This class is designed to provide a critical analysis of factors which affect personal and community health.  Primary emphasis is placed upon self-empowerment and disease prevention in a culturally diverse community.  General topics include communicable and non-communicable disease; phyusical fitness, weight management, and nutrition; human reproduction and sexuality; stress management and mental health; drug use and abuse; and environmental health. Course satisfies Section A, Area 5 of the associate degrees' requirements.

Instructor Office and Office hours:

Office: PE 214;  Special meetings can be arranged by request

Students with disabilities who need any assistance or accommodations should contact the instructor. The DSPS office is available to assist in accommodating a disabled student.

Textbooks and Instructional Supplements:

• Text: Hahn, Dale B and Payne, Wayne A. Focus on Health. McGraw-Hill, 8th Edition, 2006.
• Website: http://youth.net/ecc/ch1.html

Textbook, email, and connection to the Internet are required.  You need your own personal email id.  You can not share an email with a friend.

• Select a health topic, issue, or concern that is important to you.  It might be an illness that you or a family member is currently experiencing or one to which you could be at risk of contracting.  Do the research for this project so that it is personally rewarding and useful. Consider that when a person has information and options available to them, it can reduce fear and anxiety and enable them to make better decisions. It provides them with more control and ultimately a form of self-empowerment. 
• Research the health issue using any means you wish, but including at least five Internet resources, giving reference to the sources you use. You can chose to use footnote notation or place the reference in [ ] at the end of the paragraph or sentence if you prefer.  You will be graded on the content, not strict adherence to the style of writing you chose.
• Please use a grammar and spell checker such as is found in MS Word.
• The paper needs to be a minimum of 4 pages to receive full credit.  One page, outline containing brief statements on each topic does not qualify for full points.
• Your paper needs to include the following:

1. State the health issue you are researching and why you picked that topic: (25 points)
2. Provide a brief description of the health issue and include the number of people affected by it. (25 points)
3. Symptoms of the health problem that helps a person recognize that they might have it and to seek medical help. (25 points)
4. Known or possible contributing factors, risk factors associated with this health problem (25 points)
• genetic predispositions:
• environmental factors:
• lifestyle factors:
5. Self-help guidelines (25 points)
• prevention through lifestyle modifications:
• prevention through nutrition:
• prevention through routine self-exams or testing:
6. National organizations that conduct research and provide information and physician referrals (10 points)
7. Online support groups, communities, or listserves (10 points)
8. Online question and answer areas done by medical practitioners (10 points)
9. Online web sites that specialize in this health issue (10 points)
10. Treatment options done by Western medicine - if possible include side-effects of drugs, surgeries, success rates, and length of recovery time (10 points)
11. Alternative health treatments available for this problem (10 points)
12. Any developing/experimental drugs and/or therapies for this health issue (10 points)
13. Quackery, myths, or other misinformation to avoid on this health issue (10 points)

Current Events: You will be required to locate articles on health and topics covered in this class. They can be collected from a reliable news or health agency site on the Internet. Each current event will be posted to the Internet using the form provided for submissions in the Virtual Classroom.  Each current event assignment will include the following: 

1. URL to the complete article
2. Source of article, including date and author
3. Your opinion of the article (i.e. accurate, sales hype, poorly done research, surprise)
4. How this information relates to you or some member of your family (or future family)

Grades are awarded on total points obtained during the semester. Points are given for attendance, completed assignments, term project, and exams. 

Points That Constitute the Grading Scale
 

Assignments	Incomplete/ Fair	Neat/Complete/ Excellent	Total Points
Assignments/Assessments	varies	varies	Up to 755
Current Events (5 total)	10 each	25 each	Up to 125
Term Project	50-75 points	200 points	200
Written Tests (150 points ea)			900
Participation in class discussions (3)	15 points each	135 points total	105 points
Total Points			up to 2130 points

Point Break-down for Grades - this will change if there are more or less assignments than anticipated. 
 

Letter Grade	Points Needed
A = 90%	1900
B = 80%	1700
C = 70%	1490
D = 60%	1250