Courses for Graduate Students Only

PUBH 5020. Philosophy of Public Health (1 credit) — Prerequisite: Graduate Standing. This course serves as an introduction to public health practice.

PUBH 5030 Overview of Public Health (3 credits)—This course provides an introduction to public health concepts and practice by examining the philosophy, purpose, history, organization, functions, tools, activities, and results of public health practice at the national, state, and community levels. The course also addresses important health issues and problems facing the public health system. Case studies and a variety of practice-related exercises serve as bases for learner participation in real world public health problem-solving simulations.

PUBH/ACCT/PMNU 5050. Health Care Accounting and Finance (3 credits) — This course applies the concepts of accounting and finance within the context of the health care industry. Course coverage includes basic accounting and finance principles and how these principles are applied in the health care arena. Topical coverage includes financial statement preparation and analysis, cash flow analysis, cost behavior and control, capital acquisition, budgeting, reimbursement mechanisms, and managed care.

PUBH 5110. Assessment of Individual and Community Health (3 credits) — Prerequisites: Prior or concurrent registration in PUBH 5200, 5310, and 5400. This course covers theory and application of techniques for assessing individual and community health status, risk and needs. Identifying, collecting and utilizing appropriate demographic and health-related data are examined as a foundation for addressing health problems in a responsive and meaningful way. Students select a real world health problem or population to be the focus of assessment projects during the semester.

PUBH 5120. Techniques of Research and Evaluation (3 credits) — Prerequisites: PUBH 5110, 5200, and 5310. This course introduces research and evaluation methods appropriate to community health programs and issues. Community health strategies are studied from the dual programs and issues. Community health strategies are studied from the dual perspectives of 1) establishing and identifying desired program standards and outcomes and 2) developing new knowledge about the relationship of health to individuals and group behavior and organizational and social change.

PUBH 5125. Rural Health Research and Practice (3 credits)- Prerequisites: PUBH 5400 Principles of Epidemiology or persmission of instructor. PUBH 5200 Social and Behavorial Foundations of Public Health or permission of instructor. Co-requisite: PUBH 5377 Health Communications or permission of instructor. This interdisciplinary course with nursing, medicine, public health and other disciplines is the first of a two-semester series of courses which allows students to develop an understanding of rural health issues using community-based participatory research methodology and theory relevant to health sciences. Student and faculty teams partner with rural communities to assess health priorities and develop plans to address identified needs. Both quantitative and qualitative evaluative methods are utilized to assess and analyze health status indicators using appropriate technology.

PUBH 5130. Planning and Implementation of Community Health Programs (3 credits) — Prerequisites: PUBH 5110, 5120 and 5200. Building on experiences in previous courses in the program sequence, this course focuses on the planning and implementation of specific health programs to meet identified needs and professional standards. A variety of theory-based intervention strategies will be discussed. Students will develop specific skills while delivering actual programs to selected populations.

PUBH 5150. Consulting in Organizations and Communities (3 credits) — Prerequisite: PUBH 5200 or permission of instructor. This course focuses on the application of community health skills in community and organizational settings. Consultation, training, group process and organizational and community development concepts and skills are emphasized.

PUBH 5200. Social and Behavioral Foundations of Public Health (3 credits) — This course reviews the concepts and methods of social and behavioral sciences relevant to the identification and solution of public health problems. Social, cultural, economic and environmental factors are discussed as the fundamentals upon which public health has been developed at the various governmental and community levels.

PUBH 5210. Professional Development for Public Health Practice (2 credits) — This course offers students opportunities to interact with faculty, alumni, preceptors, and health professionals in the context of continuing education workshops covering important, timely, and desirable public health topics. Students select 30 credits of continuing education seminars over the duration of the course in consultation with their academic advisors.

PUBH 5310. Biostatistics (3 credits) — This course is an introduction to the collection and analysis of public health data. Elements of statistical inference, probability distribution, sampling, confidence interval, and estimation of means and rates are reviewed.

PUBH 5320 Statistical Methods in Epidemiology (3 credits)— Prerequisites: PUBH 5310 and 5400. This is an intermediate class in basic statistical methods used with epidemiological research. This basic skills class focuses on the methods used for data analysis specifically, particularly the statistical theory and rationale. Specific statistical methods will be presented, as well as exercises to refine the student’s skill with data analyses. The class content is presented from a practical perspective. The emphasis of the course is understanding the fundamental measures, principles of hypothesis testing, and statistical interpretation. A general knowledge of statistics and epidemiological methods is expected, as well as basic computer literacy (SAS or SPSS specifically), and familiarity with intermediate-level biostatistics. The class is taught through lectures and classroom exercises to promote these applied skills. This course does not require intensive memorization (e.g., of formulae); rather it aims to provide in-depth training for epidemiological reasoning, calculations, and research methods using statistical analyses and contemporary technology.

PUBH 5340. Health Appraisal Techniques (3 credits) — In this course, the application of health appraisal and counseling to determine the health status of selected populations are discussed. Records of findings, and the remediation of health problems with appropriate health service personnel are emphasized.

PUBH 5350 Biostatistics II (3 credits)—Prerequisite(s): PUBH 5310 or equivalent. This course introduces advanced statistical techniques. It includes lectures and comprehensive individual projects. The lectures cover topics on linear correlation, simple linear regression, multiple linear regression, and logistic regression. Comprehensive individual projects involve exercises in data analysis and application of a statistical package.

PUBH 5400. Epidemiology (3 credits) — Pre-corequisite: PUBH 5310 or permission of instructor. This class is designed to provide the student with an introduction to the principles of epidemiology and the application of epidemiology to public health practice. The use and analysis of health statistics are emphasized.

PUBH 5401. Rural Health Issues (3 credits) — This interdisciplinary course addresses contemporary issues relevant to the delivery of health care in the rural areas, particularly those of Appalachia. This course focuses on rural communities and is taught in a problem-solving, case project format with interdisciplinary team presentations and discussions.

PUBH 5420 Epidemiology of Chronic Disease (3 credits)—Prerequisite(s): PUBH 5310 and PUBH 5400. Chronic diseases are the major contributor to disability and death in the United States. This course covers the basic concepts of chronic disease from an epidemiologic perspective. Selected topics, including the major causes of death and disability due to chronic disease, will be covered.

PUBH 5430 Epidemiology of Infectious Disease (3 credits)—Prerequisite(s); PUBH 5310 and PUBH 5400. Infectious diseases remain an important public health problem, even in industrialized countries. This course covers many important groups of infectious diseases in the United States, focusing on the mode of transmission, epidemiology, risk factors, and prevention.

PUBH 5457 Emerging Technologies for the Health Professions (3 credits)—Prepares health professionals for the ever changing technological workplace demands. Fuses new technologies with practical applications. Students are taught skills to present and manipulate information in the electronic age and reduce repeated task/events into time-saving solutions. Health education and training strategies are combined with emerging digital tools to develop training components.

PUBH 5460 Environmental/Occupational Epidemiology (3 credits)—Prerequisite(s): PUBH 5400, ENVH 5100. This course introduces students to epidemiologic investigations of environmental health problems. Topics include both traditional and innovative subjects and strategies, such as the health effects associated with air and water contaminants, toxic waste sites, lead, and radiation, as well as environmental exposures that have received attention only recently, such as Agent Orange and electromagnetic fields. The course emphasized epidemiologic methods, particularly exposure assessment, modeling, cluster analysis, and sources of bias. Students gain experience in the critical review and design of related epidemiologic studies.

PUBH 5465 Spatial Epidemiology and Geographical Studies of Health (3 credits) This course instructs in the special application of geographic pathology and data analysis techniques to interface with Geographic Information Systems. As such, this class presumes completion of PUBH 5310 and 5400 or similar content (e.g., topical content from medical and nursing school is acceptable). Much of the course content rests upon a grasp of epidemiological reasoning, e.g., outbreak investigation. Non-parametric methods are those mainly taught with this class, for both exploratory analyses and peculiar data configurations. Emphasis is also placed on analyses using the techniques from the specialized software: CLUSTER. Advanced methods of analysis associated with contemporary surveillance applications are previewed (e.g., SATSCAN, BIOSENSE).

PUBH 5500. Health Service Administration (3 credits) — The course presents managerial theory in a way that demonstrates its generic applicability to all types of health service organizations. This is accomplished by using a process orientation that focuses on managerial functions, concepts, principles and roles within context of health care organizations.

PUBH/PMNU/MGMT 5505. Managing Health Care Organizations (3 credits) — Prerequisite: PUBH 5500 or permission of instructor. This course focuses on new approaches to leading health care organizations. Students will be presented both the conceptual and technical aspects of the art and science of administering, managing, and leading health care organizations.

PUBH 5510. Long-Term Care Administration (3 credits) — This course provides an introduction to the principles and applications of long-term care administration. General management, personnel management, and government regulations will be discussed. This course will enhance a student's process toward licensure required for long-term care administrators.

PUBH/PMNU/MGMT 5525. Health Services Delivery and Organization (3 credits) — Prerequisite: PUBH 5500 or permission of instructor. This course focuses on the identification and analysis of factors and interrelationships which influence the operation of health care organizations with specific attention to local health departments, hospitals, multi-institutional systems, integrated health systems and strategic alliances. These organizations will be viewed and discussed comparatively with other types of health service agencies.

PUBH/MGMT/PMNU 5530 Health Care Organizations and Law (3 credits)—Prerequisite(s): Admission to the School of Graduate Studies. The content of this course includes an overview of the legal system with an emphasis on general principles of liability, defenses, and contracts. Through class discussions and presentations, legal issues facing health care administrators are presented including standards for accreditation, information management, human resources management, and need for legal consultation.

PUBH 5535. Health Policy, Politics and Analysis (3 credits) — This course applies the analytical skills of policy formation to the health professions. The course will focus on analyzing the processes in the design, adoption, implementation, and evaluation of current health policy.

PUBH 5550. Human Resource Management in Health Organizations (3 credits) — This course focuses on the skills and concepts required in managing people in health service organizations, as well as the human resource implications of changes in the external environment. This course focuses on the technical aspects of human resource management as well as the managerial skills required to manage people.

PUBH 5590. Strategic Planning for Health Care (3 credits) — Prerequisites: PMNU/MGMT/ PUBH 5505 and/or permission of the instructor. This course applies the concepts of strategic planning within the context of the health care industry. Issues associated with competing in a changing health care environment are explored with a focus on the development of solutions to problems associated with this change. The strategic management of health care delivery will be addressed from a variety of perspectives, ranging from those of the insurance industry, to public facilities, to large health care networks, to small practices of health care providers.

PUBH 5600. Industrial Health Education (3 credits) — This course explores the special needs of employed populations. Included is an in-depth study of the application of diverse disciplines to promote and enhance the health of workers in industrial settings.

PUBH 5620. Hazards in the Workplace (3 credits) — Focus is on the occupational hazards that have a significant and detectable effect on the health and well-being of employees and analysis of strategies used to ameliorate these problems.

PUBH 5850. Public Health Program Field Experience (1-6 credits) — In this course, students apply the principles of public health in a planned and supervised learning experience. Through public health work in actual fields settings, students observe and participate in the daily functioning and operations of a public health agency or health service organization.

PUBH 5900. Grant and Proposal Development (3 credits) — Students gain the skills to prepare proposals for grants, contracts, and other external funding for health activities. Included are budgeting, contact administration, technical specifications and strategies for locating funding sources. Students will prepare a proposal.

PUBH 5950. Research Seminar (3 credits) — This course will discuss the principles and procedures of research in public health. Students will develop thesis proposal.

PUBH 5960. Thesis (1-4 credits)

PUBH 5970 Public Health Monograph (6 credits) — In this course, students prepare a substantive paper on one or more aspects of public health theory or practice. The content may be based on any of several approved sources of data, including assessment and intervention methodologies completed within the Trilogy courses, or extensive review of the literature. All monographs will be prepared in a format appropriate for publication in an appropriate public health targeted medium.

PUBH 5989. Cooperative Education (1-3 credits) — Students must work through the Cooperative Education Office prior to registration enrolling in this course. This course provides academic credit for planned and supervised work assignments in business, industry, and government agencies. Student may receive compensation as an employee.

PUBH 5990. Readings and Research (1-3 credits) — Students who are not enrolled in other coursework but require the use of university facilities and/or faculty guidance for studies, research, or preparation of a prospectus MUST enroll for Readings and Research. Variable credits (1-3) of Readings and Research may also be used, as approved by student's advisory committee in conjunction with other coursework, to document such activities as development of research and scholarly skills that would not be appropriately covered by other types of independent study. Readings and Research credits do not count toward degree requirements. Grading of Readings and Research will be either satisfactory completion (S), satisfactory progress (SP), or unsatisfactory (U).

PUBH 6100 Environmental Concerns in Community Health (3 credits)—This course provides the knowledge and skills necessary to assess and address exposure to a variety of environmental agents that pose health risks for humans. These include physical (air, water, food, fire, motor vehicle, nuclear), chemical (pesticides, agrichemicals, toxins), biological (bacteria, fungi, viral, pathogens, and human (self-destructive behaviors, violence, terrorism). Topics include the context, outcome, prevention, and treatment of exposure.

PUBH 6110 Health Behavior in Community Health (3 credits)—This course provides students with the concepts of health behavior within the context of social, psychological, and biological systems. Various attitudinal and behavioral models will be applied to health and illness behavior with an emphasis on developing frameworks for interventions.

PUBH 6120 Ethics in Public Health Practice (3 credits)—This course covers the ethical, legal, and social aspects of public health policy and practice. Topics include ethical issues raised by various infectious disease outbreaks and the growing recognition that public health issues are inseparable from issues of human rights and social justice, problems of cultural and behavioral change, and environmental issues on a global scale.

PUBH 6130 Community Health Strategic Leadership and Policy Development (3 credits)—Explore the nature of strategic management skills in contemporary health care using a systems approach: organizational systems, interpersonal systems, decision systems, and information systems. Explore use of decision support systems within an integrated health care delivery system. Develop the policies for conflict management.

PUBH 6140 Empowering Communities for Health Action —This course surveys the theory and practice of community health practice including the fields of community organization and mobilization, capacity building, health education empowerment and evaluation, and community-based participatory research.

PUBH 6150 Evaluation Methods in Community Health Programs and Services (3 credits ) — Pre-requisites: None . This course focuses on evaluative processes within the field of community public health. Both theoretical and applied perspectives within public health practice are covered for the design and implementation of community health program and service evaluations.

PUBH 6160 Ecological and Systems Approaches to Community Health (3 credits)—This course applies basic principles of ecology and systems theory to public health, focusing on factors related to community health problems and the impact of behavior, genetics, and evolution on disease patterns and processes. It will use a problem-based approach to address selected public health concerns .

PUBH 6170 Economic Evaluation Methods for Community Health (3 credits)—This course provides advanced tools and techniques involved in the successful financial management of health care organizations and to identify the unique aspects of the health care industry. Students will calculate and interpret appropriate financial and operating indicators based on the financial statements and operating statistics of an organization. Students will apply basic techniques of financial management under an environment where revenues are determined independently of the consumer-provider relationship.

PUBH 6200 Human Biology for Public Health Practitioners (3 credits)—This course covers the basic concepts of human biology, including structure and function. In addition, these concepts will be considered from the perspective of the surrounding social, psychological, and physical environment.

PUBH 6377 Theory and Practice of Health Communications (3 credits)—This course focuses on the design and delivery of mass communication campaigns for public health. Students will examine the methods and outcomes of effective campaigns and will work as a group with community gatekeepers to plan, evaluate, or implement a health campaign at the community level.

PUBH 6410 Epidemiological Methods for Community Health (3 credits)—This course develops advanced methodological concepts underlying the science of epidemiology. The material covered is intended to broaden and extend the student's understanding of the elements of study design, data analysis, and inference in epidemiologic research, including issues related to causation, bias, and confounding. The course consists of lectures and workshop sessions.

PUBH 6420 Outcomes Assessment (3 credits)—T his course is designed to review the principles of identifying short-term, midterm and long-term outcomes and how these are linked to public health program goals and objectives as well as mission and vision. The first part of this course covers the conceptual and methodological challenges of selecting outcomes in conjunction with your community and the second part explores the challenges of design, data collection, analysis and interpretation, and report writing.

PUBH 6430 Surveillance Methods (3 credits)—This course is an applied skills course in the practice of public health surveillance. As an aspect of the discipline of epidemiology, this content is taught from a conceptual as well as practical perspective. The course provides instruction in the foundations of community-based epidemiological research, both observational approaches and exploratory methods (e.g., using designed surveillance systems as sentinel events, and syndrome studies). One emphasis of the course is to provide a broad understanding of diverse, specialized analysis techniques, measures, and event detection methods.

PUBH 6850 Doctor of Public Health Practicum (6 credits)—The practicum involves 320 hours of supervised experience applying concepts and methods to ongoing community health programs or community health policy development. Students will build on both their existing practice experience and the knowledge gained in the Dr.P.H. core courses to learn how to identify and respond to leadership challenges in public health. Student placements, developed in partnership with the student's practicum supervisor, will focus on providing students with new experiences in practicing public health at an advanced level. Students will produce an analytical academic product either for publication or for presentation to the agency/organization. Prerequisites: Completion of Core Courses and approval of advisory committee.

PUBH 6950 Applied Research in Community Health (3 credits)—This course is an advanced applications class designed to develop professional skills. This course offers training with common software packages that may be used by public health professionals for data analysis: JMP, Epi-Info, and Excel. The focus of the course is on data management and analysis using these conventional, desktop-style database packages. A prominent emphasis will be given to the mechanics of using statistical software from these packages to process public health data and to prepare analytic products from the same.

Co-Listed Undergraduate/Graduate Courses

PUBH 5007. Principles and Practices of Patient Education (3 credits) — In this course students develop skills in the design and use of educational methods and materials to provide specialized education for the patient in the clinical environment.

PUBH 5357. Thanatology (3 credits) — Explores the concept of death, dying, grief and addresses the topics of: medical, legal, social, cultural and religious view of death both in America and other cultures. Through these studies, students will be able to deal with their own emotions and better understand that death is a process of life.

PUBH/SPCH 5377. Health Communication (3 credits) — Prerequisite: PUBH 5200, or permission of the instructor. A study of the interpersonal, group, organizational, and public communication processes that shape beliefs, decisions and behavior regarding health, sickness, and health care. The course examines attitudes and actions of many participants in health communication, including citizens, health professionals, and those engaged in public debate of health issues. (Students cannot receive credit for both SPCH 5377 and PUBH 5377.)

PUBH 5607. Gerontology and Health (3 credits) — The course examines the aging process and familiarizes the student with physical, physiological, psychological, and social changes which have an impact on health.

PUBH 5707. International Health: An Overview of Problems and Issues (3 credits) — Designed to provide an understanding of the patterns of medical care delivery, public health practices and the factors that inhibit or enabling their applications among community groups and organizations around the world.

PUBH 5907. Independent Study in Public Health (1-3 credits) — This course is designed for students desiring an in-depth study of health problems in a special area of interest.

PUBH 5937. Stress Management (3 credits) — This course is a survey of the literature and research on stress. Emphasis is given to the identification of stressors, development of adaptive coping skills, and practice of relaxation techniques among health professionals.

PUBH 5957. Topic in ... (1-6 credits) — Prerequisite: Permission of instructor. This course is developed and offered when there is sufficient demand for additional study of a specific public health topic. Consultation with the instructor is required prior to enrollment.