NU580 Unit 7 DQ 1: Cultural Elements in Planning
In your community is the constraint that makes this gradeable. A population you can describe with local data behaves differently from one you have only read about.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 16, 2026
A minority population in YOUR community, not in the literature
The prompt says identify a minority population in your community, and that is not decoration. It commits you to a group you can characterise locally — census tract data, a county health profile, the languages your clinic actually books interpreters for — rather than to a national category. It also protects you from the failure this kind of post is most prone to, which is describing a culture instead of a population. Health related cultural elements are specific and researchable: beliefs about the cause of illness, who in a family makes health decisions, dietary practice and fasting periods, attitudes to preventive screening in the absence of symptoms, previous experience of the health system, immigration status and the fear that attaches to it, and language. Each one has a consequence for planning. Treat them as variables that differ within the group as well as between groups, because generalising inside a population is the same error as generalising across them.
The second question asks what makes cultural communication effective and interventions successful, and it has a national answer you should use. The CLAS standards set out what an organisation has to provide: qualified interpreters rather than family members, materials at an appropriate reading level in the languages actually spoken, and a workforce that reflects the community. Bring those in, then add the practical points that make or break a plan — teach-back to check understanding rather than asking whether the patient understood, appointment times that survive shift work, and a venue people already trust. Say how you would know the intervention worked, because success is a measurable claim. Uptake rates, screening completion or return visits give you an answer; a statement that the community responded well does not. Give the baseline as well as the target, since a rate quoted without a starting point cannot show that anything changed.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Characterise a local population from local data rather than from a national category.
- 02Identify cultural elements with direct consequences for health planning.
- 03Apply the CLAS standards to a communication plan.
- 04State a measurable criterion for intervention success.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. NU580-7B Unit 7 DQ 1 One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01A named minority population in your own community, with local data.
- 02At least four cultural elements, each with its planning consequence.
- 03Communication considerations grounded in the CLAS standards.
- 04A described intervention with a venue and a delivery method.
- 05A measurable success criterion.
Population, cultural elements, then communication and delivery
The population and where it lives
Identify the group with local demographic evidence.
Health related cultural elements
Set out beliefs, practices and experiences that bear on health.
What each element means for planning
Convert each element into a design constraint on the programme.
Communication that reaches the group
Apply interpreting, literacy and workforce standards to this population.
Knowing whether it worked
State the measure you would use to evaluate the intervention.
Local data plus the national CLAS standards
Recommended databases
- Your county or state health department profile
- Think Cultural Health (HHS Office of Minority Health)
- PubMed Central
- Healthy People 2030
Search sequence
- 1.Get the local demographic figure first; it decides which population you can defend writing about.
- 2.Read the CLAS standards directly rather than a summary of them.
- 3.Search PMC for interventions delivered to this population, not for descriptions of it.
- 4.Find a national comparison so the local figure means something.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services
Office of Minority Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services · 2024
The CLAS standards — the citable basis for the communication half of the post.
- 02
Health Literacy Online
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion · 2024
Practical guidance on materials people can actually use, which is where plans usually fail.
- 03
The Importance of Cultural Competence in Pain and Palliative Care
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
A worked account of cultural factors changing clinical decisions rather than merely describing difference.
- 04
Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity
National Academies, NCBI Bookshelf · 2017
Structural determinants behind minority health, for the planning-constraint section.
- 05
Access to Health Services
Healthy People 2030, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion · 2024
Access evidence supporting the venue and scheduling decisions in the plan.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Describing a culture in general instead of a population in a place.
- Treating the group as uniform, so within-group variation disappears.
- Listing cultural facts with no consequence for planning attached.
- Claiming success without naming anything that could be measured.
Submission checklist
- Is the population local, with a local figure to prove it?
- Does every cultural element you list have a planning consequence?
- Have you cited a standard for the communication section?
- Is there a number you could check to know the intervention worked?
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
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Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.
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