Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• SPH PM 834: Planning and Regulating to Fix Health Care
  Graduate Prerequisites: SPHPH719 or consent of instructor. - Failures of competitive markets in health care have sparked public planning and regulation. But these, in turn, have not been very successful in addressing problems of access, cost, appropriateness/quality, or caregiver configuration. Examining cases of persisting health problems such as childhood lead poisoning and quality of nursing home care, this course dissects what has worked and why. We consider ways in which planning can be a guide to effective action, not a pretext for inaction. We examine ways to quantify harm caused by a problem, analyze causes of the harm, develop policies and programs to address those causes, and analyze the efficacy, cost, political feasibility, and managerial feasibility of specific programs. Each student prepares a realistic plan, grounded in evidence, to ameliorate harm to people's health caused by a persisting threat.
• SPH PM 835: Lean Management in Healthcare
  Graduate Prerequisites: (SPHPH719 OR SPHPH720 OR SPHPH717) or consent of instructor. - This course is designed to prepare students to plan and successfully implement lean management driven processes in health care organizations. It teaches lean principles and provides the opportunity to complete a lean managed project. It therefore uses a blended format that includes a week long intensive program for training on lean concepts and tools, followed by a semester long field work on a quality improvement project using lean methodology with online and personal support.
• SPH PM 839: Implementation Science: Linking Research to Practice
  Implementation science is commonly defined as the study of methods and strategies to promote the uptake of interventions that have proven effective in routine practice, with the aim of improving population health. Often interventions tested in traditional research studies that are found to be effective do not translate into positive outcomes in practice or cannot be practically applied. Alternatively, other interventions that have potential to improve care will not the effectively implemented without practical tools to aid the implementation. Integrating research into practice is a major challenge, both during the period of a study and beyond. This course will address the complexities of integrating research and practice and of translating research into practice. Students will learn about the background and concepts of implementation research and implementation science and how they fit into health services research, key components of implementation research proposal and how they are reviewed, what evidence is in an evidence- based intervention and how evidence is identified and evaluated, frameworks to guide implementation studies, different implementation study designs, implementation outcomes, and about how to balance intervention fidelity with feasibility, as well as how interventions can be adapted for different populations and settings.
• SPH PM 840: Analysis of Current Health Policy Issues
  Graduate Prerequisites: (SPHPH719) AND (SPHPH717 OR SPHEP714) - The purpose of this course is to arm students with the skills to debate, define, and defend health policy proposals. We will explore, in depth, several current health policy problems. The course will take an analytic case approach, identifying policy options and tools, then gathering information and applying data to evaluate outcomes, costs; winners and losers. Methods for finding and accessing information on the Internet are emphasized. This is a capstone course meant to be taken in the student's last semester.
• SPH PM 842: Health Economics for Health and Social Policy Research
  Graduate Prerequisites: (SPHPH719) or PM814, one semester of calculus or consent of instructor - This course provides an understanding of principles of microeconomics and applied microeconomic analysis of public health policy issues sufficient to comprehend and conduct health services research. The over-arching philosophical issues facing the post health care reform world and the arguments defining the debate between pro-market and government regulatory approaches are addressed. The main focus is on domestic health economics; however, analytic methods developed in the course are applicable to foreign health care systems. Students may not take both PM833 and PM842 for degree credit.
• SPH PM 844: Health Policy and Policy-making for Public Health Researchers
  Graduate Prerequisites: For doctoral students in the health services research program. Others only with instructor approval. - This doctoral level course will offer students in the Health Services Research program an in-depth look at major health policy debates. Particular attention will be paid to the factors affecting policy making and the role of scholarship in this process. The role of public health in policy debates or the lack thereof will be an ongoing theme throughout the semester. The course begins with a foundation on the policy making process at the federal, state, and local levels. Using these tools, students will examine the history of health reform in America and abroad, including the development and implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the challenges and opportunities of payment and delivery reforms, the role of the Veteran's Health Administration, and mental and behavioral health. Students will apply theoretical concepts from the opening weeks to produce multiple types of deliverables about an issue of their choosing, including a blog post translating academic research for a broad policy audience, a literature review intended for researchers or potential funders, a manuscript in the style of a New England Journal of Medicine perspective intended for journalists and anyone participating in policy debates, and legislative testimony intended for policymakers.
• SPH PM 846: Advanced Quantitative Policy and Program Implementation and Evaluation
  Graduate Prerequisites: (SPHPM822 & SPHPM828) or by permission of the instructor. - * The aim of this course is to provide advanced level graduate students with applied skills in quantitative policy analysis and program implementation and evaluation. To do so, we will review and further explore several topics of causal inference and research design that are partially introduced in other quantitative methods courses. Moreover, this course exposes students in an in- depth way to research projects completed by leading scholars in the field. The specific methods covered in this course include logic models, implementation evaluation, randomized experiments, and natural experiments applied to a broad spectrum of public policy problems and solutions. The course will integrate multiple skill sets, including quantitative modelling, statistical programming, research design, and proposal writing.
• SPH PM 851: Organizing and Advocacy for Health Policy Change
  Graduate Prerequisites: SPH PH719 - There is abundant evidence in public health that one of the most effective ways to improve population health is by changing the policies and structures that set the contexts in which people make their decisions about health, and through which they access their health care. To change these policies and structures, public health professionals should be familiar with existing techniques and technologies for mobilizing and expressing popular support and pressure within existing policy frameworks that often seem unresponsive to community-based public health concerns. This course introduces students to two key areas of knowledge in public health practice: 1) the principles and methods of community organizing and 2) campaigning for policy and structural change. A series of short assignments culminates in a final product: the creation of a campaign plan for changing public policy regarding a specific public health problem. Students will also choose an actual policy campaign, volunteer with that campaign, and use the course materials to reflect critically on their campaign experience.
• SPH PM 864: Contemporary Structures of Health Services
  This course is designed to provide an introduction to the objects of inquiry in health services research: the structures of health services that are the sites of organized processes that produce health outcomes. These structures include financial arrangements, e.g., insurance, ambulatory services, hospitals, systems for providing community-based care, and the socially organized relationships between organized services and their clienteles. These structures are examined in light of their constant evolution in changing social, economic, and political contexts.
• SPH PM 866: Theory in the Analysis of Health Services
  This course is an introduction to theory to inform analyses of the structures, processes, and outcomes of health services. Theoretical approaches, drawn from the social sciences, are reviewed in elucidating the evolving structures of health services, the providers' practices within organizations, and the relationships between providers and consumers of health care.
• SPH PM 874: Causal Inference for Health Services and Policy Research
  Public health research often entails asking and trying to answer questions about the causes of health outcomes. Answers to such causal questions require us to combine data (e.g., from randomized trials or observational studies) with assumptions to infer causal effects. This course will teach students to think critically and rigorously about the implications of study design and analysis for addressing public health questions. Students will develop a rigorous understanding of the statistical foundations of causal inference approaches, including classical regression models and extensions. They will also be asked to draw upon their own research experiences and prior training to evaluate public health studies.
• SPH PM 931: Directed Studies in HPM
  Directed Studies provide the opportunity for students to explore a special topic of interest under the direction of a full-time SPH faculty member. Students may register for a 1, 2, 3, or 4-credit directed study by submitting a paper registration form and a signed directed study proposal form. Directed studies with a non-SPH faculty member or an adjunct faculty member must be approved by and assigned to the department chair. Students are placed in a section by the SPH Registrar's Office according to the faculty member with whom they are working. Students may take no more than eight credits of directed study, directed research, or practica courses during their MPH education.
• SPH PM 932: Directed Research in HPM
  Directed Research provide the opportunity for students to explore a special topic of interest under the direction of a full-time SPH faculty member. Students may register for 1, 2, 3, or 4 credits. To register, students must submit a paper registration form and signed directed research proposal form. Students are placed in a section by the SPH Registrar's Office according to the faculty member with whom they are working. Students may take no more than eight credits of directed study, directed research, or practica courses during their MPH education.
• SPH PM 980: Continuing Study in Health Services and Policy Research
  Graduate Prerequisites: M.S. and Ph.D. students in health services research approved for disse rtation or thesis work by program director - M.S. and Ph.D. students in Health Services Research who have completed all academic course requirements, must register for Continuing Study every Fall and Spring semester until they have successfully defended their thesis or dissertation and graduated from SPH. Students are charged the equivalent of two credits of tuition, student health insurance, and all relevant fees, and are certified as full time students.
• SPH SB 730: Stress as a Public Health Problem
  Research on the impact of excessive stress indicates that it plays a significant role in physical and psychological health, in rising incidence of substance use and violence in communities, in increased absenteeism and decreased productivity in the work place, and increased medical costs. This course examines the impact of psychological, biological, environmental and social stressors on health, illness, health-risking behavior and its economic and public health consequences. Education and intervention strategies and programs involving stress management, community awareness and participation are evaluated. Through readings, lecture and discussion, students examine the field and explore its application to public health.
• SPH SB 733: Mass Communication and Public Health
  Graduate Prerequisites: SPH PH720 or instructor permission. - This course explores the use of mass communication as a tool for health promotion, both domestically and internationally. The course examines the role of the mass media in shaping a social and cultural environment that affects the public health, and then reviews a range of mass media strategies available to the practitioner--public communication campaigns, social marketing, public relations, and media advocacy. Students discuss the strengths and limitations of each approach and gain experience in applying these strategies to specific public health problems. Students work in groups on a final project in which they develop and present a proposal for a plan for a public health communication campaign that uses mass media.
• SPH SB 745: Homelessness: Stories, Solutions, and Advocacy
  This course will: educate students about the root causes and consequences of rising homelessness in the United States; provide an in-depth understanding of homelessness at the individual, family, and community levels; and equip students with communication advocacy skills to meaningfully contribute to positive change regarding homelessness and other social issues. We will use the power of storytelling to understand the homelessness and to explain it in ways that capture the attention of the public and policymakers. Ethical storytelling practices and respect for individuals' dignity and experiences are emphasized throughout the course. While a major focus of the course is on the experience of the homeless encampment located Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Blvd (Mass and Cass) near BUSPH, we will also explore what is happening in other cities around the United States and globally. We will examine existing policies impacting the unhoused and introduce communication strategies to advocate for effective solutions. Students will engage in a hands-on service project in nearby homeless shelters to help deepen their understanding of the challenges faced. The course structure provides a balanced mix of lectures, workshops, guest speakers, class discussions, and a service project. The individual legislative videos and final student team presentations will allow students to apply their learning using real-world scenarios.
• SPH SB 753: Preventing Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence: A Public Health Perspective
  This course introduces the topics of intimate partner and sexual violence globally, using an intersectionality framework. We will focus on how public health professionals can contribute to prevention and health promotion. Students will receive guest lectures from practitioners in the field and also survivors of partner and/or sexual violence. Approaches to partner and/or sexual violence offender treatment, current laws and controversies related to partner and sexual violence prevention will be discussed. Students who complete the course will be prepared to work in the field of violence prevention as a research assistant, health department employee, college sexual assault prevention specialist, or community-based organization staff person. Teaching methods include lectures, small group discussion, case analyses, the use of multimedia, and interviews with providers. National and state experts in the field of sexual violence prevention present guest lectures. NOTE: Students with an interest in this course should consider their own capacity to focus intensively on the difficult subtopics that will be covered in detail. This course can be triggering for survivors of violence.
• SPH SB 760: Health of LGBTQ Populations
  Graduate Prerequisites: SPH PH720 or instructor permission. - Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) individuals live in every county of the United States and are recognized as underserved minority populations. In this 4-credit course students will examine the health of minority populations who are marginalized due to their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. You will identify and practice techniques for measuring LGBTQ populations as well as ways to better recognize the assets that are found within these communities. Today, data on these populations are increasingly collected in the context of public health surveillance and also some health care facilities have begun recording these data in medical records, yet access to these data is still mostly restricted. While recognizing the limitations of available data sources, you will make use of publicly available data to characterize quantitatively and qualitatively the diversity of LGBTQ populations. Course readings, class lectures, and exercises will be used throughout the course to analyze and discuss the micro and macro determinants of LGBTQ populations' health. You will build skills by utilizing secondary data, performing a content analysis, conducting a key informant interview, and by producing a final paper, which analyzes the literature on a LGBTQ health topic of their choice for the purpose of proposing next steps in research or program development for the LGBTQ community.
• SPH SB 780: Mental Health and Public Health : A Social and Behavioral Sciences Perspective
  Graduate Prerequisites: SPH PH720 or instructor permission. - This course provides an investigation into mental health and mental illness from a public health perspective. The courses examines the social determinants of mental health, and evaluates the ways in which key public health strategies (i.e., surveillance, screening, prevention, wellness promotion, community and policy advocacy) address mental health in various higher risk communities. Students develop an understanding of the challenges facing the current system of services and the role public health must play going forward. Student teams develop and apply skills by proposing strategies to develop programming that promotes mental health and wellbeing in an academic setting.