MPH Core Course Descriptions
Required Core Courses
CPH 604 PUBLIC HEALTH AND DISEASE PREVENTION (3)
This course will demonstrate how changes
in health behavior can and do impact population-level
indicators of morbidity and mortality. Students will acquire
the necessary tools to identify priority needs for health
promotion, design community-based programs, and to implement
and evaluate these programs. Students will be able to make
clear linkages between health promotion practices and the
overarching goals of public health. Selection and design of
strategies will be achieved through an understanding of
theory-based approaches that have been widely applied in
health promotion research. Because theory and practice are
driven by research, the course will also introduce students
to examples of health promotion research (both methods and
findings will be emphasized). Finally, the course will
introduce students to various methods that can be used to
evaluate health promotion programs.
STA 580 BIOSTATISTICS (3)
Primarily statistics in the biological,
behavioral and social sciences, this course is an
introduction to methods of analyzing data from experiments
and surveys; the role of statistics in research, statistical
concepts and models; probability and distribution functions;
estimation; hypothesis testing; regression and correlation;
analysis of single and multiple classification models;
analysis of categorical data. Lecture, three hours/week;
laboratory, two hours/week. Prereq: MA 109 or equivalent.
CPH 601 OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH I (3)
This course is an overview of
occupational and environmental health problems, toxicology
related to the work place and other environments, industrial
hygiene, safety, and other topics relevant to environmental
health. Lecture, three hours/week. Prereq: PHA 603 and PGY
502 or equivalents, or consent of instructor.
CPH 605 EPIDEMIOLOGY (3)
In this course students are taught the
principles and methods of epidemiologic investigations,
research methodology, and statistical integration. Major
topics include etiologic factors of disease and injury, the
distribution of health problems within populations, levels
of prevention, and the concept of risk. The design of
retrospective, cross-sectional and prospective studies are
examined to illustrate odds ratio, relative risk, life
tables, and person-years. Students are required to complete
and submit a research proposal, present a topic paper, and
serve as a co-facilitator for an article discussion.
CPH 650 MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS (3)
This course teaches the theories and
practice of administration as they are applied in public
health settings. It addresses knowledge and applications of
the functions of public health management and their
relationship to organizational effectiveness.
Required Courses
CPH 609 PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICUM (3)
The public health practicum is designed
as an integrative experience in the workplace. The
practicum is an opportunity to apply classroom theories and
methods under the guidance of an experienced public health
practitioner with faculty oversight.
CPH 663 PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE AND ADMINISTRATION (3)
This course will be offered in classroom
and online format.
Emphasizes the practical application of
the principles of health care organization to public health
at the national, state, and local levels. Course objectives
reflect an overview of the principles of managing a public
health organization: legal basis of public health,
organization and delivery of public health services, health
planning and community needs assessment, epidemiological
approach to diseases, methods for chronic and infectious
disease control, future changes that can impact the
provision of public health services, etc.
CONCENTRATION AREA COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Epidemiology
CPH 610 INJURY EPIDEMIOLOGY (3)
Describes the distribution and
determinants for traumatic injury and poisonings, including
both intentional and unintentional events. Topics include:
sources of data, methodological approaches to studying
injuries, evaluation of injury interventions, and the link
between epidemiology and public health policy impacting
injuries.
CPH 612 INFECTIOUS DISEASE EPIDEMIOLOGY (3)
Emphasizes the epidemiological and
microbiological methods used to study infectious diseases
including new, emerging, and re-emerging diseases. Include
are the history, epidemiologic concepts and tools needed to
understand and investigate the maintenance, transmission,
and effects of infectious disease in human populations.
CPH 614 MANAGERIAL EPIDEMIOLOGY (3)
Reviews the fundamental principles of
epidemiology and teaches students how to apply these
principles to the management of health service
organizations.
CPH 616 CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE EPIDEMIOLOGY (3)
Provides students with an overview of
the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease.
Also teaches students about variations in the frequency of
risk factors and in the rates of cardiovascular disease by
characteristics of person, time and place.
CPH 617 ENVIRONMENTAL/OCCUPATIONAL EPIDEMIOLOGY (3)
Provides students with an understanding
of occupational and environmental exposures and their
associations with specific health effects, and with the
application of epidemiologic concepts and methods to
describe and analyze these associations. Combines lectures
on exposure assessment, study design and methodological
issues, as well as discussion and presentation of topics
focused on specific outcomes and exposures.
CPH 618 EPIDEMIOLOGY OF AGING (3)
Applies epidemiologic questions and
methods to the study of older persons. Lectures and
discussion focus on health outcomes (mortality, disability,
disease) and their predictors. Students will critically
evaluate research literature in these areas and investigate
a specific topic in depth.
CPH 662 PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONSE TO TERRORISM (3)
Focuses on public health concepts,
history, methods, planning and response preparedness in
response to a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) terrorist
attack, in both the nation and Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Will discuss how public health methods can be applied to
response planning and preparedness for such a bioterroristic
WMD attack and improve the public health and medical
infrastructure for response to natural disasters. Public
health response includes surveillance of disease and
laboratory reports for evidence of WMD attack, as well as
epidemiological review of suspicious cases of illness
potentially related to biological or chemical weapons.
CPH 630 BIOSTATISTICS II (3)
Students will learn statistical methods
used in public health studies. This includes receiver
operator curves, multiple regressions, logistic regression,
confounding and stratification, the Mantel-Haenzel
procedure, and the Cox proportional hazards model.
CPH 711 CHRONIC DISEASE EPIDEMIOLOGY (3)
Provides students with an overview of
the risk factors associated with the most common chronic
diseases, data sources available about these diseases and
epidemiologic theories, concepts and tools associated with
these diseases.
CPH 712 ADVANCED EPIDEMIOLOGY (3)
Provides an in-dept understanding of the
evidence needed to show causal relationships and
epidemiologic theories, concepts and tools used to establish
causal relationships.
CPH 718 SPECIAL TOPICS IN EPIDEMIOLOGY: DECISION-MAKING IN
HEALTH/ MEDICINE (3)
This course applies decision science
theory to healthcare decision making. It is intended for
epidemiologists, managers, and health behaviorists who want
to understand the process of rational decision-making.
Topics include (1) managing uncertainty, (2) treatment
decisions, (3) valuing healthcare outcomes, (4) diagnostic
test decisions, (5) prevention and screening, (6) tests with
multiple outcomes, (7) cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit, and
cost-utility analysis, and (8) modeling events that reoccur
over time.
Environmental Health
CPH 601 OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH I (3)
An overview of occupational and
environmental health problems, toxicology related to the
work place and other environments, industrial hygiene,
safety, and other topics relevant to environmental health.
Prereq: Undergraduate chemistry and biology, or permission
of instructor.
CPH 620 OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH II
A continuation of topics in CPH 601.
Required for those concentrating in Env. Health.
ES 600 ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS SEMINAR (1)
A course that may be repeated to a
maximum of two credits, its format is a series of
presentations by experts in the field on environmental
systems topics including topics from the fields of law,
economics, social sciences, medicine, biology, engineering
and physical sciences.
ES 610 ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES IN ENVIRONMENTAL
SYSTEMS (3)
An introduction to earth systems:
environmental impacts of natural and human processes; the
role of water systems on the earth including surface water
systems, groundwater systems, and water quality and
contamination systems; the role of atmospheric systems on
earth including the nature and source of air pollutants,
meteorological principles, radiation balance, climatology
and air pollution, and air pollution control methodology;
and processes and principles involved in waste producing
organizations. Prereq: Inorganic chemistry.
ES 620 NATURAL/BIOLOGICAL/MEDICAL SCIENCES IN ENVIRONMENTAL
SYS (3)
A survey course for students outside the
biological and medical sciences. Concepts in environmental
systems, toxicology, ecology and the environment,
ecotoxicology and environmental health. Prereq: A
background in physical sciences or introductory biology and
chemistry.
ES 630 LEGAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SCIENCES IN ENVIRONMENTAL
SYS (3)
Topics in this course include:
jurisprudential history, ethics and rule of law,
environmental economics, history of science, governmental
structures, process for development and enforcement of
standards, social/political implications of environmental
systems, and regulatory schemes for environmental control.
PM 651 WORK PLACE VENTILATION (3)
Will cover ventilation fundamentals for
control of the work environment. Principles of airflow,
fans, blowers, and basic hood design will be covered.
Airflow measurements and ventilation will be discussed.
Laboratory experience and field studies will be utilized as
part of the teaching approach. Prereq: PM 661 or consent of
instructor.
PM 661 INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE SAMPLING (3)
Using lectures and laboratory exercises,
will cover sampling and analysis techniques for industrial
hygiene assessment and monitoring. The laboratory
experiments are intended to simulate typical industrial
hygiene measurement situations and to provide a basis for
selection of sampling techniques and critical evaluation of
laboratory results. Lecture, two hours/week; laboratory,
two hours/week.
PM 663 PRACTICUM IN ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE (1-3)
In this individual tutorial/internship
course, the student will apply sampling and workplace hazard
survey techniques to real-world problems. Evaluations of
ventilation and engineering controls will be conducted and
discussed, and special techniques for the evaluation of
personal protective equipment and documentation of dermal
exposures will be utilized. May be repeated to a maximum of
six credits. Prereq: Completion of SPH 601, PM 602, PM 661.
CE 555 MICROBIAL ASPECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING (3)
To understand the principal unit of
life, the cell, and how it functions and is used in
industrial and environmental treatment rocesses. Emphasis
will be on the prokaryotic cell structure, function, growth,
metabolism, and adaptive traits. Microbially mediated
bio-geo-chemical cycles will be understood as well as the
metabolic growth requisites of each.
CE 655 WATER, SANITATION, AND HEALTH (3)
Concentrates on waterborne diseases.
The content will include prokaryote structure, energetics,
and survival strategies; emerging and classic waterborne and
water-related pathogens; animal vectors; fate of pathogens
in the environment; and indicator, index, and surrogate
pathogen organisms.
KHP 515 ANATOMICAL AND MECHANICAL KINESIOLOGY (3)
A quantitative and qualitative study of
human motion as it relates to locomotor and physical
education activities. Lecture, two hours; laboratory, two
hours. Prereq: ANA 206, PGY 206, or equivalent and consent
of instructor.
KHP 615 BIOMECHANICS OF FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENTS (3)
A research oriented, qualitative and
quantitative investigation into the fundamental human
movement patterns of ambulation, jumping, throwing, and
striking. Lecture, two hours; laboratory, two hours. Prereq:
An introductory course in physics, KHP 515, and consent of
instructor.
KHP 618 WORK HARDENING & ERGONOMICS (3)
A study of the basic areas of ergonomics
including: anthropometric principles, repetitive motion
disorders, low back pain, design of manual handling tasks,
and job evaluation tools. The class will also discuss
important government documents such as the NOISH Lifting
equation and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Prereq:
Consent of instructor.
TOX 509 BIOCHEMICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY (3)
Presentation of basic and advanced
concepts to provide an integrated description of toxicology,
its scope, the unique application of principles that
characterize it as a science, and its professional
practice. Emphases will include the influence of federal
regulations on the practice of toxicology. Prereq: BCH 501
and PHA 522 or equivalents or consent of instructor.
PHY 472G INTERACTION OF RADIATION WITH MATTER (3)
Basic aspects of the interaction of
ionizing radiation with matter. Bohr atom, atomic spectra,
radioactivity, energetics of decay. Sources of radiation,
penetration of charged particles, electromagnetic radiation,
and neutrons through matter; excitation and ionization
processes; selected nuclear reactions; basic radiation
detection and dosimetry. Prereq: PHY 213 or 232; MA 114 (may
be taken concurrently); or equivalent. (Same as RM 472G.)
RM 545 RADIATION HAZARDS AND PROTECTION (3)
An analysis of common radiation hazards
encountered in medicine, research, industry, and the
environment. Regulations and procedures for the safe use of
ionizing and non-ionizing radiations. Lecture, two hours;
laboratory, two and one-half hours. Prereq: PHY/RM 472G or
consent of instructor. (Same as PHY/RAS 545).
AEN 463G AGRICULTURAL SAFETY AND HEALTH (3)
Provides a comprehensive overview of
major safety and health hazards in agricultural production
and an overview of the basic approaches for the prevention
and control of agricultural injuries and illnesses. The
course is oriented toward upper class and graduate students.
Prereq: AEN 220, AEN 252, and junior standing or consent of
instructor.
Biostatistics
CPH 535 DATABASE AND SAS PROGRAMMING (3)
Teaches the construction and maintenance
of databases with applications to public health and how to
program in SAS, the leading statistical analysis system.
SAS skills include report writing, MACRO writing, and
programming using SAS Intranet.
CPH 630 BIOSTATISTICS II (3)
Emphasizes statistical methods used in
public health studies. This includes receiver operator
curves, multiple regressions, logistic regression,
confounding and stratification, the Mantel-Haenzel
procedure, and the Cox proportional hazards model.
CPH 631 DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF HEALTH SURVEYS (3)
Design and analysis issues associated
with well known national health surveys, including
reliability and validity of measurements, instrument
validation, sampling designs, weighting of responses, and
multiple imputations. Students will learn how to use
statistical software to analyze data from complex survey
designs.
CPH 632 MIXED MODELS IN PUBLIC HEALTH (3)
Presents statistical techniques for
analyzing those longitudinal studies in public health that
involve repeated measures and random effects. This course
will cover multilevel regression models, Poisson regression
models, logistic models with random effects, crossover
experiments, and nonlinear pharmacokinetic models.
CPH 664 DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF CLINICAL TRIALS (3)
An overview of clinical research design
and analysis. Phase I-IV clinical trials, parallel groups
design crossover trials, and group sequential trails.
Sample size determination and interim stopping rules.
Discussion of randomization, treatment masking, confounding,
stratification, multiple endpoints, surrogate endpoints and
random effects, prognostic factor analysis, and meta
analysis.
CPH 712 ADVANCED EPIDEMIOLOGY (3)
Provides an in-dept understanding of the
evidence needed to show causal relationships and
epidemiologic theories, concepts and tools used to establish
causal relationships.
STA 524 PROBABILITY (3)
Sample space, random variables,
distribution functions, conditional probability and
independence, expectation, combinatorial analysis,
generating functions, convergence of random variables,
characteristic functions, laws of large numbers, central
limit theorem and its applications. Prereq: MA 213 and MA
322.
STA 525 INTRODUCTORY STATISTICAL INFERENCE (3)
Simple random sampling, statistics and
their sampling distributions, sampling distributions for
normal populations; concepts of loss and risk functions;
Bayes and minimax inference procedures; point and interval
estimation; hypothesis testing; introduction to
nonparametric tests; regression and correlation. Prereq:
STA 320 or STA 524 or STA 424G.
STA 673 DISTRIBUTION-FREE STATISTICAL INFERENCE (2)
Inference for population quantiles, sign
tests, Wilcoxon tests, Kruskal-Wallis and Friedman tests,
Kendall and Spearman rank correlation. Goodness-of-fit
tests for completely and partially specified distributions,
rxc contingency tables, McNemar and Cochran's Q tests for
matched proportions; three dimensional tables and tests of
partial and multiple associations. Lecture, three hours per
week; laboratory, two hours per week for seven and a half
weeks. Offered the first or second half of each semester.
STA 677 APPLIED MULTIVARIATE METHODS (3)
Survey of multivariate statistical
techniques. The multivariate normal distribution; the
general linear model; general procedures for parameter
estimation and hypothesis testing in the multivariate case;
Hotelling's T2, multivariate analysis of variance and
covariance; structural models for the covariance matrix;
utilization of existing computer programs. Prereq: STA 671
and 672, and a knowledge of linear algebra equivalent to MA
262.
INF 520 BIOINFORMATICS (3)
An introduction to computer analysis of
macromolecular structure information. This course describes
how to access, process, and interpret structural information
regarding biological macromolecules as a guide to
experiments in biology. Prereq: BIO 315 or BIO 304 or BCH
401 or BCH 501 or BCH 502 or BIO 510 or consent of
instructor.
Health Behavior
CPH 646 SPECIAL TOPICS IN BEHAVIORAL HEALTH: HEALTH
COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES FOR DIVERSE POPULATIONS (3)
A special emphasis in this class will be
placed on understanding the role of culture in influencing
the adaptation of targeted health messages with diverse
populations, practices, and behaviors. An additional focus
will be placed on health status, current trends, and health
indicators for special populations identified through the
Kentucky Health Objectives for the year 2003, as reported by
the Kentucky Department for Public Health. A unique feature
of this course will be the opportunity to prepare a social
marketing/health communication campaign for actual health
curricula.
CPH 646 SPECIAL TOPICS IN BEHAVIORAL HEALTH: MATERNAL AND
CHILD HEALTH (3)
An introduction to MCH-related issues in
the U.S. and Kentucky and includes a focus on policies and
programs for women, children and adolescents. U.S. and
Kentucky data sources and uses of data that impact maternal
and child health are examined. Students are given the
opportunity to discuss and examine the history and
organization of MCH related services in the U.S. and review
a broad array of current issues central to maternal and
child health, including poverty, racial and ethnic
disparities in health, the organization and financing of
health services, analyze the ways in which political context
in the U.S. affects the health and well-being of families,
process in which knowledge, strategic planning, and politics
will combine to create public health policy to address these
issues in the context of current programming.
CPH 646 SPECIAL TOPICS IN BEHAVIORAL HEALTH: FOOD SYSTEMS
AND MALNUTRITION (3)
This seminar course explores key issues
in public health and malnutrition through a food systems
perspective. The class is based on the premise that
malnutrition – both under-nutrition and over-nutrition – is
related to all facets of a highly interconnected food system
consisting of food production, food processing and
distribution, and food consumption. Understanding how the
various parts of the food system interact is essential in
the design of effective public health policy and projects to
combat malnutrition in its various forms.
CPH 646 SPECIAL TOPICS IN BEHAVIORAL HEALTH: PUBLIC HEALTH
AND ANTHROPOLOGY (3)
This seminar explores the contributions
that anthropology, the academic field that focuses on the
study of human culture, can make towards a better
understanding of health behavior in the context of public
health. Culture, the central focus of study of the field of
anthropology, is often a perplexing factor confronting
public health researchers and practitioners. We will
consider how the perspectives and tools developed in
anthropology can be utilized in public health to help
understand culture, both in the United States and in
developing countries.
CPH 646 SPECIAL TOPICS IN BEHAVIORAL HEALTH: KENTUCKY HEALTH
DEMOGRAPHICS (3)
This far-ranging course specifically
emphasizes a deeper understanding of the Commonwealth of
Kentucky: demographics, healthy issues, public health
rankings, health infrastructure, genomics, and datasets.
Drawing upon social/behavioral science theory, his course
will also examine the connected pragmatic and theoretical
issues of measurement and categorization. Genomics are a
new level of demography at the cellular level. This course
will provide a brief foray into the basics of human genomics
and how they may present themselves in the context of
Kentucky populations. At the end of this class, students
will be expected to be familiar with the public health
structures, population, and…most critically…how and where to
access or gather data on a broad range of health issues
involving Kentuckians’ health.
CPH 646 SPECIAL TOPICS IN BEHAVIORAL HEALTH: ECOLOGICAL
INFLUENCES ON HEALTH BEHAVIOR (3)
This course will explore the social and
natural ecological forces that shape health behavior. It
will focus on the concept that individual health decisions
are made in a particular context, and that altering that
context can reshape those decisions. Students will be
exposed to both theoretical and case study material
comparing individual/educational approaches to public health
with population-based approaches utilizing environmental
change. The course will also cover the philosophical and
ethical questions inherent in the choices between individual
and population approaches to public health.
CPH 646 SPECIAL TOPICS IN BEHAVIORAL HEALTH: MEASURING
HEALTH BEHAVIOR: (3)
This course focuses on measurement, the
key component of research. Measurement encompasses a broad
range of research concerns and programming invariably
involves evaluation of whether an intervention works.
Proper evaluation, however, begins before an intervention
starts. In some cases existing data are used to define a
health problem. In other cases formative research seeks
baseline data to define the prevalence and characteristics
of a population and its members’ behaviors. Prior to
intervention implementation, researchers and programmers
need to first define what outcomes they seek and a logical
path of data collection to test for such outcomes. Within
this rather elegant model are a host of issues that arise
when working with complex human beings. A client’s cultural
background, the ethics of data-gathering, or even the gender
of the interviewer can influence findings. This is
ultimately a course about how rather than what. Public
health practitioners measure many types of people and health
behaviors. This course delves into how we can measure human
behavior responsibly and effectively.
CPH 647 RESEARCH METHODS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH (3)
This course provides the student with
basic knowledge about the design and analysis of research in
the field of health promotion. The theory, design,
applications, and analytic strategies used for various types
of research are presented in a sequential format. Goals of
the course include: 1) gaining the ability to critically
evaluate research in health promotion practice, 2) achieving
competence in research methodology, and 3) understanding the
conceptual application of analytic techniques to data.
CPH 648 HEALTH AND CULTURE (3)
This course is designed to facilitate a
deep understanding of the role of one’s culture in
influencing the adaptation of health attitudes, practices,
and behaviors. This course is required because it is a
philosophy of the department that health educators involved
in advocacy, policy, prevention, promotion and program
evaluation, should be trained to understand how and why
complex differences in and among diverse populations frame
population expectations regarding personal and community. As
a part of this course, students will be required to examine
their own cultural biases and strengths in an atmosphere of
non-judgment, respect, and trust. An additional focus will
be placed on health status, current trends, and health
indicators for special populations identified through the
Kentucky Health Objectives for the year 2003, as reported by
the Kentucky Department for Public Health.
CPH 646 SPECIAL TOPICS IN BEHAVIORAL HEALTH: GEOGRAPHIC
INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND PUBLIC HEALTH (3)
This course will introduce students to
the ArcView Geographic Information System (GIS) to map and
spatially analyze public health data. While GIS has
numerous applications for many disciplines, this course will
specifically focus on its uses in public health. Beyond use
of GIS for cartography, this course will also examine issues
and methods of analyzing the processes creating health
patterns. The versatility of GIS in a public health setting
will be examined and will include exercises looking GIS
applications involving health marketing, demography,
epidemiology, and health care systems. Public health
workers who utilize GIS in their research and work have been
invited to the class to discuss their ‘real world’
experiences. Students will be expected to complete a
research project involving GIS. It is hoped that this
project will compliment or supplement their capstone. Other
issues covered in the class will be the ethics of GIS,
manipulation of data; sources of data, and understanding
some commonly used public health datasets such as the YRBS,
BRFSS, etc. The course will also provide an introduction to
HTML coding to create simple websites for publishing public
health information and maps on the Internet.
Health Services Management
CPH 602 OVERVIEW OF THE HEALTH CARE DELIVERY SYSTEM (1-3)
An introduction to the health care
delivery system in the United States, including its
composition, functioning, the interrelationships of
organizations and professional groups within the system in
various settings, health care terminology, and major
problems and issues in the delivery of health services.
CPH 614 MANAGERIAL EPIDEMIOLOGY (3)
Reviews the fundamental principles of
epidemiology and teaches students how to apply these
principles to the management of health service
organizations.
CPH 631 DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF HEALTH SURVEYS (3)
Design and analysis issues associated
with well known national health surveys, including
reliability and validity of measurements, instrument
validation, sampling designs, weighting of responses, and
multiple imputations. Students will learn how to use
statistical software to analyze data from complex survey
designs.
CPH 647 RESEARCH METHODS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH (3)
This course provides the student with
basic knowledge about the design and analysis of research in
the field of health promotion. The theory, design,
applications, and analytic strategies used for various types
of research are presented in a sequential format. Goals of
the course include: 1) gaining the ability to critically
evaluate research in health promotion practice, 2) achieving
competence in research methodology, and 3) understanding the
conceptual application of analytic techniques to data.
CPH 653 PUBLIC HEALTH LAW AND POLICY (3)
Introductory course for nonlawyers in
selected aspects of the law and policy development related
to public health.
CPH 663 PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE AND ADMINISTRATION (3)
This course will be offered in classroom
and online format.
Emphasizes the practical application of
the principles of health care organization to public health
at the national, state, and local levels. Course objectives
reflect an overview of the principles of managing a public
health organization: legal basis of public health,
organization and delivery of public health services, health
planning and community needs assessment, epidemiological
approach to diseases, methods for chronic and infectious
disease control, future changes that can impact the
provision of public health services, etc.
CPH 758 SPECIAL TOPICS IN HEALTH SERVICES MANAGEMENT:
INTERNATIONAL HEALTH (3)
Course materials and visiting speakers
present and analyze major issues in international health,
identify and compare health systems in developed and
developing countries, and explore emerging global health
issues.
CPH 758 SPECIAL TOPICS IN HEALTH SERVICES MANAGEMENT:
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN PUBLIC HEALTH (3)
A course designed to facilitate
prospective public health graduates to acquire suitable
employment in the public health environment. This course is
not intended to be a job placement exercise; rather it
addresses many aspects of personal assessment, personal
development, and practical communication and analytical
skills that will be useful in many settings and roles.
Specifically, this course will contribute at a minimum to
the development of the following competencies: to identify
relevant and appropriate data and information sources, to
apply data collection processes and information technology
applications, to decide an appropriate course of action, to
communicate effectively both in writing and orally, to lead
and participate in groups to address specific issues, and to
develop a lifelong commitment to critical thinking.
CPH 758 SPECIAL TOPICS IN HEALTH SERVICES MANAGEMENT: PUBLIC
HEALTH POLICY AND POLITICS (3)
Examination of the politics of the
public health policy process, including the effects of
political structure and institutions; economic and social
factors; interest groups, classes, and social movements;
media and public opinion, and other factors. Students will
learn about (1) how public health policy is developed,
adopted, and implemented, and (2) the political,
institutional, economic, social, and other factors that
influence and shape the process. The emphasis is both on
understanding how public health policy is made as well as
how to influence the process.
CPH 758 SPECIAL TOPICS IN HEALTH SERVICES MANAGEMENT: SOCIAL
MARKETING (3)
This course is designed to analyze the
components and applications of social marketing for public
health. Students will identify appropriate uses of social
marketing in public health, discuss the use of social
marketing to make public health interventions culturally
sensitive and educational materials relevant for low-income,
minority and other special populations, identify the
appropriate methods for use in conducting social marketing
research, design a social marketing plan to ameliorate a
public health problem, apply the social marketing mind set
to develop, implement/manage, and evaluate social marketing
programs, discuss guidelines for selecting and working with
the creative/production team, discuss guidelines for working
with local media to implement a social marketing campaign,
and discuss ethical principles that guide social marketing
practice.
CPH 758 SPECIAL TOPICS: STRATEGIC PLANNING AND
EVIDENCE-BASED DECISION MAKING (3)
Topics include basic strategic planning
theory, the process of strategic plan development, specific
methods of analysis including environmental and
organizational analysis and appropriate analytical
techniques, decision theory and analysis. Several health
care trends such as restructuring, innovation in health care
delivery and financing and performance measurements will be
illustrated through case analysis in public health settings.
CPH 758 SPECIAL TOPICS IN HEALTH SERVICES MANAGEMENT:
LEADERSHIP IN PUBLIC HEALTH (3)
This course emphasizes the practical
application of the theories and principles of leadership.
In addition to focusing on one’s personal leadership
development, it also includes the integration of the
concepts of servant and shared leadership for promoting
change in public forums and decision-making arenas. Case
studies and interviews of public officials serve as a basis
for working with today’s organizations and communities for
the good of the public’s health.
CPH 758 SPECIAL TOPICS IN HEALTH SERVICES MANAGEMENT: RURAL
HEALTH CARE (3)
This course is designed for graduate
students to inform them of the rural health issues in
Kentucky and the nation that are relevant for health care
professionals, policy makers and researchers. Students will
be able to, identify and use select Kentucky health and
demographic indicators, describe major Kentucky and national
rural health policy issues, compare similarities and
differences between rural and urban health care
environments, analyze demographic and health services data,
and formulate appropriate policy recommendations, describe
the major challenges faced by rural residents in obtaining
health care and by rural health care providers in serving
rural areas, compose a concise, informative executive
summary of rural health care issues for a specific locale,
describe the relationship of rural health care systems to
rural economic development, and describe the potential roles
of different types of health care providers in rural health
care systems.
CPH 778 SPECIAL TOPICS IN HEALTH SERVICES MANAGEMENT: PUBLIC
HEALTH PREPAREDNESS PLANNING (3)
The Public Health Preparedness Planning
seminar will address issues of preparing for a variety of
public health events, and how common planning activities can
be used to prepare for a variety of unplanned events. The
course will include major incidents such as bioterrorism and
pandemics, but will emphasize the more common occurrences
that confront health providers and the communities they
serve. Specific tools such as contingency and multiple
scenario planning, priority setting, surge capacity,
interoperability, legal and ethical considerations, and
emergency plans will be addressed, and field trips and
tabletop exercises are anticipated.
CPH 778 SPECIAL TOPICS IN PUBLIC HEALTH: GEOGRAPHIC
INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN PUBLIC HEALTH (3)
This course will introduce students to
the ArcView Geographic Information System (GIS) to map and
spatially analyze public health data. While GIS has
numerous applications for many disciplines, this course will
specifically focus on its uses in public health. Beyond use
of GIS for cartography, this course will also examine issues
and methods of analyzing the processes creating health
patterns. The versatility of GIS in a public health setting
will be examined and will include exercises looking at GIS
applications involving health marketing, demography,
epidemiology, and health care systems.
HSM 603 LEGAL ASPECTS OF HEALTH ADMINISTRATION (3)
Familiarizes students with the
application of law to management issues in health care
organizations. Skills including terminology, legal
reasoning, the tools of law, and topics specific to the
health care setting are addressed.
HSM 635 PUBLIC HEALTH FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING (3)
Introduces the use of management
accounting techniques to decision making in health care
organizations. Lectures, problems and cases will be used to
provide an opportunity to focus on the various types of
health care providers.
HSM 636 HEALTH ECONOMICS (3)
Applies general theoretical principles
of economics to the health care sector. The basic approach
is to recognize the importance of scarcity and incentives,
allowing for differences peculiar to health. The demand and
supply of health and medical care are examined as they
involve physicians, nurses, and hospitals. The
competitiveness of their markets, health insurance, and the
role of government are explored.
HSM 637 HEALTH FINANCE (3)
Applies general principles of finance to
the financial management of health care institutions. The
major financial incentives, which dictate how health care is
delivered, are studied and proposals to change these
incentives are explored.
PM 748 RESIDENCY CREDIT FOR MASTERS DEGREE (0)
This is a zero-credit-hour course for
students who have completed all of the course requirements,
are in good standing with the program, and are working on
their project full-time. Enrolling in this course maintains
the student in a full-time status in order to utilize the
library and other University facilities, and can be utilized
one semester with the Director of Graduate Studies’
approval. See the Admissions/Student Affairs office to
register.
RESEARCH/INDEPENDENT STUDY AND SPECIAL TOPICS CREDIT HOURS
(1-3 each)
CPH 646-649-718-719-729-739-758-759-778-779
A sequence of courses designed to allow
students to earn course credit once all requirements and
electives have been fulfilled. The student may participate
in a variety of activities, from individual reading
tutorials, to faculty-assisted research, to research
associated with a student’s capstone topic. Students are
required to develop a prospectus for completion and
evaluation of the work for the number of credit hours
assigned. They may be repeated, in sequence, up to three
times. An example of the prospectus is located in Appendix
V of the Handbook.
OTHER PUBLIC HEALTH COURSES
CPH 661 BIOETHICS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PROFESSIONALS (3)
Introduces the graduate student to
contemporary issues in bioethics germane to the practice of
public health. The course begins with a general
introduction to the concepts and theories of ethics,
assuming no previous academic study in the field. Basic
rules and principles of bioethics are introduced as a basis
for subsequently considering issues of the
professional/client relationship; beginning and end of life
issues; organizational ethics; and managed care. The
concept of social justice is studied in the context of
allocation of health care resources.
CPH 695 PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE THROUGH SERVICE LEARNING (3)
Provides students the opportunity to
gain first hand public health experience by participating in
projects in a community setting, completing a project, and
participating in a series of seminars.
