Courses
Students will pursue four courses within their respective pathway to complete the Health Science Concentration
Aging and Applied Thanatology
Psychosocial Perspectives in Aging (THAN 609) 3 credits ▾
This course explores the psychological and social aspects of adult development within the context of the ongoing process of aging. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to describe the major psychological and sociological theories of aging and adult development; understand the physical, psychological, social, and health changes that occur during aging; evaluate the biological, psychological, intellectual, and social dimensions along which developmental changes occur in adult aging and their implications for the aging individual, family, and society; understand the importance of an individual’s cultural context while progressing through the life course; and identify current research trends and theories regarding several aspects of the aging process (e.g. death and dying, mental health, positive affect, personality, chronic disease, and social roles).
Death and Dying: Ethical and Legal Considerations (THAN 604) 3 credits ▾
This course provides participants with the information and skills needed to address ethical and legal concerns related to palliative and end-of-life care. Participants will learn the theoretical foundations of health care ethics, including the Hippocratic Oath, ethical principles, virtue ethics, deontology, utilitarianism, and care-based ethics. The relationship between law and ethics will be clarified. The focus of society and medicine in delaying death and addressing human suffering will be discussed. Emphasis will be placed on developing a knowledge base of key concepts and strategies that can be used to prevent and resolve problems that are specific to palliative and end-of-life care, including advance directives, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, suffering, withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatments, organ donation, and assisted suicide.
Palliative Care (THAN 605) 3 credits ▾
In this course on end-of-life care, participants will learn practical skills to assist people who are facing incurable illnesses, such as cancer, severe cardiovascular disease, and progressive neurodegenerative diseases. Palliative care focuses on symptom control and amelioration of suffering, which are often underemphasized in conventional healthcare training. Topics will include pain and symptom management strategies, both conventional and complementary, determination of terminal prognosis, hospice care, palliative care emergencies, and discussion of advance directives. Participants will enjoy creative and thoughtful reflection activities that allow them to deeply engage in the topics covered in this course.
Caring for the Bereaved (THAN 606) 3 credits ▾
Participants will learn the prominent theories of grieving and the grief reaction, as well as the empirically-based therapeutic interventions available to support and care for the bereaved. Participants will learn to distinguish between anticipatory grief, normal grief, and complicated grief and to identify factors that affect the grieving process. This course also explores reflective practice and self-care for the end-of-life care professional while learning to support those who are dying and those who are grieving.
Integrative Health and Wellness
Introduction to Integrative Health and Biological and Body-based Interventions (MHS 612) 3 credits ▾
Students will examine the fundamental concepts of integrative health and wellness (IHW), including the history, philosophies, and methods of prominent integrative therapies. Perceived differences between and limitations of traditional “allopathic” medicine and IHW “nontraditional” medicine will be identified. Patients’ motivations and patterns of use of IHW approaches will be explored. Components of the five major areas within IHW as identified by the National Institutes of Health will be introduced. These include alternative medical systems, body-based systems (massage, chiropractic, rolfing), mind-body medicine, biological approaches (herbal medicine, nutritional approaches, pharmacological therapies, Ayurveda), and bioelectromagnetics (energy healing). The state of basic scientific knowledge and data from controlled trials relating to the safety, efficacy, and mechanisms of action of integrative therapies are presented. In the second half of the course, an overview of the scientific evidence for the integrative biological and body-based approaches will be provided. Theories for how these approaches function to affect health are examined, such as psychoneuroimmunology, the role of inflammation, and the gut microbiome. Key practice, legal, and ethical issues facing CAM researchers and practitioners are reviewed.
Advanced Skills in Integrative Mind-Body Interventions (MHS 636) 3 credits ▾
Students will learn about the connections between the mind, body, spirit, and energy in relation to health and disease. In this course, students will learn about the connections between the mind, body, spirit, and energy in relation to health and disease. An overview of the scientific evidence for integrative interventions for health promotion and treatment is provided. Students will learn advanced skills in approaches that promote or rely on the connection between the mind and body. These include meditation, mindfulness, guided imagery, autogenics, hypnosis, spirituality, movement-based, journaling, acupuncture and energy therapies, and art therapies. Students will participate in experiential learning by practicing integrative approaches and interacting with an integrative health provider to increase their self-awareness of the interconnections between emotional, physical, mental, social, and spiritual aspects of health.
Integrative Health and Wellness Coaching (MHS 628) 3 credits ▾
Students will learn the fundamentals of health coaching, which is guiding and enabling patients/clients to make and sustain choices to achieve and maintain health. Students will review frameworks and techniques of health coaching from a holistic perspective including assessment, identification of goals and barriers, development of action plans, implementation strategies, and monitoring progress. Students will be introduced to health behavior change theories and models, as well as interventions from integrative health and wellness. Also explored are personal, social, lifestyle, and medical resources to encourage comprehensive wellness. Students will work to develop strategies appropriate to their patient/client population through research, class discussions, mentored coaching activities, and independent assignments. Students will also complete a behavioral change project with a partner, allowing them to experience the roles of both a health and wellness coach and a client.
Clinical Application of Integrative Health and Wellness (MHS 619) 3 credits ▾
This course will provide students an interprofessional overview of the clinical application of integrative health and wellness approaches. Students will learn the skills necessary for developing an effective therapeutic practitioner-patient relationship and strategies for communicating and educating patients about integrative health and wellness approaches, potential benefits, and possible risks. The factors affecting the utilization, interpretation, and patient understanding of these therapies will be examined. Clinical decision-making and the influence of research on recommendations and evaluation will be examined. Students will learn how the integrative assessment differs from the conventional assessment process and how to develop an integrative treatment plan. Numerous case studies demonstrating the application of integrative approaches for the treatment and prevention of common and chronic diseases will be analyzed. Finally, the challenges in developing research to adequately examine the integrative approach as it is applied in clinical practice will be discussed. *Prerequisite MHS 612
Science Communication
Technical Writing (MHS 603) 3 credits ▾
This course will provide a rigorous analysis of scientific writing on the sentence and paragraph level. Students will master the elements of concision and coherence as they learn and employ various strategies for packaging information.
Writing for Scholarly Journals (MHS 607) 3 credits ▾
This course will provide students with a comprehensive overview of the process of writing for scholarly journals. Students will read and analyze articles from a variety of journals, focusing on both form and content of research articles, case studies, meta-analyses, theoretical articles, and book reviews.
Writing for the Public (MHS 637) 3 credits ▾
This course will prepare students to communicate to lay audiences. Students will analyze the writing in various documents such press releases, magazines articles, websites, and popular science books.
Writing Proposals and Grants (MHS 627) 3 credits ▾
This course will explore the elements of successful grants and proposals. Students will be required to produce a grant or proposal relating to their capstone project.
Global Health Systems and Services
Perspectives in Global Health (MHS 605) 3 credits ▾
Global health as a field of study has emerged as a priority in the last 30 years. The global health field highlights the international dimension of global processes and current health issues, emphasizing a holistic understanding of each socio-cultural and environmental context. In addition, global health captures the need to work in collaboration, emphasizing a multisectoral and transdisciplinary approach to manage the transcultural and sometimes trans-bordering dimensions of worldwide health inequities. This introductory Global Health course provides students with a broad understanding of health and the social, political, cultural, behavioral, and economic forces that influence health access and health outcomes.
National & International Approaches to Healthcare Delivery (MHS 610) 3 credits ▾
This course applies the concepts, theories, and principles of the field of global health presented in the first course to the practical challenges facing global health professionals. Each student will select a specific global health priority for a given national or geo politically defined population to examine over the Durant of the course. The students selected case will be her primary focus for applying needs assessment methodologies, including epidemiological methods, mapping local, national and global policy processes, identifying strategies for building infrastructure and workforce capacity, analyzing financial opportunities and limitations and assessing the impact of macro changes in global economy, political environment and human rights and legal systems. Each student will complete a final summary project report that will summarize findings regarding scope, option, outcomes and a recommended action plan for improving the health status of the population group they have studied.
Critical Issues in Global Women's and Children's Health (CIPP 960)
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A comprehensive multidisciplinary examination of the complex issues related to women and children’s health across the globe, based on the World Health Organization’s 2007 Framework for Action for strengthening health systems and the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals and Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Topics include biological and medical issues, reproductive health, violence against women and children and its impact on health, infectious and chronic disease, and the relationship of environmental and social issues to health. Analysis also covers current national, regional, and global trends; program and policy responses to these trends; and prospects for the future.
Health Responses to Mass Violence and Disaster (MHS 639) 3 credits ▾
This course increases knowledge of how to apply different theories and intervention strategies to the health assessment and response to mass violence and disaster. Crisis theory used to guide crisis use a system approach to health services management including strategic planning budgeting and resources allocation.