About This Course

Social and Behavioral Aspect of Public Health (Summer 2016) is designed as a foundation course in the application of social and behavioral science perspectives to public health. The course is built on the assumption that public health is a multi-disciplinary field, aimed at reducing preventable morbidity and premature mortality, and promoting a higher quality of life in populations and groups through health interventions. Although biological, physical, and medical care factors contribute to population health outcomes, this course emphasizes the relationship of behaviors as well as social and political structures to health outcomes. It is specifically designed to familiarize students with the application of social and behavioral science perspectives in public health. The course highlights global contexts and practice for understanding and improving health. It is deliberately broad, encompassing a survey of basic concepts, analytic frameworks, and intervention strategies that can be applied to current public health issues. Basic principles from psychology, sociology, anthropology and other social science disciplines are analyzed in relation to causes, consequences and control measures of public health problems.