MPH 611 - Social and Behavioral Sciences for Public Health

3 Credit Hours
This course is a social and behavioral sciences core course for the MPH program. Psychological, social and cultural concepts and models relevant to health and disease in society are reviewed and critiqued. The course will enable students to describe core theoretical perspectives from each of the social science disciplines of psychology, sociology and anthropology. Students will learn how to select and apply appropriate social and behavioral models to the design of public health interventions and policies. The course will also cover existing social inequalities in health status related to race, social class and gender and the critical intersection between social risk factors, behavioral risk factors, and the development and implementation of public health interventions. Social ecological models that influence population health at multiple levels are emphasized.