Alec Bowden and Hope Michael, USF College of Public Health (COPH) MPH students concentrating in public health education, recently competed in the National Case Study Competition in Health Education (NCSCHE). The event was held virtually in February.

According to its website, “Every year, NCSCHE brings together up to 50 teams (30 undergrad and 20 grad) from leading universities to compete in solving a real-life challenge. Three weeks prior to the competition, students and their advisor will be emailed a community-based public health case. Students work independently to develop a resolution to the issue and a presentation for a panel of judges.”

Bowden and Michael were tasked with developing a social marketing strategy that would help increase awareness of sun safety behavior(s) in a rural Minnesota community. The aim of the social marketing strategy was to reduce skin cancer risk and as well as skin cancer morbidity and mortality rates.

To prepare, Bowden and Michael gathered data about the components of the case study along with investigating commonly used social marketing strategies. Their aim was to produce a proactive and innovative solution to the problem presented by the case study.

“We also made sure to use all available resources and rubrics that were provided by the competition leaders to ensure that we were meeting all the requirements and guidelines,” Michael noted.

The two started by looking at information about skin cancer in their target Minnesota community to develop an intervention strategy that would be feasible, effective and attractive. They examined risk factors of skin cancer, community demographics, occupations, community activity (i.e., parks and recreation), etc.

“Once we learned more about our community, we researched what was already being implemented at the local, state and national levels,” Michael explained.

“Our resulting strategy was to implement a community-based intervention that was heavily influenced by current programs facilitated by the National Cancer Institute’s SunSafe, which caters to children 10 and under, and Together for Sun Safety, the adult-level counterpart,” Bowden added. “From there, we added additional health education-based influences, such as partnering with local news teams on interpreting UV index reports along with financial-benefiting incentives, such as partnering with local grocery stores to provide reduced-price or free sunscreen.”

While the team didn’t place, they’re glad they participated in the competition and encouraged other students to do the same. 

“We thought it would be a learning opportunity to gain experience working with case studies and to increase our knowledge of current intervention strategies that are used in communities such as our case study,” Michael said. 

The team’s faculty advisor, Dr. Anna Torrens Armstrong, a COPH associate professor and alum of the college, agreed. 

“Events like the National Case Study Competition in Health Education provide students with a chance to apply their skills, engage in competition and learn from the experience,” she said. “It builds professionalism by having students prepare a presentation for an outside audience and get feedback. It also allows them to engage in the competencies that inform our program curriculum, so they can see how what they learn plays out in a reality-based case scenario.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health