Whooping Cough Public Health Education: Learning Objectives
This paper outlines the development and justification of a learner-centered learning objective for a public health class on whooping cough (pertussis). Targeting low-income, low-health-literacy communities — including non-English-speaking migrant families — the paper argues that Bloom's Taxonomy's "understanding" cognitive dimension, specifically the verb "predict," is most appropriate for enabling community members to distinguish between the outcomes of vaccinating versus not vaccinating against Bordetella pertussis. The paper discusses epidemiological risks, access to free vaccinations through the WIC Program, AACN health literacy competencies, and a bilingual, third-grade-level matching quiz as a quantifiable assessment tool.
- Introduction to Whooping Cough and Public Health Context: Epidemiology and vaccination basics for pertussis
- Target Population and Health Literacy Considerations: Low-income migrant families and AACN competencies
- Learning Objective Design and Justification: Learner-centered objective for vaccination decision-making
- Applying Bloom's Taxonomy to Vaccination Education: Choosing the 'understanding' cognitive dimension
- Sample Assessment Tool: Bilingual third-grade-level matching quiz
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What makes this paper effective
- Connects epidemiological facts about pertussis directly to a practical educational intervention, grounding the learning objective in real public health stakes.
- Explicitly justifies the chosen Bloom's Taxonomy cognitive level, explaining why "remembering" is insufficient and why "understanding/predict" is more appropriate for behavioral health outcomes.
- Addresses equity considerations — language access, immigration status, and health literacy — making the learning objective genuinely learner-centered rather than generic.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates the technique of aligning instructional design theory (Bloom's Taxonomy) with a specific learner population's needs. Rather than applying the taxonomy abstractly, the author maps cognitive process dimensions to measurable community health outcomes and then produces a concrete, bilingual quiz as evidence of that alignment. This shows how theoretical frameworks can be operationalized in applied health education settings.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with epidemiological background on pertussis, establishing urgency. It then identifies the target population and relevant AACN health literacy competencies. The core section justifies the learning objective using Bloom's Taxonomy, selecting the "understanding" dimension and the verb "predict." The paper closes with a sample bilingual matching quiz designed for a third-grade reading level, providing a practical, quantifiable assessment instrument.
Introduction to Whooping Cough and Public Health Context
Whooping cough is an upper respiratory tract infection caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis (NLM, 2013). Although vaccinated children and adults can still become infected with B. pertussis, the severity of the disease tends to be less than that experienced by the unvaccinated (CDC, 2014). Without vaccination, serious illness can develop, and an estimated 1.3% of those infected with B. pertussis will die as a result. Additionally, nearly half of infected infants will be hospitalized, and recent outbreaks have involved children between the ages of 7 and 14. The cost of vaccinations should not be a barrier for families with children, since free vaccinations are available through the WIC Program regardless of immigration status (American Red Cross, 2015).
Target Population and Health Literacy Considerations
A community health nurse would be interested in communicating the need for preventive care to low-income families within the communities she serves, especially to non-English-speaking migrant families, among whom health literacy would be expected to be low. The knowledge and attitude competencies for patient-centered care include assessment of health literacy diversity for a patient population, recognition of the limitations associated with low health literacy, and valuation of the health literacy diversity within a population (AACN, 2012).
Learning Objective Design and Justification
The most important fact to communicate to this demographic is the need for preventing the spread of, and serious complications from, whooping cough infections through vaccinations for infants, children, pregnant women, and other adults. An appropriate learner-centered learning objective would therefore be enabling community members to discriminate between outcomes depending on whether a family participates in recommended B. pertussis vaccinations. On one hand, vaccinations will help prevent the spread of whooping cough and minimize the risk of serious complications and death; on the other hand, not being vaccinated could result in expensive medical bills and possibly tragic consequences for the entire family.
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