Transcript title

Intro to Public Health

Credits

4

Grading mode

Standard letter grades

Total contact hours

40

Lecture hours

40

Recommended preparation

WR 065 or WR 121Z or minimum placement Wr/Comm Level 9.

Course Description

Provides an introduction to the core elements of public health science and practice, including health policy, health systems and health ethics. Open to all COCC students who want to know more about the dynamic, multi-disciplinary field of public health, what it is, how it is organized and how it works.

Course learning outcomes

1. Describe the historical development of public health in the United States and its expanding scope as population health.
2. Explain how the social determinants of health, including social, economic, behavioral, environmental and systems impact the health status of populations by creating conditions that either cause illness or promote health.
3. Apply public health measurements, principles, frameworks, and methods to define the burden of disease, examine complex public health problems, and to develop comprehensive solutions to improve health outcomes.
4. Identify and discuss the role of public health in addressing racial, gender, age and other health disparities as well as the needs of vulnerable populations.
5. Demonstrate how public health professionals and communities plan, implement and evaluate evidence-based and/or theory-driven programs.
6. Describe the role of public health institutions and professionals and how they interface with the health care system, other providers, and the private sector.
7. Explain the legal and ethical responsibilities of public health and public policy in governing equitable access to health care, public health and research.
8. Explain the relationship between human behavior and health.

Content outline

1. Public health history, organization, and scope
2. Public health methods and models; epidemiology, measurement of burden, evidence, theories of change, program planning cycle, community mobilization, environmental risk assessment, etc.
3. Social conditions, environmental determinants, organizational factors, and behavioral influences on health
4. The science and the practice of public health, including evidence-based operational models for preventing, mitigating and reducing infectious and non-communicable diseases and associated risk factors and influences
5. Intersection of public health and the health care system
6. Root causes of complex public health problems, including racial, gender, age disparities in health status
7. Ethical principles guiding public health research and action
8. Emerging national and global health challenges

Required materials

Textbook

General education/Related instruction lists

• Social Science
• Health