When a public health program responds to people’s need, individuals and the community as well can understand the intervention and cooperate. The health promotion intervention can then reach its best effect. For this regard, being able to understand health behaviors, analyze the factors behind, and develop effective intervention programs accordingly is one of the most important skills in public health profession. This module aims to offer students theoretical perspectives and analytic tools in social and behavioral sciences, and the knowledge and skills needed in conducting community health promotion projects.
The module includes six courses (12 credits) in total.
1. Health Psychology (2 credits): The discipline of health psychology could be defined as an interdisciplinary field concerned with the application of psychological knowledge and techniques to health, illness and health care. Its primary purpose is to understand and improve the well-being of individuals and communities. A better understanding of psychosocial factors and behaviours associated with health outcomes would inform strategies or policies aimed to promote health, prevent illness, and enhance the quality of health care by facilitating changes in beliefs and behaviours about health.
2. Behavioral Sciences and Health Education (2 credits): This course explores the relationships between behaviors and health. Students learn not only basic theories, but also the skills to develop a health education program and to evaluate the outcome.
3. Gender and Health (2 credits): We will learn about how women’s health has been influenced by various social, cultural, political‐economic forces, and emphasize the gendered power relationships within the medical system. This course includes seven themes: 1.Feminist Perspectives on Women’s Health: Theoretical Concepts and Concerns 2.Gender Relationships in Medicine (Gender Analysis on Medical Knowledge; Gender and the Physician‐Patient Relationships) 3.Medicalization of Women’s Bodies (Menopause and Cultural Values; Medical Interventions in Childbirth) 4.Gender and Diseases (Mental Health and Gender Politics; Women with HIV/AIDS) 5.Women’s Health and Differences (Health of Lesbians) 6. Aging and Gender 7.Oppression and Resistance.
4. Adolescent Health and Health Behavior (2 credits): This course will take a developmental and social-contextual perspective on adolescent health and health behavior, focusing on key concepts, current issues, and intervention approaches. Special focus will be on topics related to adolescent sleep problems, obesity, violent behavior, substance use, and mental health problems.
5. Society, Culture, and Health Communication (2 credits): The production and interpretation of scientific and health information are essential for the proper functioning of today's civil society. Thus, responsible citizens should possess foundational skills to dissect and make sense of scientific and medical messages. This course adopts a socio-cultural perspective, integrating scholarship from Communication Studies, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and Public Health to provide an overview of theories and methods related to health and medical practices in today's world.
6. Methods and Practices for Community Health Promotion (2 credits):This course aims to introduce different skills/methods and practices of community-based health promotion. It covers different themes of community health promotion including how to conduct community health needs assessment and data collection, to perform community capacity mapping, to advocate community-based social issues, to map community social networks, to organize community committees, to gain partnership with local organizations. By learning those skills and practices, students are expected to learn how to conduct community-based health promotion project to benefit people in communities.
Through these courses, students are equipped with the knowledge and skills to address the social, cultural, and psychological factors surrounding health behaviors. In terms of future career, students are suitable for conducting the design, implement, and evaluation of health promotion intervention in either government agency or NGOs. Students will also be qualified to devote to health-related community work.
