ASSINGMENT

Health Promotion Infographic

Instructions

Your goal in this project is to develop an infographic (information graphic) focused on a health promotion topic that catches the attention of, informs, and engages a patient population. Your infographic should contain at least two data visualizations (charts or graphs) that you have created from an existing data source. We recommend that you use Piktochart to make the infographic for this assignment. In addition to content editing features, Piktochart includes a tool for creating interesting charts and graphs. You can use any dataset you wish and choose any health promotion topic.

Step 1: Planning for Patient Engagement

· Identify a Public Health Challenge. Identify a timely and important public health challenge that is a problem – nationally or regionally.

· Identify your Target Audience(s). Identify your target audience. Your infographic should positively impact the target audience you select. Envision your infographic being distributed via the Internet or posted in a public organization frequented by your target audience.

· Develop messages to gain attention and engage your target audience. Be sure the messages address the public health challenge by educating the target audience. Consider how you can use a compelling title and integrate calls to action to motivate positive behavior change.

· Conduct research to identify credible information to support the messages in your infographic. Use the Medline Plus resources on Evaluating Health Information to ensure your sources are credible.

· Plan the layout for your infographic. Think about how you can use brief text and images – along with the data visualizations you will create in Week 2 – to clearly and concisely communicate your health promotion message in a visually appealing, engaging and informative way.

Step 2: Visualizing Data

· Find Data. You may choose any data source you wish for this assignment. You may use data from your organization, such as patient outcome data from your EHR if you wish, however, the data must not include any patient or organizational identifiers. There are many sources of freely downloadable data available online.

· Choose Data Elements. Once you’ve identified a data source, you’ll need to extract the data elements you would like to display visually. It is your job to choose the variables or health outcomes you want to visualize in your chart or graph. Just like the curator of a museum makes decisions about what to show and how to display it, the data you choose directly impacts the viewer’s experience with the information.

· Create Data Visualizations. Once you have chosen a variable or variables that you would like to display in a chart, enter the data into the Piktochart graphing tool. Choose charts or graphs that will most appropriately to display the type of data you’ve selected in a way that is easily understood by your audience. Make sure that you clearly title and label your visualizations and/or include a caption to ensure that the meaning is clear and your chart or graph has the intended impact.

Step 3. Finalize and Publish Your Infographic

· Follow copyright guidelines. Use images that you own or those that are made available for public use. You may not use copyrighted images, pictures, and other infographic content this is owned by others without their permission.

· Include appropriate citations or source references for all content and images. Citations can be included in-line text or as captions for images, graphs and charts. Submit a separate reference sheet in APA format along with your infographic.

· Download your infographic as a .png image and submit it for this assignment. Be sure to include your last name(s) when naming your file (e.g., YourName.Infographic.pdf).

Piktochart Demo

This video demonstrates how to use Piktochart to create an infographic, including how to export and copy data from web sources

Resources

Here are some resources to support you in creating an engaging and effective infographic:

· Refer to this Infographics Website developed by Tom Harrod and other librarians from the Himmelfarb library, with consultation from Dr. Nancy Falk, for guidance and resources to support you in developing your infographic.

· Infographic on infographics.

· J. Krauss (2012). More than Words Can Say: Infographics. International Society for Technology in Education

· Otten, J. J., Cheng, K., & Drewnowski, A. (2015). Infographics And Public Policy: Using Data Visualization To Convey Complex Information. Health Affairs, 34(11), 1901-1907. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2015.064

· For inspiration, take a look at the examples on the American Public Health Association website.