MPH Forum Day 

The Public Health Forum is an annual event that gives students the opportunity to share their practicum projects using both oral and poster presentations. See a photo of our MPH students from the 2019 Forum Day, below.

Here is a sample of student posters presented at the 2020 Virtual MPH Forum:

Project Title: Researching the Impacts of COVID-19 on Rural Individuals to Better Serve Rural Health and Well-Being
MPH Student: Ally Fracz
Practicum Project Description: Rural individuals may face more barriers than urban individuals making rural communities disproportionality impacted by pandemics such as COVID-19. In collaboration with the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, our research was goal was to explore what planning activities are required in small and rural communities to best support ongoing recovery efforts and to increase resiliency and well-being over the long term. Preliminary survey results from the residents of Perth and Huron counties were used to highlight the overall impacts of COVID-19 on physical health and mental health.

Project Title: Occupational Health and Wellness COVID-19 Case Management and Reporting
MPH Student Name: Ally Fracz
Second Practicum Project Description: The University of Guelph has implemented an employee self declaration form for those employees who may be self-isolating or ill due to covid-19. This is one component of a variety of interventions aimed to help keep our campus and community healthy and safe during the current pandemic. Responsibilities as related to the monitoring and safe return to work of employees and have included reviewing the information that is completed on the Self Declaration Forms, case and data management, trend identification, and communications

Project Title: Strategy to Support a Culture of Evaluation
MPH Student: Josh Grignon
Practicum Project Description: To build capacity to do and use evaluation, Josh is assisting GREO with the creation of a microsite (i.e., a group of webpages within an existing website that are meant to function as a discrete entity) for stakeholders of the United Kingdom’s National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms. Responsibilities include being involved with the planning, design and creation of the microsite, as well as the mobilization of evaluation knowledge through the writing of instructional content, the creating of infographics, and the scripting of webinars.

Project Title: The Impact of Extreme Heat and Exposure to Ultraviolet Radiation: A Climate Change Health Vulnerability Assessment in Durham Region 
MPH Student: Brianne Kinahan
Practicum Project Description: As climate change has been projected to be the largest public health challenge of the 21st century, Ontario public health units have been required to identify health vulnerabilities due to climate change and consider mitigation and adaptation strategies. The Durham Region Health Department has begun conducting a series of topic-specific vulnerability assessments to examine the potential impacts of climate change on the health of Durham Region residents. The purpose of my practicum was to identify climate sensitive health outcomes attributable to extreme heat and exposure to ultraviolet radiation due to climate change; and determine populations with an increased sensitivity to these health outcomes in Durham Region. 

Project Title: Food Safety and Hand Hygiene Behaviours of Canadians During the COVID-19 Pandemic
MPH Student: Robyn Haas
Practicum Project Description: This project was a qualitative, descriptive study completed through Ryerson University. The purpose of this study was to investigate how and why Canadians engaged in different food handling and hand hygiene behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Project Title: Revising the Brant County Health Unit's Positive Parenting Strategy
MPH Student: Justice Luddington
Practicum Project Description: There are many factors that can hinder the normal and healthy development of young children. However, it has been found that positive and consistent parenting can help to alleviate the negative developmental effects of these factors. To ensure young children in Brant County are being given the opportunity to achieve an optimal development, the Brant County Health Unit is committed to implementing evidence-based interventions that promote positive parenting in the community. My practicum project will entail a needs assessment, industry analysis, and target market analysis that will help inform the Brant County Health Unit's Positive Parenting Strategy.