Term paper Instructions
Students may write a 5 page paper (not including title pages or references)
Like we do for the case studies, for term papers, students are advised to:
Use the 3-step Ethical analysis approach (from Week 1. slides): which are;
Ethical analysis approach: 1. Identification
· Identify the ethical concern/problem
· Identify the stakeholders • Evaluate the moral claims of the stakeholders
· Identify what information is needed for an informed decision
· Identify the relevant laws/regulations • Determine if there are precedents
· Identify whether aspects of the socio-historical context are relevant
· Determine if professional codes of conduct provide guidance
Ethical analysis approach: 2. Formulate potential courses of action
· What are the public health goals/what are the possible courses of action?
· What are their ethical dimensions?
· Utility—is this a good use of resources compared with alternatives?
· Equity—is this a fair outcome?
· Respect for individual or community interests— are the rights or desires of individuals or communities properly weighed against costs or benefits of the proposed actions?
· Other ethical concerns such as honesty (transparency) and protecting confidentiality
Ethical analysis approach: 3. Provide justification for the selected decision
· If the action likely to be effective?
· Will the benefits outweigh the costs?
· Is the action really necessary?
· Are there less restrictive ways to conduct the action?
· Will the most affected people find the action acceptable considering the socio-cultural historical context of the problem?
Use the ethical principles from the Belmont Report (also Week 1. slides): link to Belmont report https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/sites/default/files/the-belmont-report-508c_FINAL.pdf
1. Repect for persons (autonomy)
2. Beneficence / nonmaleficence
3. Justice
and use as the authoritative references on these issues the Principles of the Ethical Practice of Public Health in the article by Thomas et al., and the Public Health Code of Ethics by the APHA, located in the Week 3. Principles of ethical practice in public health documents.
Links: https://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/pdf/code_of_ethics.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447186/
& The Ethical practice of public health will upload the document.
This is the topic I choose: It is about Healthcare spending, and the program I will be funding is “Should the Health Department use part of its budget to implement a new First-time Mothers program, even though the cost is substantial?” which will be what the research paper is about.
Also, Please include the Identification (of the conflict and of the stakeholders), Formulate potential courses of action (based on the Belmont report ethical principles), and Provide justification for the selected decision.