LI Course
CE Hours: 6 contact hours

Partnership: The primary presenter is a member of the Public Health Education and Health Promotion Section. However, this Learning Institute will be of practical value to any member of the public health community working in the areas of prevention, promotion or protection who must connect with the public, policy makers or others able to enact change.

Statement of Purpose and Institute Overview: The purpose of this course is to convey practical knowledge and skill in using social media and interactive technologies to improve public health outcomes. These tools represent new field-proven, cost effective means of accelerating policy, practice and behavior change. There is a compelling educational need for this course. Social media and interactive technology are essential to public health practice. Comprising online social networking, e-communities, the blogosphere, and more, social media has changed the way that public, policy makers, the media and others take action about health. Going beyond Web-based information, social media enables exchange, dialogue, and the development of new communities and new norms that impact behavior. Significant results in health risk reduction are among the outcomes. Policy influencers also reference the scope and depth of social media discourse and social reputation indexing. The time is right for public health to master these tools. This course will be the among the first developed exclusively for public health professionals employing data, open source software, technologies and case studies of specific relevance to public health. Participants will learn about the social media environment; experience and apply social media tools and interactive technology to public health challenges. They will leave prepared to educate others and integrate social media tactics into their program planning to improve health outcomes. Case studies will span such topics as unintended pregnancy prevention, chronic disease management, childhood obesity reduction, and more. This course is particularly relevant in an era where most public health constituencies spend significant time online, and the digital divide is closing fast. For public health to remain relevant and leverage limited resources, it must grow its social media competence. The presentation team comprises highly experienced public health, social marketing and social media experts. Each has extensive experience working with public health organizations and in applying social media and interactive technology. Each is also an experienced adult educator. Presenters will share knowledge gained from working with such organizations as the Center for Disease Control, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, NACCHO and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, as well as local, regional and state public health departments and health activist and advocacy organizations. Their commitment is to deliver a program that will be engaging, and will be accurate, reliable, and rigorous APHA standards of objectivity, professionalism and value to participants.

Session Objectives: Upon completing the curriculum, participants will be able to: Define the six core platforms of social media: reputation aggregation; social networking; blogosphere, e-community, user-generated content, RSS feed. Develop a 10 point social media and interactive technology plan focused on influencing policy, practice and behavior change to improve health outcomes. Demonstrate basic skills in the hands-on implementation of basic social media tactics in the areas of reputation aggregation, social networking and blogging as related to policy, practice and behavior change.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)