Methods in Clinical and Public Health Intervention Design

Catalog description

This course provides students with evidence-based guidelines for designing, adapting, implementing, and evaluating public health programs, clinical research studies, and public health policy. The course will expose students to best practices for developing programs and interventions, challenges faced in research and evaluation, and novel methodological approaches for engaging communities and populations. Classes will be divided into three sections, didactic instruction, case study critique, and interactive discussions with researchers. Didactic instruction will cover pertinent topics such as challenges faced when developing public health programs and interventions, conducting a needs assessment, research evaluation, working with under-served and vulnerable communities, and public health policy. During the case study critique the instructor or the students (individually or in dyads) will lead the class in a critical review and discussion of case studies related to the topics discussed in class. The research talk and discussion section of the course will consist of presentations and discussions led by academic researchers and individuals working in the private and public sector. Each speaker will describe a research program, project, or evaluation they led or are currently leading. The speaker will describe for the students the population or health topic of interest explored through the program or study, the analytical methods used, the duration of the study, and study challenges and successes. Students will be asked to consider the methods used by each speaker and determine if their approach would be applicable to and effective for their population of interest.