HHE 273 The University of Alabama

Goals and Objectives Assignment

(20 points)

Purpose:
Identifying health issues to focus on in the community and writing goals and objectives are
essential skills for planning and evaluating successful community health initiatives. The purpose
of this assignment is to help you practice identifying a community organizing area of focus and
writing goals and objectives for a community health initiative. 

Instructions:

1. Save this document as LastNameGoalsandObjectives.doc (i.e.

Wilkerson_GoalsandObjectives)
2. Type your responses directly in the document, in the designated space.
3. Goals and objective should be written in complete sentences using proper grammar and
correct spelling.
4. Using the scenario below, identify a county of focus and health issue of focus. Justify
your selection of the health issue for that county using information discussed in class
and data from the County Health Rankings website.
5. Then, write 1 goal and 4 objectives (as indicated in the table) to address the issue you
have selected.
6. Use the SMART criteria described in chapter 5 and Table 5.3 on page 150 to help you
when writing objectives.
7. Each objective should be color coded using the criteria for writing objectives:
a. Red = Action
b. Green = Condition
c. Purple = Criterion
d. Blue = Target
For example, “After the free flu vaccination sessions are completed in December 2020,
30% of the University of Alabama students will receive a flu vaccination.”
8. When you are finished, upload your completed document using the “Assignments” tab
on Blackboard.
HHE 273 The University of Alabama

Scenario:
Use County Health Rankings data to identify a county in the United States for the focus of your
community health program: https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/. Students may not use
Tuscaloosa County, as this county was used as an example in class.

County Selected: Washington DC

Imagine, you are a public health specialist at the county health department in your selected
county. A few concerned citizens of your county have reached out to you regarding the
community’s health status. They have asked for your help in identifying a health
issue/condition (i.e. not a health behavior) to focus on in the community. Together, you must
decide how to unite the community in order to combat these problems, which specific problem
to focus on, and how to how to adequately address the problem through a community health
program.

Health Issue Identification (5 points)

Using the health data from County Health Rankings (linked above), what health issue do you
and the community decide to focus on for your program? Why did you select this issue?

In your description, describe something the community members should learn, something the
community members should do (i.e. behavior), and something that should be changed about
the community (i.e. environment) to address your identified health issue. This will help you to
write appropriate objectives in the next section of the assignment.

Based on looking at data from the County Health Rankings, it is imperative to focus on
the HIV prevalence among individuals within Washington DC. It is incredibly important to
address this health issue based on the fact that DC has a county value of 2,460. To put this into
perspective, Tuscaloosa County has a county value of 247. While Washington DC has a
population relatively three times as large as Tuscaloosa county, Washington DC still has an HIV
prevalence nearly ten times as large.

In order to decrease the prevalence of HIV in Washington DC, it is important to provide

education on how HIV is spread and how it can be prevented. In addition, there should be
proper access to HIV screening and treatment provided to the individuals living in the District.
Finally, individuals should feel like they are welcome to receiving preventative measures as well
as treatment without the stigma surrounding HIV.
HHE 273 The University of Alabama

Goals and Objectives: (15 points)

Now that you have identified a health issue of focus and targets to change in the community,
write 1 goal and 4 objectives (one of each type) you and the community members will use to
address the issue. Type responses into the table below. Once you have created your
objectives, color code the objectives with the ACCT criteria as described in the instructions for
the assignment.

Goal Decrease the overall prevalence of HIV in individuals living in

Washington DC.

Learning Objective By December 2021, 25% of individuals living in Washington DC

will be able to report how HIV is spread and how it can be
prevented.

Action/Behavioral By January 2022, the use of condoms by individuals living in

Objective Washington DC will increase by 10%.

Environmental 90% of all doctors’ offices, urgent care, and hospitals within
Objective the District of Columbia will provide free access to HIV
screening and treatment by the end of 2021.

Outcome Objective By the end of December 2022, the HIV Prevalence County value
for Washington DC will decrease by 20%.