Planning
What you must know
Planning converts assessment findings into a coherent, fundable, evaluable program. Know the generalized model: analyze the problem, set goals and objectives, design the intervention, allocate resources, implement, evaluate.
Distinguish goal (broad, directional, no deadline) from objective (specific, measurable, time-bound). Objective types: process ('train 40 peer educators by March'), impact ('60% of participants will report 30 minutes of daily activity at six months' - behavior change), outcome ('reduce obesity prevalence among ninth graders by 5% in three years' - health status). Questions love this hierarchy.
Choose theory by level of change: intrapersonal (Health Belief Model, Transtheoretical Model, Theory of Planned Behavior), interpersonal (Social Cognitive Theory, social support), community and organizational (Diffusion of Innovations, community organizing, ecological model). Explain why the theory fits the identified determinants; examiners penalize theory name-dropping without linkage.
Know priority setting (importance times changeability, cost, community readiness), logic models (inputs, activities, outputs, short-term outcomes, long-term outcomes), evidence-based intervention selection, cultural adaptation, and budget and timeline planning.
Traps: wording objectives without a time frame, magnitude, or population; writing an outcome objective when the activity described is a process step; selecting a theory operating at the wrong ecological level; producing a plan that never connects back to the assessed need.
Rule of thumb: A defensible objective names who, what, when, and how much and is worded so a stranger could measure it.
Worked example: Goal - improve nutrition in the county. Objective - by June 30, 2026, 70% of the 120 participants in the church-based program will report eating three or more servings of vegetables daily, measured by a pre/post food frequency questionnaire.