Assignment Overview Strong writing skills enable you to create doctoral projects that articulate a purpose. Creating a plan to improve these skills, using selected resources, sets the stage for writing. In this assignment, you will create a writing skills development plan by applying a selected EBP model to address strengths and weaknesses and fulfill the writing goals you have created. What You Need to Know Applying Conceptual Models, Theoretical Frameworks, and EBP Models There is increasing recognition that efforts to change practice with the EBP process should be guided by conceptual models and grounded by theoretical frameworks. A conceptual model provides an understanding about how a health care challenge will best be explored and addressed, and it offers a logical structure of connected elements that help provide a picture or visual display of how ideas in a study or project relate to one another. Existing conceptual models can be found in the literature, or they can be created by the researcher or the team exploring and addressing the problem. A theoretical framework is derived from an existing theory in the literature that has already been tested and validated by others and is considered a generally accepted theory in scholarly literature. A good way to distinguish between a conceptual model and a theoretical framework is to think of the conceptual model as the floor plan of a house and the theoretical framework as the 3-D image showing the spatial relationships among rooms. Application of the EPP Model In the event of a hurricane, tornado, or other natural disaster, immediate activation of the local public health agency (LPHA) emergency preparedness system is crucial. The workforce at the LPHA is essential for locally-driven disaster recovery efforts as they are responsible for coordinating a large number of health services. Each individual employee must perform their job quickly and efficiently. But in the face of an emergency, when stress levels and emotions are running high, how do we know that LPHA employees are able to do their jobs effectively? Perhaps they are overcome with fear and are responding with denial or avoidance. Do employees perceive that they perform their jobs well and that they are effective in helping people? What could the LPHA do to increase employees' motivation to do their jobs well and improve the effectiveness of disaster response efforts? Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health proposed in 2015 that a behavioral framework, the Extended Parallel Process (EPP) Model, could be used to examine LPHA workers’ disaster recovery perceptions and to implement an evidence-based educational intervention to improve workers' effectiveness. The model predicts that in the face of a disaster, people will engage in proactive behaviors if they perceive the disaster as a real threat or danger, and if they believe they can perform their tasks effectively to minimize the risk to themselv.

1. Assignment Overview
Strong writing skills enable you to create doctoral projects that
articulate a purpose. Creating a plan to improve these skills,
using selected resources, sets the stage for writing. In this
assignment, you will create a writing skills development plan by
applying a selected EBP model to address strengths and
weaknesses and fulfill the writing goals you have created.
What You Need to Know
Applying Conceptual Models, Theoretical Frameworks, and
EBP Models
There is increasing recognition that efforts to change practice
with the EBP process should be guided by conceptual models
and grounded by theoretical frameworks.
A
conceptual model
provides an understanding about how a health care challenge
will best be explored and addressed, and it offers a logical
structure of connected elements that help provide a picture or
visual display of how ideas in a study or project relate to one
another. Existing conceptual models can be found in the
literature, or they can be created by the researcher or the team
exploring and addressing the problem. A
theoretical framework
is derived from an existing theory in the literature that has
already been tested and validated by others and is considered a
generally accepted theory in scholarly literature. A good way to
distinguish between a conceptual model and a theoretical
framework is to think of the conceptual model as the floor plan
of a house and the theoretical framework as the 3-D image
showing the spatial relationships among rooms.

2. Application of the EPP Model
In the event of a hurricane, tornado, or other natural disaster,
immediate activation of the local public health agency (LPHA)
emergency preparedness system is crucial. The workforce at the
LPHA is essential for locally-driven disaster recovery efforts as
they are responsible for coordinating a large number of health
services. Each individual employee must perform their job
quickly and efficiently. But in the face of an emergency, when
stress levels and emotions are running high, how do we know
that LPHA employees are able to do their jobs effectively?
Perhaps they are overcome with fear and are responding with
denial or avoidance. Do employees perceive that they perform
their jobs well and that they are effective in helping people?
What could the LPHA do to increase employees' motivation to
do their jobs well and improve the effectiveness of disaster
response efforts?
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health proposed in 2015 that a behavioral framework, the
Extended Parallel Process (EPP) Model, could be used to
examine LPHA workers’ disaster recovery perceptions and to
implement an evidence-based educational intervention to
improve workers' effectiveness. The model predicts that in the
face of a disaster, people will engage in proactive behaviors if
they perceive the disaster as a real threat or danger, and if they
believe they can perform their tasks effectively to minimize the
risk to themselves and others.
The conceptual map created by the researchers illustrates the
application of the EPP Model, showing that during periods of
perceived threat or danger, when employees feel strongly that
they are able to do their jobs well and that their efforts are
effective (high level of self-efficacy), they are motivated toward
responding quickly and efficiently. With the application of the

3. EPP model in this scenario, it would be appropriate to then
identify research evidence to support the implementation of an
educational intervention to improve employees' self-efficacy
and effectiveness.
EBP Models
Early in the EBP movement, health care scientists, including
many nurse scientists, developed models based on existing
theories, experience, evidence, and concepts to organize our
thinking about EBP and help us understand how various aspects
of EBP work together to improve care and outcomes. These
models guide the design and implementation of approaches
intended to strengthen evidence-based decision making and help
professionals implement an evidence-based change in practice
(Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2019).
References
Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2019).
Evidence-based practice in nursing and healthcare
(4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer Health.
Walsh, L., Garrity, S., Rutkow, L., Thompson, C. B., Strauss-
Riggs, K., Altman, B. A., . . . Barnett, D. J. (2015). Applying a
behavioral model framework for disaster recovery research in
local public health agencies: A conceptual approach. Disaster
Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 9(4), 403–408.
APPLYING AN EBP FRAMEWORK TO IMPLEMENT A
WRITING DEVELOPMENT PLAN
This assignment focuses on using the EBP process and applying
an EBP model or framework to improve your writing skills.
Writing that is characterized by strong organization, appropriate

4. use of evidence, scholarly tone, grammatically-sound sentence
structure, and correctly-formatted citations and references is of
paramount importance in all aspects of your professional role.
Excelling in all three of these areas enables you to seamlessly
integrate them into aspects of your professional life, including
your roles of scholar-practitioner and health care leader.
Creating and implementing your own plan to continually
develop these skills will set the stage for improvements in your
writing so that you communicate accurately and eloquently.
In this assignment, you will choose one of eight EBP models or
frameworks that best applies to a PICO(T) question focused on
the continued development and improvement of writing skills.
You will then create a writing skills development plan by
applying the EBP model or framework. Your aim is to facilitate
the achievement of two specific writing improvement goals you
created when you reflected on and examined feedback received
throughout this course from Smarthinking and your instructor.
The following PICOT question will serve as the basis for this
assignment:
For my professional roles of scholar, practitioner and healthcare
leader (P), will a writing skills development plan based on a
specific EBP model or framework (I) improve my writing skills
and facilitate the achievement of my two writing goals (C, O) in
the next 3-6 months (T)?
In this PICO(T) question, the population (P) is you and the
professional roles you seek to enrich, improve and refine. The
writing skills development plan, based on the application of an
EBP model of your choice, is the evidence-based intervention
(I). The outcomes (O) include improved writing skills, as
delineated by two specific writing goals you have identified for

5. yourself from the results of your Writing Self-Assessment and
feedback received from Smarthinking and your instructor, which
also serve as the baseline or comparison (C). The timeframe (T)
should be a realistic, feasible amount of time in which you will
monitor and observe demonstrated improvements.
Preparation
Be sure that you’ve completed the
Writing Self-Assessment
.
Instructions
Create a writing skills development plan.
Plan Format and Length
Use the
APA Style Paper Template [DOCX]
. An
APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX]
is also provided to help you in writing and formatting your
plan. Be sure to include:
Title page and references page. An abstract is not required.
A running head on all pages.
Appropriate section headings.
Add your concept map as an appendix.

6. Your plan should be 4–5 pages in length,
not including
the title page and references page.
Assignment Grading
The following requirements correspond to the scoring guide
criteria, so be sure to address each point. Read the performance-
level descriptions in the scoring guide for each criterion to see
how your work will be assessed.
Assess your writing strengths and weaknesses.
Use the results from your writing self-assessment and feedback
received from Smarthinking and from your instructor via the
writing feedback tool, scoring guides, discussions, and any
other courseroom communications.
What are the implications of your current skill level for writing
at the doctoral-level?
Discuss specific writing development or improvement goals as
they relate to each element in a PICO(T) question.
Create a concept map that illustrates the application of an EBP
model or framework to achieve your writing development or
improvement goals.
Identify the implementation strategies and resources needed to
carry out a writing skills development plan.

7. Support main points, assertions, arguments, or conclusions with
relevant and credible evidence.
Adhere to the rules of grammar, usage, and mechanics.