Course subject: Public Health Sciences (PHS)

The culminating experience in the UW MPH program, the Capstone provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate two very important dimensions of readiness to practice in public health: the ability to work in a diverse and multidisciplinary team and the ability to integrate lessons learned from a variety of sources (including, but not limited to, course work and practicum) and bring them to bear on a concrete public health problem. Graded on a Credit/Non-Credit basis. (The course is delivered in a two-week block at the end of the MPH program sequence, on the UW main campus).

This course will explore the major sources of environmental stressors and types of environmental processes posing a risk to public health, and the mechanisms through which these interact with biological systems to exert adverse effects on human health.

This course introduces the principles, methods, and uses of epidemiology in the practice of public health. After completion of this course, students will be able to critically read and interpret epidemiologic research and clearly communicate epidemiologic findings. They will be familiar with health status measurement, data sources, screening, surveillance, outbreak investigation, and metholds to support program planning and evaluation. Students will have a sound understanding of basic epidemiologic concepts, including prevalence, incidence, study designs, measures of association, bias, confounding and causal inference.

An overview of theories, research findings, and applications of health communication and risk communication in public health. The course examines theories of group interaction and mass communication related to community perceptions of public health problems and practices, the impact of new technologies on public health communication, intercultural issues in health communication, health literacy, social marketing, and links between health communication and public health policy. Prerequisite PHS 601.

This course examines the environment in which health systems operate, with a focus on policy formulation legislative frameworks, governance structures, and funding models. Special attention is given to issues related to electronic health records and health information systems. A focus on international settings with strong track records in health informatics is central to this course.

This course introduces health professionals to the conceptual and physical building blocks of large scale distributed health information system. Network architectures, web architectures, distributed processing, securing information, database structures, and other technical topics are covered with a specific focus on the concepts that need to be understood by health professionals to facilitate interaction with technical system specialists.

This course introduces students to the requirements of definition phase of software development. Models, notations, and processes for software requirements identification, representation, validation, and analysis are discussed, as are mechanisms to evaluate the efficacy and efficiency of health information systems.

This course introduces the principals and methods for the effective design, selection and implementation of public health interventions to address socio-behavioural risk factors. At completion, students will be able to: determine when interventions are justified; differentiate between individual and population level interventions; describe various types of interventions; use theory and evidence to select and design interventions including the appropriate mixes of intervention types, sites, and delivery systems. Emphasis is placed on self learning through reading and problem-based learning. Lectures highlight and link important constructs, theories, perspectives, and bodies of evidence.

Introduction to the underlying principles governing the interactions of foreign chemicals with biological systems, including a description of the human health effects that can occur as a result of chemico-biological interactions in the environment. Course open to MPH students. Others may be admitted with consent of instructor.

An exploration of the socioeconomic determinants of health, the role of economics in public health policy, and the uses of economic evaluation methods in public health decision-making. Course open to MPH students. Others may be admitted with consent of instructor.

This course will cover epidemiological theories, methods, and applications used to address major environmental risks to public health, through a focus on the design, conduct, and interpretation of results from epidemiological studies of various designs. Public health risks will include the major pathways for exposure to microbial, chemical and physical hazards (e.g. ambient and indoor air, drinking and recreational water, food, physical contact).

This course employs a case-study approach to demonstrate methods for investigation and control of communicable disease outbreaks and clusters of chronic diseases and injuries. Course open to MPH students. Others may be admitted with consent of instructor.

Fall/Winter/Spring specific topics in public health. Course open to MPH students. Others may be admitted with consent of instructor.

An advanced program and policy evaluation course that provides theoretical knowledge, skills, and application of program evaluation approaches, including organizational and program planning. A more in-depth coverage of topics will be presented, including case studies and the understanding and use of program and policy intervention theory. This includes the creation of logic models, the identification of the purpose of the evaluation, the development of an appropriate evaluation design, and consideration of factors associated with knowledge use.

Key concepts necessary for successful evaluation practice and management are discussed and applied using case examples. Evaluation practice examples that are discussed include learning to understand and incorporate consideration of diversity, societal, organizational and environmental context in the conduct of evaluations. Key project management concepts relevant to each step of the evaluation of intervention will be covered, including (but not limited to) selecting research questions and focusing design considerations, budgets, timelines, politics, and contingency plans as well as creating and working in teams.

This course provides in-depth coverage of measurement and survey methods needed for evaluation data collection and other research or clinical applications. Various measurement approaches will be studied, including classical test theory and item response theory. Students will learn how to develop a measure or questionnaire and test its reliability and validity, or to critically appraise an existing measure or questionnaire. Issues and methods related to administering health measures or questionnaires will be covered, including sampling and ethical issues.

The course introduces the concepts, methods, and applications of Geographic Information System (GIS), with a focus on spatial analysis in public health. The strong emphasis on assignments that require application of concepts and methods provides students with hands-on experience of important GIS applications in public health, including disease surveillance and control, disease risk estimation, health service planning, mapping disease, disease cluster detection, and analyzing environmental hazards at the neighbourhood, municipal, regional, and international level. Students will learn the fundamentals of GIS, methodologies for analysing spatial data, study design, spatial data issues and interpretation of the results of analyses for GIS applications in public health. There is no prerequisite for this course. However, basic knowledge of statistics with an interest in information technology, public health, and mapping is highly desirable.