Health and Social Behavior Breadth
Course focuses on social, cultural, bio-behavioral determinants of health & health behavior, issues related to social & behavioral interventions, policies aimed at improving community & population health. Students will have experience in/be able to apply range of Health & Social Behavior perspectives, approaches to critically analyze public health issues, conceptualize research & interventions at different levels of ecological model. Topics designed to convey key concepts, highlight approaches in Health & Social Behavior via lectures, readings, videos & online resources. Group assignments focus on community context & health. Will require students to synthesize/apply concepts from course. Assignments will culminate in a final group project.
Topics
- Describe a range of major themes, theories and conceptual frameworks, research and practice approaches commonly encountered in Health and Social Behavior. Describe and apply ecological public health frameworks and concepts emphasizing multilevel interactions between biology, behavior, environments and the distribution of life opportunities. Understand how socially constructed concepts of race, ethnicity, immigration, gender and social class influence health and structure population health inequities. Describe the rationale for community involvement in public health actions and the key principles of community-based approaches to public health. Understand relationships between human behavior and public health to critically assess models of human behavior and to explore strengths-based, multi-level intervention design.
Official catalogue course objectives and student learning outcomes
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026-2027