Social Ecology of Public Health

Catalog description

Theories of behavior inform understanding, design and assessment of programs and policies seeking to influence individual choices, behaviors, and population health outcomes. Individual-level determinants of behavior depend upon determinants at multiple levels of the social ecological model, namely, interpersonal and social influence, organizational and community settings, and structural, cultural and political forces. This course examines contributions and intersections of these environmental determinants with behavioral and health outcomes. The course emphasizes application of social ecological theoretical concepts through critique of research, as well as through the program planning process, including formative research, program and policy design and development and impact assessment.