Course Descriptions

PUBH 8002 Essentials of Public Health: A Case Study Approach (4 cr.)
This course evaluates key aspects of public health, including its history, mission, essential services, core functions, infrastructure, resources, workforce, achievements, challenges, and career options. Students explore these facets through case studies, a hypothetical scenario, and journal articles. Although the main focus of this course is on the U.S. public health system, students are also exposed to global issues and views of public health.

PUBH 8005 Foundations for Graduate Study (1 cr.)
This course introduces students to Walden University and the requirements for successfully participating in an online curriculum, to provide a foundation for academic and professional success as a scholar-practitioner and social change agent. Course assignments focus on the practical application of writing and critical-thinking skills and the integration of professional practice with professional and academic excellence as they relate to practice in public policy and administration.

PUBH 8050 Population Health and Issues in Disease Prevention (5 cr.)
This course provides an in-depth review of how population-based strategies are used in the prevention of disease and disability. Students explore the topics of population health and disease prevention from the perspective of understanding the determinants of health. Using a cross-disciplinary approach, students examine how economics, social factors, health policy, urbanization, globalization, the environment, and other factors influence disease. Students consider how research in disease prevention, health determinants, and population health applies to public and community health efforts.

PUBH 8130 Communications, Marketing, and Public Relations for Public Health Leaders (5 cr.)
This course provides an overview of marketing and public relations principles as they relate to public health, highlighting theoretical concepts that are commonly used in health communications research. Topics include using social marketing techniques, promoting health literacy, developing community partnerships, and creating culturally sensitive and appropriate promotional materials. Students focus on using social media to identify and advance public health interests and ethical principles. Through case studies, students examine how they can use marketing practices to translate health research into social action and behavioral change.

RSCH 8100 Research Theory, Design, and Methods (4 cr.)
This research course provides students with core knowledge and skills for understanding, analyzing, and designing research at the doctoral level. Students explore the philosophy of science, the importance of theory in research, and research processes. Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method research designs and methods are introduced. Ethical and social change implications of conducting research, producing knowledge, and engaging in scholarship are emphasized. Students apply and synthesize their knowledge and skills by developing elements of simple research plans.

PUBH 8270 Health Informatics and Surveillance (5 cr.)
By addressing current trends and future applications in public health research, this course helps students develop advanced competency in health informatics and surveillance. It addresses the key issues of data standards and integration, vocabularies and data transmission protocols, health information technology, surveillance systems, and the application of geographical information systems to situation awareness. Other topics include information architecture, public health records, electronic medical records, electronic health records, health information exchange, and database design, as well as information storage, security, and privacy.

RSCH 8200 Quantitative Reasoning and Analysis (4 cr.)
This research course provides students with core knowledge and skills for designing quantitative research at the doctoral level, including understanding data analysis and applying statistical concepts. Students explore classical quantitative research designs and common statistical tests, the importance of quality assurance, and ethical and social change implications of conducting quantitative research and producing knowledge. This course approaches statistics from a problem-solving perspective, with emphasis on selecting appropriate statistical tests for a research design. Students use statistical software to calculate statistics and interpret and present results. Students apply and synthesize their knowledge and skills by developing a quantitative research plan.

PUBH 8400 Public Health Leadership and Systems Thinking (5 cr.)
This course focuses on leadership models and theories, the core principles of public health leadership, and the application of systems thinking to public health. Students examine how to create strategies and solutions that efficiently utilize public health and healthcare resources. Students discuss descriptive and prescriptive systems, focusing on the application of these processes to current public health issues and challenges at the organizational and community levels.

PUBH 8115 Social, Behavioral, and Cultural Factors in Public Health (4 cr.)
This course presents an examination and analysis of the major social, behavioral, and cultural variables and issues that affect the health of populations, including community, gender, age, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and environment, as well as behavioral risks. Research, theoretical, and conceptual frameworks from the social and behavioral sciences are explored as they apply to public health problems and the reduction of health disparities.

PUBH 8125 Biostatistics (4 cr.)
This course addresses the application and interpretation of biostatistics in public health research and practice, including descriptive methodologies, statistical inference and probability, analysis of variance, and simple linear regression. Students are introduced to a statistical computer package such as SPSS.

PUBH 8145 Epidemiology (4 cr.)
This course provides an epidemiological approach to the study of the incidence, prevalence, and patterns of disease and injury in populations, and the application of this study to the control of public health problems. Key sources of data for epidemiological purposes are identified, and principles and limitations of public health screening programs are addressed. Students learn to calculate basic epidemiological measures and to draw appropriate inferences from epidemiological data and reports. (Prerequisite: PUBH 6110 or PUBH 6125)

PUBH 8165 Environmental Health (4 cr.)
This course offers a study of the environmental factors that affect the health and safety of a community. Topics include causal links between chemical, physical, and biological hazards in the environment and their impact on health, and the genetic, physiologic, and psychosocial factors that influence environmentally compromised health outcomes. Environmental risk assessment methods, strategies for effective management and control of environmental exposures, and legal, regulatory, and ethical considerations at the federal, state, and local levels are explored. Examples of environmental threats including waste, water, air, vectors, and global warming are examined, as are issues related to bioterrorism and disaster preparedness and management.

PUBH 8175 Health Policy and Management (4 cr.)
This course examines the factors that influence and improve health outcomes of individuals and populations, with attention to the goals of the Healthy People 2020 initiative and the main components and issues of organization, financing, and delivery of health services and public health systems in the United States. Topics include management theories and processes, systems thinking, strategic planning and partnerships, quality and performance improvement, leadership, and organizational behavior. The policy process as well as the advocacy role of the public health professional in influencing local, state, and federal policy is addressed. The impact of global trends on public health practice, policy, and systems is also considered.

PUBH 8155 Research in Public Health (4 cr.)
This course provides an examination of the research that informs public health programs, policy, and practice. Topics include the logic that underlies scientific research, study design, sampling, identification of variables, methods of data collection and analysis, key concepts in measurement including reliability and validity, program evaluation, and research ethics. Students are introduced to methods of participatory research as well as statistical software that is used to support research. Strategies and skills for presentation of research results are presented. (Prerequisite: PUBH 8125)

PUBH 8315 Economics and Financing of Public Health Systems (5 cr.)
In this course, students investigate the provision of resources for the delivery of public health services and the application of economic theories to health policy issues. Students explore how organizational characteristics interact with economic forces to produce systems performance outcomes, as well as how fiscal policy can influence the performance of public health systems. Students analyze grant-writing strategies and the advantages and disadvantages of various financing options. Other topics include methods of economic evaluation and their usefulness in determining appropriate financing mechanisms for public health systems.

PUBH 8450 Community Health Assessment (5 cr.)
This course covers community health assessment and its application to program planning. Students learn to identify and prioritize problems, then assess and utilize community resources to address these problems. Topics include measuring selected determinants of community health status and health services use, classifying community assets, identifying data sources, and applying certain methods to maximize community participation. Students synthesize the results of a community health assessment to create a community diagnosis that serves as the basis for program planning and research design.

PUBH 8550 Writing a Quality Prospectus (5 cr.)
This five-credit course is focused specifically on the process of writing the dissertation prospectus. Students use their preliminary research plan, developed previously, and develop a problem statement to be used in the dissertation. They further refine the problem statement and carry out the planning and the library research that will bring them to the formulation of a dissertation prospectus. The prospectus is a brief paper, typically 15–20 pages in length, that lays out the background for the problem statement, the problem statement itself, a survey of the relevant literature, typically 25–75 references, and a research, implementation, and evaluation plan for the solution of the problem.

PUBH 9001 Dissertation (20 cr. minimum—5 cr. per term for minimum 4 terms)
This course offers doctoral students the opportunity to integrate their program of study into an in-depth exploration of an interest area that includes the completion of a research study. Students complete the dissertation independently, with the guidance of a dissertation supervisory committee chair and committee members, in a learning platform classroom in which weekly participation is required. Students complete a prospectus, proposal, Institutional Review Board application, and dissertation.

Community Health Education

RSCH 8300 Qualitative Reasoning and Analysis (4 cr.)
This research course provides students with core knowledge and skills for designing qualitative research at the doctoral level, including understanding data analysis. Students explore the nature of qualitative inquiry, fieldwork strategies and the nature of observation, theoretical approaches to qualitative research, the importance of quality assurance, and the ethical, legal, and social change implications of conducting qualitative research and producing knowledge. Students use software to code data and interpret and present results. Students apply and synthesize their knowledge and skills by developing a qualitative research plan. (Prerequisite: RSCH 8100)

PUBH 8440 Application of Public Health and Behavior Change Theories (5 cr.)
This course presents a comprehensive look at public health and behavior change theories that apply to community health education. Students review and assess predominant social and behavioral principles at the individual, interpersonal, and community levels. Students discuss examples of how others have harnessed social marketing and communication technology to effect positive health behavior change in individuals and communities. Students learn to apply theories to public health research and practice.

RSCH 8250 Advanced Quantitative Reasoning and Analysis (4 cr.)
This research course builds on knowledge and skills acquired in RSCH 8200: Quantitative Reasoning and Analysis and provides experience applying them. It provides students with more-specialized knowledge and skills for designing quantitative research at the doctoral level, including understanding multivariate data analysis and applying more advanced statistical concepts. Students explore comprehensive quantitative research designs and suitable statistical tests, the importance of quality assurance, and ethical considerations and social change implications of conducting quantitative research and producing knowledge. This course approaches statistics from a problem-solving perspective, with emphasis on selecting the appropriate research design and statistical tests for more complex research questions or problems. Students use statistical software to perform analyses and interpret and present results. Students apply and synthesize their knowledge and skills by developing a quantitative research plan.

RSCH 8350 Advanced Qualitative Reasoning and Analysis (4 cr.)
This research course builds on knowledge and skills acquired in RSCH 8300: Qualitative Reasoning and Analysis and provides experience applying them. It provides students with more-specialized knowledge and skills within each of the common qualitative traditions for designing qualitative research at the doctoral level. Students explore more complex qualitative research designs and analyses, multiple approaches to coding and organizing data, core components of a qualitative write-up, the importance of quality assurance, and the ethical considerations and social change implications of conducting qualitative research and producing knowledge. Students apply and synthesize their knowledge and skills by developing a qualitative research plan.

RSCH 8450 Advanced Mixed-Methods Reasoning and Analysis (4 cr.)
This research course builds on knowledge and skills acquired in RSCH 8200: Quantitative Reasoning and Analysis and RSCH 8300: Qualitative Reasoning and Analysis. It provides students with more-specialized knowledge and skills for designing mixed-method research at the doctoral level. Students gain an understanding of the types of mixed-method designs and how to select the most appropriate approach for the research question. The course emphasizes integrating quantitative and qualitative elements into true mixed-method studies, practice in data analysis, and integration of qualitative and quantitative data within a research write-up. Reliability and validity of mixed-method approaches will be highlighted. Students apply and synthesize their knowledge and skills by developing a mixed-method research plan that appropriately incorporates qualitative and quantitative elements.

PUBH 8475 Advanced Program Implementation and Evaluation (5 cr.)
This course promotes competency in program design, implementation, and evaluation. It provides an overview of public health program planning and development, as well as needs and assets assessment. It focuses on the methods required to implement programs and evaluate their efficacy. Students discuss the administration and coordination of public health program interventions and activities, and explore the variety of methods used to facilitate public health research.

Epidemiology

PUBH 8500 Advanced Biostatistics (5 cr.)
This course covers the advanced biostatistics methods that students need to prepare for conducting future research, as well as for critically reviewing the statistical methods incorporated in public health literature. Students learn to use statistical methodologies such as covariance and repeated measures, longitudinal data analysis, life tables and survival analysis, multiple regression, logistic regression, Poisson regression, and the Cox proportional hazards regression model. In this course, students use SPSS statistical software for advanced data management, manipulation, analysis, and the use of graphical techniques.

PUBH 8520 Advanced Epidemiology Methods (5 cr.)
This course integrates the principles of epidemiologic design, analysis, and interpretation at an advanced level. Students discuss data sources, assessment of dependent and independent variables, measurement error, confounding, and bias. Students explore methodological issues in epidemiology, including factors critical to public health research, such as missing data, intermediate variables, confounding, complex study designs, meta-analysis, and questionnaire design. The course covers concepts and applications in survival analysis, analysis of incidence rates, life tables, and parametric and nonparametric approaches.

PUBH 8540 Epidemiology Topics Seminar (5 cr.)
This seminar exposes students to current research and special topics of interest in epidemiology. Students choose from a wide range of discussion topics, including infectious disease, tropical disease, chronic disease, global health, maternal and child health, social and behavioral concerns, environmental issues, molecular and genetic factors, and other emerging topics of interest. Students perform a critical review of the research literature, providing them further insight into topics of epidemiology.

PUBH 8560 Advanced Analysis of Secondary Data (5 cr.)
Through this course, students develop an advanced understanding of statistical methodology and the use of biomedical and secondary data sources. Topics include how researchers work with groups and institutions that provide or create publicly available data sets. Students explore how to design research to make appropriate use of secondary data sources. The course also addresses simple and complex sampling designs and sample weighting, as well as the strengths and limitations of using secondary data.