Courses of Instruction

Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Studies (HP)

The terms indicated are expected but are not guaranteed. For the courses offered during any given term, consult the Schedule of Classes.

200 Introduction to Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (4, Fa) Introduction to strategies for promoting health and wellness. Includes self monitoring of health risk behavior, goal setting, and behavior changes.

300 Theoretical Principles of Health Behavior (4, Sp) Overview and analysis of predictors and consequences of health-related behaviors; theoretical viewpoints and strategies for behavior change. Recommended preparation: HP 200. Prerequisite: PSYC 100.

320 Biological and Behavioral Basis of Disease (4, Fa) Examination of the major systems of the human body; disease processes and behavioral risk factors. Prerequisite: BISC 112L or BISC 113L.

340L Health Behavior Statistical Methods (4, Fa) Intermediate statistics for health behavior studies; topics include descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, correlation and regression, and use of computer software in data analysis. Prerequisite: MATH 116.

350L Health Behavior Research Methods (4, Sp) Introduction to the design, conduct and evaluation of health behavior research studies; quantitative and qualitative approaches to research and analysis. Recommended preparation: HP 340L.

400 Culture, Lifestyle, and Health (4, Sp) Comparison of national and international differences in health status as influenced by cultural practices and lifestyles within geographic, economic and political environments.

410 Issues in Prevention and Cessation of Drug Abuse (4, Fa) Examination of factors related to drug abuse behaviors; overview and assessment of drug abuse prevention and cessation programs; relapse prevention programs. Recommended preparation: HP 300.

411 Drug Intervention Program Design and Evaluation (4, Sp) Strategies for drug abuse prevention and intervention; introduction to techniques and research methods used in designing, conducting, and evaluating drug abuse prevention programs. Recommended preparation: HP 410.

412 Health Promotion and Prevention Policy (4, Sp) Overview of health promotion and drug prevention policy at local, state, and federal levels; methods for evaluating policy effectiveness and cost effectiveness.

420 Gender and Minority Health Issues (4, Fa) Examines the nature and roots of health disparities among women, men, and different ethnic groups; methods for reducing such disparities; strategies for prevention services.

421 Violence as a Public Health Issue (4, Fa) Patterns and prevalence of violence; psychosocial, environmental, and biological influences on violent behavior; youth gangs; drugs and violence; family violence; and prevention and intervention strategies.

422 AIDS in Society (4, Sp) Provides a broad examination of issues in HIV/AIDS, including behavioral, social, biological, clinical and ethical dimensions of the pandemic in the U.S. and elsewhere.

430 Nutrition and Exercise Epidemiology (4, Fa) Principles of nutritional assessment and dietary needs of special population groups; meal planning and exercise prescriptions during the lifecycle and for groups with chronic diseases. Prerequisite: EXSC 200L.

431 Behavior and Education Strategies for Nutrition and Fitness (4, Sp) Examination of dietary intake and exercise behaviors as they relate to health and illness; methods for measuring diet and exercise. Recommended preparation: HP 430.

441 Health Promotion in the Workplace (4, Fa) Covers phases of worksite health promotion; research, design, implementation and evaluation; concerns regarding escalating medical costs and the role of helath promotion in offering solutions.

442 Chronic Disease Epidemiology (4, Sp) Overview of causative factors and demographic distributions of the major chronic diseases in the western world; epidemiologic concepts and research designs. Recommended preparation: HP 320.

443 Health Communication Strategies and Evaluation (4, Fa) Examination of how communication affects health behavior; role of doctor-patient contacts, social groups, community health campaigns, images in media, and advanced communication technologies.

490x Directed Research (2-8, max 8, FaSp) Individual research and readings. Not available for graduate credit. HP majors only. Prerequisite: HP 340L, HP 350L.

Preventive Medicine (PM)

500 Foundations of Health Behavior (4, Fa) Overview of behavioral theory and research in disease prevention and health promotion and in adaptation of chronic disease, including an introduction to measures of outcomes. Prerequisite: admission to Ph.D. in Preventive Medicine or departmental approval.

510L Biometry Principles (4, FaSm) Nature, scope, and terminology of biostatistics; appropriate uses and common misuses of health statistics; practice in the application of selected statistical procedures. Laboratory.

511abL Data Analysis (4-4, a: Fa, b: Sp) a: Major parametric and nonparametric statistical tools used in biomedical research, computer packages including SAS. Includes laboratory. Lecture, 3 hours; laboratory, 1 hour. Prerequisite: PM 510L. b: Exploratory data analysis, detection of outliers, robust methods, fitting data with linear and nonlinear regression models, computer packages including BMDP. Includes laboratory. Lecture, 3 hours; laboratory, 1 hour. Prerequisite: PM 511aL.

512 Introduction to Epidemiologic and Demographic Methods (3, Fa) Sources and uses of population data, survey of demographic methods, introduction to epidemiologic methods, types of epidemiologic studies, risk assessment.

513 Experimental Designs (3, Sp) Fundamental methods for analysis of continuous data from experimental or observational studies. Analysis of variance for completely randomized, randomized block, factorial designs and analysis of covariance. Prerequisite: PM 510L.

515 Behavioral Epidemiology (3, 2 years, Sp) Basic understanding of behavioral risk factors in chronic disease and premature mortality; epidemiological research methods for studying behavioral risk factors. Recommended preparation: PM 512.

516ab Statistical Problem Solving (1-1, FaSpSm) Practical experience in application of statistical problem solving. Graded CR/NC. Prerequisite: PM 510L or equivalent, PM 511abL, PM 513.

517ab Research Methods in Cancer Epidemiology (3-3, a: Fa, b: Sp) a: Biologic, quantitative, philosophical, and administrative considerations in epidemiologic cancer research with emphasis on hypothesis generation and testing, study design, ascertainment of study subjects, and questionnaire development. b: Biologic, quantitative, philosophical, and administrative considerations in epidemiologic cancer research with emphasis on exposure assessment including diet, study conduct, and data analysis and interpretation. Prerequisite: PM 517a.

518ab Statistical Methods for Epidemiological Studies I, II (3-3) a: Principles and methods used in epidemiology for comparing disease frequencies between groups. Restricted to the analysis of binary outcome variables. Prerequisite: PM 512 and PM 522. b: Statistical methods for binary outcomes by introducing techniques for cross classified risks and rates and regression models for individual data. Prerequisite: PM 518a.

520L Advanced Statistical Computing (3, FaSm) Techniques for the solution of statistical problems through intensive computing; iterative techniques, randomization tests, the bootstrap, Monte Carlo methods.

521L Matrix Oriented Computing for Generalized Linear Models (3, Irregular) Advanced matrix computing languages are discussed in the context of continuous, binomial, and poisson based generalized linear models. Lecture, 2 hours; lab, 2 hours.

522ab Introduction to the Theory of Biostatistics (4, Fa; 4, Sp) a: Basic probability theory needed for advanced work in biostatistics. Density distribution and hazard functions; normal, Chi-square, student's t and F distributions; sampling distributions. Prerequisite: MATH 126 or departmental approval. b: Basic statistical theory needed for advanced work in biostatistics. Theory estimation and testing, determining structure in data, sampling methods. Prerequisite: PM 522a or departmental approval.

523 Design of Clinical Studies (3) Design, conduct, and interpretation of results of clinical trials; emphasis on principles affecting structure, size, duration of a trial, and the impact of ethical and practical considerations. Prerequisite: PM 511abL, PM 513.

524abc Practicum in Health Behavior (2-2-2, FaSpSm) Practical experience in a variety of field settings to gain a certain type of skill such as curriculum development, media production, and patient education. a: Practicum in prevention; b: practicum in compliance; c: practicum in health behavior topics. Recommended preparation: PM 500.

527 Statistical Methods for the Investigation of Disease Outbreaks (3, Fa) Statistical methods for the investigation of disease outbreaks and epidemics implementing procedures used by the National Centers for Disease Control and local health departments.

530 Biological Basis of Disease (4, 2 years, Sp) With a physiological overview, differentiates genetic and environmental disease; emphasis on the relationships between lifestyle, behavior, and health. Prerequisite: admission to Ph.D. in Preventive Medicine, Health Behavior Research or basic biology.

543L Nonparametric Statistics (3) (Enroll in MATH 543L)

544L Multivariate Analysis (3, 2 years, Sp) Exploratory and inferential techniques for multivariate data, Hotelling's T2, multivariate analysis of variance, classification analysis, principle components, cluster analysis. Involves computer use. Includes laboratory. Prerequisite: MATH 226, MATH 208x.

545L Introduction to Time Series (3) (Enroll in MATH 545L)

547L Computer Intensive Methods (3, Irregular) Principles and methods of computer simulations of relevant properties of statistical procedures with minimal model assumptions; emphasis on nonparametric estimation of general measures of error and significance tests. Prerequisite: PM 511bL; PM 520L, PM 522L.

550 Sample Surveys (3) (Enroll in MATH 550)

552 Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials (3, 2 years, Sp) Stochastic failure process; parametric models for survival data; sample size estimation procedures for clinical trials; multivariate regression models for binary outcome and censored survival data; computer programs; multiple failure modes and competing risks. Prerequisite: PM 518a, MATH 408.

590 Directed Research (1-12, FaSpSm) Research leading to the master's degree. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department. Graded CR/NC.

592abz Directed Field Research in Health Behavior (1-12, Sm) Research leading to the advanced degree. Graded CR/NC.

594abz Master's Thesis (2-2-0, FaSpSm) Credit on acceptance of thesis. Graded IP/CR/NC.

599 Special Topics (2-4, max 8, Irregular) Special topics relevant to the study of selected issues and areas of health behavior research or other aspects of preventive medicine.

601 Basic Theory and Strategies in Prevention (4, 2 years, Fa) Psychosocial basis of health-hazardous lifestyle behaviors and preventive strategies. Recommended preparation: PM 500, PM 515, and PM 530.

602 Basic Theory and Strategies for Compliance/Adaptation (4, 2 years, Fa) Behavioral and psychosocial demands of acute and chronic diseases. Comparison of theoretical models of compliance and adaptation with intervention methods to improve compliance and adaptation. Recommended preparation: PM 500, PM 515, and PM 530.

603 Factor Analysis (4, 2 years, Fa) Exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic approaches to health behavior research - conceptual, practical and mathematical. Prerequisite: at least two graduate level statistics courses.

604 Health Behavior Research Methods (4, Sm) Health research/evaluation philosophies, approaches, and development of skills for development and critique of health behavior research projects/studies. Recommended preparation: PM 511.

610 Seminar in Biometry (1, max 4, FaSp) Special topics of current interest to provide background for research in biometry. Based largely on student dissertation research. Graded CR/NC. Prerequisite: Ph.D. level or departmental approval.

611ab Advanced Topics in Epidemiology (3-3, Irregular) a: Review of current epidemiologic research contained in recent medical literature; emphasis on critique of studies and interpretation of findings. b: Selected topics from current research areas in epidemiologic theory and quantitative methods, including design, conduct, analysis and modeling issues. Prerequisite: PM 611a.

612 Developments in Health Behavior Research Designs and Measurement (4) Review of theoretical and methodological issues particular to specific areas of health behavior, including stress coping and prevention, smoking cessation, alcohol prevention. Topics vary. Prerequisite: PM 604.

615 Community Health Promotion (4) Seminar course designed to acquaint students with current theories of health behavior change and health promotion at the community level. Prerequisite: PM 500 and PM 601.

690abcdz Directed Research in Health Behavior (2-2-2-2-0, FaSpSm) Independent research at an advanced level on a problem in the field of Health Behavior. Graded CR/NC. Recommended preparation: PM 604.

756 Research Seminar in Health Behavior (1, max 6, FaSp) Short seminar presentations and discussions on issues accompanying the development of the field of health behavior and implementation of research in this field. Graded CR/NC.

790 Research (1-12, FaSpSm) Research applicable to the doctorate. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department. Graded CR/NC.

791 Advanced Studies in Health Behavior (4) Review and critique of a specific health behavior problem expected to lead to pilot research for the dissertation.

794abcdz Doctoral Dissertation (2-2-2-2-0, FaSpSm) Credit on acceptance of dissertation. Graded IP/CR/NC.

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