Module 2: Ethics and Diversity in Public Health

Hello class! Welcome to Module Two: Ethics and Diversity in Public Health

As you begin this module, I would like for you to keep three questions in the front of your mind. First, how do you, as a future public health leader, examine the consequences of ethical issues from various perspectives?  Second, how do policies affect the occurrence or promotion of a particular ethical issue? What confluence of factors come together, or don’t come together to create a situation where human beings are suffering? Finally, how can polices be developed to include enforcement of consequences upon those who inflict harm, or to prevent future happenings?

Your learning journey in this module begins with includes with an introduction to epidemiology in your text chapters 4-8. Again, read carefully as epidemiology is the “science” of public health and I anticipate many of you may want to go into that field. Further, the information will provide you with context when you take KINE 3352 Introduction to Epidemiology later in your degree program. Also, your annotated bibliography assignment is due at the end of the week. In module one you selected a team and health issue or topic. You have gathered resources and researched your health topic. This week you will write your three annotated bibliographies and upload those to the Black Board assignment in a MSWord format ONLY! I will not accept any other type of document, so make sure you submit your assignment according to instructions!

Components for special attention as related to ethics and diversity in public health include consideration of how people are recruited for interventions or health change programs, and the activities they participate in from ethical perspectives. And, as population health professionals, we must constantly ask questions such as: Where can we improve our organizational and/or community communication and collaboration?  Are intervention components relevant? Useful? Aligned with best practices?  Is evaluation an ongoing component and have we accurately identified program strengths and weaknesses? Does the action produce more positive benefits vs. harmful consequences? What about unintended consequences and contingency planning?

We will investigate stories and situations through review of videos and additional materials related to ethical situations such as the Nazi Genocide and Syrian Refugee Crisis. Another topic that may be new to you is related to a term known as “cultural genocide”.   You will work with a partner to review an article that relates forced sterilization in native American women that lasted several decades. This article along with the accompanying videos on Indian Boarding Schools may be shocking to you.

I anticipate that many of these materials will affect you strongly.  And, some of you may have had important, even attitude-changing life experiences you are willing to share with the class. Personal experiences and reflections are many times, quite provoking as those support others to broaden their perspectives. 

Through discussions and readings, I anticipate you will develop an understanding of the importance for inclusion of ethical considerations when working in population health. These thinking methodologies will provide a foundation as you further explore issues and disparities that impact vulnerable populations through course learning activities. 

A reminder that your Signature Assignment I: Annotated Bibliography Assignment is due at the end of this module and you are required to complete your Human Subjects Training through the UTA Institutional Review Board processes.

As you proceed through this and the following modules in this course, I encourage you to allow yourself to look BACKWARD at some of the events that happened to affect vulnerable populations and bring to light ethical concerns across the United States and in the case of the Nazi Holocaust, the entire world. It is important that we do not forget the atrocities of the past as these provide us with examples of when influential leaders swayed population health perspectives. Let us not repeat our previous mistakes!

And, finally one of my favorite quotes to start you off:

"It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength." -Maya Angelou

Happy learning discoveries!