Health Education Certificate

This course is an overview and introduction to the way in which behavioral and social factors contribute to health. It covers a wide range of topics: theories of behavioral science which have been applied to health behaviors; socio-cultural factors in disease etiology and the role of social conditions and social policy in addressing critical public health problems; individual, group, community, and technology-based strategies for health behavior change; and current issues in behavioral sciences for health promotion including its application to achieving the Healthy People 2020 goals.

This survey of the major environmental determinants of human health covers physical, chemical and biological sources of exposure; routes of exposure in humans; etiology of environmental disease and mortality; and the complexities of environmental public policy. Topics include airborne pollution, contaminated water and food, solid and hazardous waste, and risk assessment as a tool for regulation. Students have the opportunity to tour a local public works facility.

This course will describe the psychological, social, and environmental determinants of a wide range of health and health-related behavior. Theoretical models from the behavioral and social sciences will be used to explain health behavior at the individual, interpersonal, and community levels. The course emphasizes the acquisition of theoretical understandings, but is also intended to improve actions or activities undertaken for the purpose of promoting, preserving, or restoring wellness, and actions or activities that endanger wellness or cause illness.

This course is designed as a comprehensive introduction to the relationship between stress, health, illness, and disease. It provides a conceptual and operational framework for understanding the interaction of psychological, social and behavioral stress factors as they influence the etiology and management of illness and disease, especially chronic diseases. The course is structured to present both an evidence-based cognitive understanding of the research literature relevant to stress and health, as well as an experiential appreciation of the effects of stress on particular individuals, including the application of stress management techniques.

This course provides a conceptual framework for students who seek careers in health education and presents clear, succinct principles of health education, health promotion, and disease prevention. The course is designed to introduce students to the competencies necessary for being a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES), and the concepts and skills required for carrying out effective health education programs in a variety of different settings, including school, community, health care and worksite settings. Through a combination of text readings, online module sessions, and self-study, students will gain an understanding of the CHES competencies and certain core concepts in the fields of public health and health promotion.

The course provides an overview of the principles of research as applied to public health issues. Students gain an understanding of the process of research from the initial development of research questions through the final presentation of research findings. Topics covered include: selection of an appropriate research design, discussion of issues of measurement, data collection strategies, and interpretation of data. Examples are drawn from health education, health promotion, disease prevention, and community health services.

Communication can be a powerful mechanism for behavior change and can promote or inhibit health behaviors. This course examines the theoretical underpinnings in the field of communication and reviews how communication strategies are used to influence health behavior. The focus is on print and electronic media and touches on individual communication. Topics include: how communication theory informs health behavior change interventions; steps involved in planning communication campaigns about health; and skills useful in the execution of communications, such as pre-testing, designing health materials, and writing press releases.

This course covers the basic concepts and principles of the health planning process. Topics covered include: needs assessment, program planning, and implementation and evaluation of public health interventions and programs. The use of quantitative and qualitative data is discussed. Examples are drawn from health education, health promotion, disease prevention and community health services. Students can expect to identify a health problem in a community, describe it, develop a program to address the issue, and evaluate it from a formative and summative perspective.

This course is an introductory graduate course that presents the fundamental statistical approaches employed in clinical research. Lectures cover basic probability, common distributions, samples and populations, interval estimation, and inferential statistical approaches. By reading medical literature, students learn how statistical techniques are applied to clinical data, and practice summarizing and interpreting analytic results.

This course introduces students to the principles and practices of epidemiology and provides them a population- based perspective on health and disease. Students learn the basic measurements of frequency and association and the methods employed in describing, monitoring, and studying health and disease in populations.

This course will describe effective health promotion strategies for use by a variety of health professionals in diverse settings where health promotion and prevention of illness are addressed. A common foundation of how, why, what, and when people of all ages learn will be first established. Then, how learning can positively affect patients’, families’, and diverse communities’ ability to understand, manage, prevent and live well with illness are discussed. Using evidenced-driven case studies, which demonstrate both successful and unsuccessful strategies, this course will help public health professionals identify best practices to implement, preserve, and replicate. Additionally, the coursework will help professionals to understand and explain why unsuccessful efforts might have failed and how those cases could be have been handled differently.