Course subject: Health Studies (HLTH)

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.

The use of regression models (for continuous and categorical outcomes) for analysis of multi-variable data sets. Strategies for model building, fitting of models, assessing model assumptions and testing hypothesis. Application of these models to problems in the health sciences.

An investigation of the epidemiology of selected non-infectious diseases with emphasis on the identification of risk factors and on the methodology of epidemiological investigations.

An introduction to the social, cultural and behavioural foundations of public health and outline the contributions of the social sciences to the planning and implementation of public health interventions. Prerequisite PHS 601.

Approaches to strategic planning and organizational design, key concepts of human resource management in achieving the strategic objectives of public health organizations, and the fundamentals of operation planning, budgeting, financial management and project management. 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.

The first of two capstone courses in the MPH program, this course presents the principles and methods for the effective design, selection and implementation of public health interventions to address environmental, social, and behavioural risk factors. Students will 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 developing a final project that integrates methods, concepts and theories in public health through reading and problem-based learning.

This course focuses on the fundamental methods that are commonly employed in modern health informatics research in order to collect, store, organize, process, analyze, and communicate data/information/knowledge. Emphasis is on computerized methods and concepts. Students will gain both theoretical knowledge and practical experience so that they can apply the learned methods in practice after completing this course.

One of the major aims of heal informatics is to help health professionals make better decisions. To this end, diverse models and methods of decision making and decision support have been developed and implements in health care settings. This course reviews theories, methods, and technologies for aiding the process of making decisions in health care.

Methods used to assess human health risks associated with biological, chemical and physical exposures in the environment, focusing on hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment, and risk characterization. The course examines the strengths and weaknesses of various types of risk assessment approaches, the inherent uncertainties in each stage of risk assessment, and the interactive role of risk assessment and risk management in public health decision-making. Course open to MPH students. Others may be admitted with consent of instructor.

This workshop oriented course provides a foundational overview of various qualitative research processes beginning with philosophical underpinnings, and continuing through theoretical perspectives, methodologies, methods, analysis, and write-up. Specifically, ontological and epistemological approaches of prediction, understanding, emancipation, and deconstruction will be introduced and discussed as students immerse themselves in rigorous fieldwork in relation to current qualitative trends in health and well-being.

This course provides a comprehensive examination of dementia from multiple perspectives, including the person living with dementia, family care partners, and the health and social care systems. Key topics include epidemiology, prevention, stigma, meaningful engagement, care and support.

This course provides an introduction to the field of information visualization: the use of computer graphics and interaction to help humans understand, interpret and solve problems using complex data. Topics will be covered using case studies, and include what is visualization?; use of colour, shape, and contrast in representing data; rules of thumb for creating visualizations; and case studies.

Fundamental principles of public health surveillance and monitoring, describe the source of public health data in Canada and other countries. Topics covered include forecasting, information management and organization, and technological innovations for assessment, evaluation and program delivery.

The wide adoption of mobile technology presents a new opportunity. Leveraging this existing technology, healthcare systems can deliver remote care and collect real-time data on patients outside of health centres, minimizing unnecessary visits to hospitals and providing healthcare access to remote populations. In this course, we will explore how digital health technology has been designed, evaluated, and deployed in different countries. Case studies will be used to demonstrate how institutional and governmental constraints have a strong impact on the success of the deployment. The course will address the different digital health technologies in the market, such as Telehealth, remote patient monitoring, tele radiology, consumer health informatics, and mHealth. Important aspects of technology development like patient confidentiality, privacy, standards, communication and security protocols, regulatory requirements, among others, will be discussed when presenting the development of each digital health solution. By the end of this course, students will be prepared to design, evaluate, and deploy a digital health intervention and will have a solid understanding of the barriers and requirements for deploying digital health technology.

An exploration of the complex set of relationships among public health, environment and planning at the community and global levels. Topics covered include the concept of sustainable development and how it relates to public health.

This course examines the application of information technologies and information systems in public health practice. Selected topics include managing information to deliver value; data standards in public health; privacy, confidentiality and security in public health; surveillance systems, informatics of toxicology and environmental public health. Course open to MPH students. Others may be admitted with consent of instructor.

This intensive short course (0.5 credits) will provide graduate students with hands-on experience in designing evaluation processes for programs, services, responses and/or interventions. Students will be exposed to contemporary trends and issues in evaluation theory, as well as methods and practice, while working with stakeholders. Course content covers evaluation planning, design and implementation. Attention will be given to theories of change, stakeholder engagement, evaluation approaches and methodologies. Discussions extend beyond basic evaluation to include interpretation and dissemination of findings, as well as evaluation management. The course uses real world problems across a range of applied health interests, and emphasizes experiential learning through a case- and team-based approach. This course is typically delivered in a one-week block held on the UW main campus, with additional online components.

Fall/Winter/Spring The supervised practicum is intended to enhance basic or applied research skills. The placement may involve a combination of research design or program development, data collection (using quantitative or qualitative methods), analyses, interpretation, and presentation. A contract stipulating practicum objectives, and work to be completed to meet these objectives must be jointly approved by the student, the practicum supervisor, the academic supervisor, and the practicum coordinator. A written report by the student, together with a letter from the field supervisor, are used by the co-ordinator to evaluate student performance. This course is intended for Masters level students. Graded on a Cr/NCr basis. Prerequisite: 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.

Course content includes normative and non-normative development across the lifespan as it is relevant to individual and population health and public health programming. The human is treated as an independent system nested within an environmental system. Consideration will be given to the interaction of the commonly recognized developmental domains, the individual's context, and wellness. Topics of discussion may include the impact on health and wellness of developmental continuity, resilience, transitions, and milestones.

The focus of the course is on basic physiological and immunological mechanisms involved in major contemporary health problems, including those which are contributed to by behavioural factors.

This course introduces the application of epidemiologic methods to the study of older persons. This lecture/discussion will present core epidemiologic concepts and methodologic issues in epidemiologic students of older persons. We will then study predictors of health and three major health outcomes: longevity/mortality, functional status/disability, and disease. Students will critically evaluate epidemiologic studies in aging research and will investigate a specific topic in this field in depth.

The aim of this course is to equip students with advanced knowledge and skills to understand, conceptualize, design, conduct, and critically evaluate qualitative health research. It is designed for students wishing to develop their own research at the master's or doctoral level. Emphasis is on: 1) exploring the relationship between techniques designed to gather particular kinds of data and the broader epistemological and theoretical questions underpinning qualitative health research; and 2) giving students an opportunity to practically engage with key qualitative research skills (interviewing, data analysis) and to reflect on the ethical, theoretical, and practical issues that arise in conducting qualitative research in health settings.

Building on HLTH 606, this course provides an in-depth survey of theory and methods in epidemiology, focusing on answering complex research questions using epidemiologic methods. Course topics include modeling multinomial, count, rate, and survival data and disease transmission; infectious disease dynamics; assessing the reliability/validity of measurement instruments; an in-depth examination of various study designs (e.g., case control, nested case control, case-cohort, randomized controlled trials, panel studies, and hybrid study designs); critical appraisal of the medical literature; and systematic reviews and meta-analysis.

An in-depth analysis of specific topics of interest. Representative topics may include advanced epidemiological and statistical methods for health research, cancer prevention and control, advanced health program evluation, psychoneuroimmunology, addictions, caregiver issues, etc. The form of the study may include a literature review or the planning and execution of and execution of an independent study leading to a mamor paper for possible publication.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to different ways of designing and implementing research within the topic area of work and health as well as some of the practical, political and ethical challenges. The course content will include an examination of the epistemological positions assoicated with different types of research questions, analysis of case studies of research in work and health, and discussions of proposed research questions and proposals that examine problems from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The course will also include presentations by researchers and practitioners from the work and health domain, who will facilitate discussions on the challenges and opportunities of conducting and applying research in this area.

This seminar is a forum for student presentations about results of or proposals for research. Invited speakers will also present results of research from time to time. Attendance at the seminar is required for two terms (i.e., during the candidates' first two years in the program). Attendance beyond that is encouraged. The range of topics that will be addressed in the seminar crosses all areas of investigation in the collaborative program. Grading will be on a credit/no credit basis.