Introduction to Public Health

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

• Define the following terms: health, risk, public health, health education, health promotion, social ecology, epidemiology, health disparities and determinants of health.

• Explain the core functions and essential services of public health.

• Explain the concept of “risk” and its importance to public health.

• Explain reasons for the reduction in infectious disease and rise of chronic disease over the last 100 years.

• Analyze important health problems in terms of its distribution across the population, determinants within the population and strategies and settings for intervention.

• Analyze current public health problems in terms of social, behavioral and environmental factors

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Class Reflection and Engagement	10%
Windshield Assessment	10%
Community Engagement Hours	5%
Final Presentation	15%
Exams	60%

Classroom Reflection and Engagement and Attendance (10%): In this in-person class, much of the learning will be done via class activities, discussion, and interaction. As such, attendance is required at every class and counts toward 10% of your grade. Mental health is important---as such everyone will receive an automatic 3 mental health days toward attendance. You may take these days off and don’t need to provide any other reasoning. For any absences outside of these mental health days, please email me as soon as you know of the conflict to see if we can make alternative arrangements for you to make up attendance.

To count attendance and help us engage with the material, there will be short written assignments (5-10 minutes) completed during and handed in during class time. Example questions may include: “What section of this week’s reading was most confusing and/or needs more explanation?” These short-written assignments will be collected and count toward your attendance grade. Your response does not need to be grammatically correct but you do need to turn it in to be continued as present. Class Presentations (15%): You will be asked to give a class presentation discussing either 1) a public health event/issue currently being reported on in the news or 2) a public health topic of your choice. This assignment will be graded for accuracy (e.g., did you correctly fulfill all parts of the presentation guidelines) and completion (e.g. do you complete all parts of the assignment). You will be able to choose between giving a live presentation in class or completing a pre-recorded presentation that you share in class. After the presentation, there will be a brief Q+A with the students in your class.

Windshield Assessment (10%): To help us learn about social determinants of health, we will complete a windshield assessment of the environment. We will practice how to do this in class and then write a paper/reflection about the assessment.

Community Engagement Hours (5%): As part of this class, you will be asked to complete 10 hours of community engagement related to public health. These hours could include volunteering at public health-related events (e.g., volunteering at a health fair), community engagement with a public health focus (e.g., a volunteer position addressing public health, including social determinants of health, at a non-health related event) or shadowing (i.e., following a public health educator, doctor, nurse, physician’s assistant, dentist, or other health-related professional throughout a typical day at work to understand what goes into their work). You will be asked to write a short description of what you did, how it relates to public health, and what you learned, along with some evidence of your hours (e.g., signed form from an organizer or preceptor, photo of you volunteering, etc.).

Exams (or other Assessments) (60%): Exams may include a combination of multiple choice, short response, and long response questions. You will have 90 minutes to complete these exams. Exams will be closed-book and completed using the Lockdown browser. You will be allowed one page of study notes (front and back) that you will turn in after the exam.

Grading Scale:

Percentage	Letter Grade
94.0 – 100.0%	A
90.0 - 93.9%	A-
87.0 - 89.9%	B+
84.0 - 86.9%	B
80.0 - 83.9%	B-
77.0 - 79.9%	C+
74.0 - 76.9%	C
70.0 - 73.9%	C-
67.0 - 69.9%	D+
64.0 - 66.9%	D
60.0 - 63.9%	D-
<60.0%	F

Attendance/Participation:

This is an in-person course. Your active participation is vital for your success, achievement, and learning. Your thoughts, ideas, comments, and concerns add to the richness of each activity, exercise, and assignment. Your fellow colleagues and I value and learn from your input and contributions. With this in mind, please be engaged, attentive, invested, and motivated when attending class and completing course assignments. You are expected to attend all classes in their entirety unless you have made alternative arrangements with me ahead of time. Attendance is graded as described in the class reflection and engagement assignments section.

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

Schneider, M. Introduction to Public Health, 7th Edition. Jones and Bartlett Publishers.