In this activity, you will design an educational tool to raise awareness of the impact of substance abuse on mental health (350 min). 

Step 1: Select a substance use disorder of interest in your country based on either prevalence or mortality. You can use information from the Drug Use research published at OurWorldInData.org or any other resource of your preference. 

Step 2: Create an educational tool that addresses the following points, using language that is adequate for a general audience (children, young people, and adults) to understand.

• What is the impact of the selected substance use disorder in your country (i.e., high prevalence, high mortality, etc.)?
• Identify at least three (3) myths regarding your chosen substance use disorder and counter them using evidence-based information.
• What actions can be taken into account at an individual level to decrease the impact of this disorder on your country? 

Step 3: Your educational tool should be created using either a PowerPoint presentation, a piece of writing in a blog format (with pictures included), or a video. If you feel comfortable presenting your work, we suggest you record yourself or your screen using the online tool Loom. Your educational tool should have a maximum of 20 slides for a presentation, 500 words for a blog format, or five minutes in length for a video format. 

Step 4: To share your work, click the “Reply” button under this post and paste your work into the “Message” box. Make sure to reference others’ intellectual property when necessary. All references should follow 7th edition APA formatting. For further instructions, see the resource on the Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library: APA citation resource (N.B.: references are excluded from word counts).

Step 5: Evaluate and categorize the work from one of your peers based on items A - E of this rubric. Provide a rationale for the grade you provided as well as comments or suggestions for improvement. To post a reply, click “Reply” on a particular discussion, write your feedback and then click “Post to forum.”

You can use the list below as an example:

Item A is  .…. because….  my suggestions for improvement are….
Item B is  .…. because….  my suggestions for improvement are….
Item C is  .…. because….  my suggestions for improvement are….
Item D is  .…. because….  my suggestions for improvement are….
Item E is  .…. because….  my suggestions for improvement are….

OPTIONAL Step 6: Interact (10 minutes)

If you would like to, you can reply to your peers' posts in a respectful and professional manner. Ensure that your post engages your peers' ideas by including a reflection on their comments, sharing ideas of other potential difficulties and parties involved, or asking thought-provoking questions. If a peer comments on your posting, please reply. To post a reply, click “Reply” on a particular discussion, write your feedback and then click on “Post to forum.”