Public Health and Medicine: Health Decision Making

3 units

In this course, students will explore the complex landscape of health decision making with an emphasis on decision making within the healthcare system. We will discuss how our cognitive and psychological biases influence our decisions, how numeracy and health literacy affect our choices, and how we can use effective communication strategies within and outside healthcare settings to support health decisions. Drawing from case studies in public health, medicine, and scholarly literature, we will consider a number of issues related to medical diagnoses and treatment, and the comprehension and communication of uncertainty in the context of delivering person-centered health messages and person-centered care.