PWR 91NK: Let’s Talk about Sex: Sexual Health Communication in Practice

Course Description

Welcome to your new position at the California Department of Public Health. As part of our communications team, you will be responsible for developing strategies to educate the public about emerging infectious disease threats and exciting new treatments. You’ve arrived just in time; we need your help.  

At any given time, an estimated 1 in 5 Americans have a sexually-transmitted infection (Kreisel et al. 2021). Sexual transmission has been responsible for some of the deadliest epidemics in U.S. and world history, especially the ongoing HIV-AIDS pandemic. Yet, says Jonathan Mermin, M.D., M.P.H., “at a time when STIs are at an all-time high, they have fallen out of the national conversation” (Centers for Disease Control 2011). In this class, you will take on the role of a public health expert as you confront the unique challenges of sexual health communication. You’ll explore how communication can shape infectious disease landscapes, learn about past communication successes and failures, and apply your new knowledge to address a real public health challenge. 

Working in teams, you will be assigned a current challenge facing public health officials. For instance, you might tackle rising chlamydia rates in California, or you might be asked to promote a new medication to prevent HIV. Whatever your task, you’ll have to make decisions that take into account the limits public health officials face—budget shortfalls, public skepticism, and more—and justify your choices. You’ll also continue to develop your genre/multimodal communication awareness and public speaking skills from PWR 2. You’ll develop a campaign proposal and pitch it to your colleagues and a guest expert, an epidemiologist who has contributed to federal sexual health campaigns. Based on the feedback you receive, you’ll put part of your plan into action, developing a visual or audio-visual element of your campaign (e.g. billboard, TikTok, or TV ad) that educates the community most impacted by your sexual health challenge. By the time you leave the class, you will have developed your expertise in public health, gained knowledge of how sexually-transmitted infections impact communities across the United States, and become versed in the forms of communication public health officials use every day.