream job come with a decent salary? I thought it was until most recently. Tuesday’s discussion on health careers really enlightened me on the array of options available to public health students. Each semester, it’s refreshing to know that I don’t have to limit myself to one box in public health, but in actuality, the sky is the limit. My dream job seems more tangible. There are a lot of opportunities out there, but if I’m going to make a difference in the public or private sector, I realize the ultimate key is showing that return of investment. We’re familiar with the expression, “Show me the money”. But, it’s often more about that. The customers and the sponsors ultimately want to see our ideas will make an impact. I’ll wrap this up, but social marketing is a great avenue to explore for those who are interested. It’s something new to Google ☺
I could not agree more with Rebecca and Katie. What a refreshing to chnage to have a professor how much we can expect to make in the field. It always seems to be such a hush hush deal, and all I ever hear about in this program is research research research! I have never once had a professor tell us about job opps with the expected salary attached to the job title What a concept.
I would be remiss if I didn't echo my fellow classmates in showing appreciation for the information about careers available in public health communications! These were opportunities I didn't know about before this semester. In fact, I didn't know what to expect at all when I started this class in the fall! It's been so amazing to see concepts that I have learned over in seemingly unrelated fields applied to health, specifically having a customer-centric focus and learning as much as you can about the customer to deliver to them a message which is effective and useful! Thank you Moshe!
The presentations were a highly valuable insight into the importance of formative research. I personally did not realize the depth of understanding one achieves by doing so. I thought the groups did a great job in addressing the issues in their program and approaches. Moshe, great skills taught that can be applied to real-world situation. I am sure I'll using a lot of the skills learned in this class. I really enjoyed working on this project, demanding yes, but i think we took the extra mile to make, within professional boundaries, to do a really well thought out research project. I feel so much more condifent in handling real world projects. Missed part of class, do to obligation and not feeling well.
I agree with what everyone else has said thus far. All the groups did a wonderful job on the presentations and I can't wait to see the final presentations. This class was a lot of work but it really did show me how I can apply what I am learning in the program to my life on a daily basis. I too appreciated the conversation about job opprotunities. I do not see myself in research so this field really interests me for a future career. I think this class will stay with me much longer than most of the other other classes simply because I am able to apply the concepts of it in my everyday life.
A very important concept that I will remember most from this course is that something is not a problem it is an opportunity and that there are no such things as hard to reach. Framing how you perceive a problem/challenge is very important. Another thing will be that my health message has to be receiver based and that formative research will help me create the appropriate strategy to promote my health message.
17 comments:
It was nice to actually talk about futures after this program and options with this field. I think it is important to discuss where we go from here and really, what money we are looking at since we would all like to see that we get jobs in the end of all of this hard work. Evaluations of programs are just as continuous as the programs themselves, with us always looking over our work as a way of checks and balances.
I agree with the previous post that it was a nice way to end the class with a discussion of future careers in public health and health communication. Its always helpful to have a perspective on how to apply what we learn in ph into our careers. Our discussion on evaluations was interesting because I am taking PH 666 and in that class we had just finished discussing program evaluation. So it was helpful to discuss evaluation in terms of health communication as opposed to interventions. Finally, I must say that I am really excited to apply my health communication knowledge into practice.
I, like dbc, really enjoyed thinking about evaluation from a health communication standpoint. We have spent the entire semester in 666 talking about evaluation, so it's cool to learn about other applications. And thanks so much for the career chat. What a great way to wrap up the class! I always enjoy learning about career opportunities since I am always on the fence about that. Thanks for opening up the horizon a bit!
First off I want to say that all of the groups did a terrific job presenting their message campaigns. It is great to see how each group came up with such different ideas to reach their target audience. Moshe has taught us well :) (OPEN FACE). I am excited that our target group wants to incorporate our campaign into their church health program. I guess if they do we absolutely will get an ROI (return on investment) on our hard work into the project. From this class I definitely have a different perspective of the health campaigns that I have been exposed to and will be. With all the different health campaigns out there I wonder which ones actually evaluated the campaign. Like “this is your brain on drugs”, I remember it but I don’t think it had the impact it was suppose to, people still did drugs. I am not sure about a career in health communication, but it is good to know I have some the skills I need to do so.
With all this schooling, we definitely need a ROI! Just kidding... well not really. I hear people say all the time, public health is not where the money is at. Yes, our salaries may not be as high as other professions, but we work or at least try to make the world a better place. It's a dirty job, but some body's got to do it! I find helping others very rewarding especially when it comes to promoting education and good health. Education allows you to see the world in a different light and helps you make critical decisions on just about anything. Go Public Health!!!
It was great to see the hard work all of the groups put into their presentations, and to see how everyone really seemed to incorporate the various concepts of health communication we've learned about into the creation of their messages and throughout their projects. This course has definitely taught me numerous skills about conducting formative research, creating health communication campaigns, and about health communication in general. Hopefully all the skills and information I've learned will be put to good use when I land that fabulous job after graduation! Although we did get to touch on it during the last class, I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to spend more time discussing program/campaign evaluation. In my current student position at the Institute for Public Health that is what I get to do all the time and I have come to realize how important evaluation is to programs. Evaluation is vital for convincing funders that your program is wonderful and effective and should continue to be funded, thus helping the public plus ensuring us jobs for at least that much longer :)
Again, good job to all of the groups; it was great to see everyone's second presentation because it showed how everything came together following the work on Mini-Project 1. It was cool to see how differently the same assignment was presented due to the various projects. Also, I felt the ROI information was very important to talk about, especially with how closely it ties into evaluation. Holding us (in public health) accountable through evaluation of programs that we investigate, research, develop, and market is the only way to truly see a return on the investment. If we don't evaluate our own work, who will? Probably no one, and that is the reason for a lot of unsuccessful programming in our schools, hospitals, outreach programs, etc. Making a career out of public health is not going to be easy, but at least the field is wide open with options, hopefully alluding to the fact that none of us will ever have to hate our jobs.
I also appreciated the information on careers in health communication. I have really enjoyed this class this semester and would be really interested in going into a health communication profession. The lecture on formative evaluation was also helpful as it showed how the research aspect in health campaigns is a cyclical process. In creating our messages for the pan flu project, we learned the great importance of formative research, as it is not only necessary in the beginning stages of message development, but also during and after. We ended up changing our messages and strategies several times throughout the semester based on the helpful information we received from our target audience. Had we not done any research and created messages and channels based on our assumptions of the target audience, we would have been way off track!
I have to say that I agree with Jellybean here as far as public health being a very rewarding profession. I personally am so happy I chose public health although I'm having a little difficulty trying to choose which area of public health really interests me. I understand that there are plenty of options and careers within the field of public health and that is great because you can experience different fields once you're looking for a new change. So, this education is very valuable and in my opinion should pay at least a little more since public health professionals contribute a lot to the society's health and well being.
I really liked the presentations as well. It has been really rewarding to see how much everybody has been able to apply what we have learned in class out in the real world. people seem really confident when they are up there talking about their projects. Also, as everybody else, i really enjoyed the health communication carrers talk. Thanks
All those fabulous group presentations gave me a better idea of how to address and present a broad range of topics, and what people did to modify aspects that did not work with their audience. I think coordinating with the main contacts for our different groups gives us an idea of what and how to pull together in order to have the best outcome. Like Katie mentioned, evaluation of programs will be vital to make sure we are continually reaching our changing audience and not wasting scarce PH funding and can have more ROI. Although us PH folk might be underpaid and have to fight for funding, I (like some of you mentioned) feel its rewarding and will always be a good challenge. This class has given me some perspective and hands on tools which I will definitely apply to my future career.
First let me say, excellent job on the presentations...Though I’m not graduating until next year, the idea of what I’m going to do after graduation remains a prominent thought in my mind. I didn’t become a public health student for the love of money. Ideally, I would just love to do what I love to the point where my work didn’t feel like a job. Is that too much to ask for? Maybe not, but is it too much to ask for that my dream job come with a decent salary? I thought it was until most recently. Tuesday’s discussion on health careers really enlightened me on the array of options available to public health students. Each semester, it’s refreshing to know that I don’t have to limit myself to one box in public health, but in actuality, the sky is the limit. My dream job seems more tangible. There are a lot of opportunities out there, but if I’m going to make a difference in the public or private sector, I realize the ultimate key is showing that return of investment. We’re familiar with the expression, “Show me the money”. But, it’s often more about that. The customers and the sponsors ultimately want to see our ideas will make an impact. I’ll wrap this up, but social marketing is a great avenue to explore for those who are interested. It’s something new to Google ☺
I could not agree more with Rebecca and Katie. What a refreshing to chnage to have a professor how much we can expect to make in the field. It always seems to be such a hush hush deal, and all I ever hear about in this program is research research research! I have never once had a professor tell us about job opps with the expected salary attached to the job title What a concept.
I would be remiss if I didn't echo my fellow classmates in showing appreciation for the information about careers available in public health communications! These were opportunities I didn't know about before this semester. In fact, I didn't know what to expect at all when I started this class in the fall! It's been so amazing to see concepts that I have learned over in seemingly unrelated fields applied to health, specifically having a customer-centric focus and learning as much as you can about the customer to deliver to them a message which is effective and useful! Thank you Moshe!
The presentations were a highly valuable insight into the importance of formative research. I personally did not realize the depth of understanding one achieves by doing so. I thought the groups did a great job in addressing the issues in their program and approaches. Moshe, great skills taught that can be applied to real-world situation. I am sure I'll using a lot of the skills learned in this class. I really enjoyed working on this project, demanding yes, but i think we took the extra mile to make, within professional boundaries, to do a really well thought out research project. I feel so much more condifent in handling real world projects. Missed part of class, do to obligation and not feeling well.
I agree with what everyone else has said thus far. All the groups did a wonderful job on the presentations and I can't wait to see the final presentations. This class was a lot of work but it really did show me how I can apply what I am learning in the program to my life on a daily basis. I too appreciated the conversation about job opprotunities. I do not see myself in research so this field really interests me for a future career. I think this class will stay with me much longer than most of the other other classes simply because I am able to apply the concepts of it in my everyday life.
A very important concept that I will remember most from this course is that something is not a problem it is an opportunity and that there are no such things as hard to reach. Framing how you perceive a problem/challenge is very important. Another thing will be that my health message has to be receiver based and that formative research will help me create the appropriate strategy to promote my health message.
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