Maternal Child Health: The Life Course Perspective

Catalog description

In this course students are taught to use a life course perspective to approach important issues of public health. As Neil Halfon put it, “the life course perspective seeks to address the causes of poor health trajectories [which] require addressing the nested social ecology of health development.” Over the semester, basic principles of human development, from preconception to end of life, are explored and examined through the conceptual framework provided by life course theory. Particularly, students will learn about the mechanisms, timing and dynamics of health as a developmental process, which can inform development of early interventions. The course will introduce the rapidly expanding evidence base for life course theory and practice and application.