View all department course descriptions.  
View current course offerings at the Office of the Registrar.

CHSC 611 PLANNING OF HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAMS (3)
Professor Chen.
This course is designed to provide skills in planning and developing health education interventions for behavior change at the individual, family or social network levels of practice. Emphasis is placed on applying program design principles to the development of educational interventions. It is structured in a lecture-discussion format. Given its skill development focus, the course includes weekly homework assignments and the development of a health education program plan.

CHSC 612 MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF HEALTH EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION PROGRAMS (3)
Faculty.
This course introduces students to the concepts and functions of evaluation and will teach them some basic skills in monitoring and evaluation as they apply to health education and communication programs specifically. This is an introductory course designed for students focusing on implementation of programs. Students are not expected to have any background in research methods or evaluation.

CHSC 613 RESEARCH METHODS IN SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES (3)
Professor Hong
This course serves as an introduction to the application of research in the social and behavioral health sciences.  Students will learn how science and theory are translated into interventions and programs.  Emphasis is placed on how to read and interpret evaluations and research published in peer-reviewed academic journals.  Experimental methods, surveys, and qualitative research designs will be addressed.  Other topics covered include assessments of reliability, validity, data management, measurement, and research ethics.  The computer laboratory will be used to teach students the management of data from various research methods in SPSS.

CHSC 614 DEVELOPING LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN COMMUNITY HEALTH (3)
This course introduces practical approaches to improving written and oral communication skills and to becoming a competent manager. Students write and edit others’ writing weekly, participate in a “management boot camp” and complete videotaped presentations which are reviewed in class. The basic tenet of the course is that leadership skills can be developed through practice and that honing one’s communication and management skills are essential first steps to becoming a leader in public health.

CHSC 615 TAIWAN STRATEGIES TO COMMUNITY HEALTH PRACTICES (2)
This course provides a field study opportunity in Taiwan for the aims of learning global public health practices, cross-cultural communication and interaction, and alternative community health strategies. A maximum of 15 students each from Tulane University and from Asia University in Taiwan will be paired to form cross-cultural teams to research and solve community health problems identified in the field study. In this course students will be housed at the Asia University campus. They will visit health organizations at national, provincial, city, county, and community levels. Lectures and discussions will be provided by faculty from both universities and practitioners in Taiwan. At the end of the course, student teams will submit written papers and will present project papers in class. Additionally, all students will submit an individual field study report.

CHSC 621 HEALTH COMMUNICATION THEORY AND PRACTICE (3)
Professor Schoellmann.
This course is designed to acquaint students with the role of communication in health and behavior change. It covers basic principles and practices in interpersonal, group, and mass communication and their application to public health. Students will have the opportunity to put into practice some of the theories and techniques learned in group exercises.

CHSC 622 COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION (3)
This course emphasizes community organization as a major educational approach to community dynamics, social change, and community participation in addressing health problems. The course explores methods for identifying and analyzing community health problems and their causes. Participants will examine the roles of individuals, community institutions, and public health practitioners in effecting solution to community health problems. The course stresses advancement both of theoretical knowledge in the areas of community organization and community change, and in the application of community organization skills.

CHSC 625 COMMUNITY HEALTH EDUCATION MODELS (3)
This course critically examines a number of strategies and approaches for community-level change. Strategies are examined in terms of their appropriateness for public health priorities, their grounding in existing theories and frameworks, and their strengths and weaknesses in the context of public health practice and the complexities of community life. Course content is delivered through group discussion, student presentations, lectures, and readings.

CHSC 626 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL MARKETING (3)
This introductory course provides an overview of the concepts and strategies used in social marketing and public information campaigns in the United States and in other countries.  The course outlines basic principles and methods followed by social marketers and provides a framework for carrying out social marketing.  contributions of commerical marketing will be discussed, and real world applications of the social marketing approach will be integrated into the course.

CHSC 627 MASS COMMUNICATION IN HEALTH EDUCATION (3)
This course is designed to examine theoretical and practical aspects of the linkage between the mass media and public health. This course focuses on non-media campaigns of this linkage. It begins with related theory and research, including diffusion of innovations, cultivation analysis, and time displacement. It concludes with the application of theory and related research to specific linkages between the mass media and various health topics, including smoking/alcohol, sex, diet, and physical activity.

CHSC 630 GENDER, RACE AND ETHNICITY IN HEALTH EDUCATION (2)
This course is designed to introduce students to the study of the gender, race, and ethnicity as key factors in the selection, design, implementation and evaluation of health education and promotion efforts. Concepts of gender and race, stereotyping and stratification, acculturation, language barriers, and literacy levels will be addressed, among others. Students will examine these concepts both theoretically and in review of examples from health education practice. Students will learn how to develop culturally sensitive and culturally appropriate health education materials, program, and campaigns.

CHSC 635 APPLICATIONS OF SCHOOL HEALTH PROGRAMS (3)
This course is designed to introduce students to the unique benefits and challenges of conducting health education/health promotion within school settings (elementary, middle and high schools). The eight components of coordinated school health will be addressed, particularly risk reduction and health promotion through assessment, policy development, environmental change, and health education.

CHSC 636 HUMAN SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (2)
Professor Johnson.
This course will focus on aspects of human sexuality, principally from a psychosocial and behavioral perspective, but will also include brief reviews of reproductive anatomy and disease processes as well as developmental abnormalities. The intent is to focus on understanding the strong influence of sexuality and to train health professionals to address sexual health or dysfunction in an explicit, open, and caring manner. Historical and cross-cultural comparisons will also be included.

CHSC 638 MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH EDUCATION (2)
This course will provide students with an overall framework for conducting health education among women and children. Course participants will identify factors influencing maternal and child health risk and health-related behaviors, and will examine public health debates and concerns. Emphasis will be on designing, developing and evaluating educational strategies and programs in different setting. Focus is primarily on low-income population and public service programs.

CHSC 641 INTRODUCTION TO ISSUES IN OBSTETRICS (3)
Professor Porche.
Designed to acquaint the student with the fundamental clinical issues of obstetrics to maximize the student's potential for learning in subsequent maternal and child health courses. Public health issues will be integrated throughout the course to familiarize the student with non-clinical issues that impact the delivery of obstetrical care to women.

CHSC 642 HEALTH CARE OF WOMEN (2)
Professor Magnus.
Designed to acquaint the student with the health care of women from puberty through the elder years. It will be taught through lectures supplemented with readings and will use a discussion format. It will address health care from the clinical and delivery system perspectives, and include aspects of female biological function in health and disease, treatment and prevention, and maternity and prenatal care. A significant portion of the course will be directed to economic, political, social, and cultural aspects of women's health care, and will consider health care needs and standards of care.

CHSC 646 CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC HEALTH (3)
Professor Boris.
This course combines an intensive survey of child development with the application of a fundamental public health approach to problems faced by children and families. In the first half of the course, students will be exposed to a cutting-edge review of child development. Select models for understanding developmental processes and key domains of development from the prenatal period through adolescence will be presented. In the second half of the course, students will apply this knowledge to the consideration of specific public health issues impacting children and their families.

CHSC 647 ISSUES IN ADOLESCENT HEALTH (2)
This course is designed to stimulate thinking and engage students in critical analyses of the complex issues confronted by adolescents in a variety of cultural and subcultural settings. The course is designed to provide resources and a structure that will permit course participants to mold the content of the course as they participate in it. While there will be some formal presentations, course participants will contribute the bulk of the material in the course through group presentations, a few formal writing opportunities and lots of forums in which to question, comment, and be involved in the evolution of the course over the semester.

CHSC 651 CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH (3)
Professor Clum.
This course is a core requirement for all MCH students but is also suitable for any student interested in an introduction to MCH related issues. Domestic (U.S.) perspective on the issues will be the major focus of the course, however, international perspectives will be encouraged for comparative purposes. The following areas will be covered: MCH in the global and U.S. perspectives, prenatal care, risk behavior in pregnancy, breastfeeding, and maternal and infant mortality, violence, abuse and neglect of women and children. This is an interactive course in which we will consider, develop, challenge, and evaluate ideas and views across the scientific, clinical, economic, political, and ethical/legal aspects of each issue. Critical thinking is essential. Each student's views and attitudes are an integral part of the course and each student is expected to engage actively in each class.

CHSC 653 POLICY AND ADVOCACY (3)
Students will be introduced to the nature of health policy and the process by which it is developed. Various approaches to health policy will be defined and their rationale considered. The politics of the development of health policy in democratic societies will be discussed from both national and international perspectives. The course will include modern case studies of important public health issues (e.g. AIDS, smoking prevention) to illustrate the development and application of policy to promote the public health.

CHSC 661 COMMUNITY NUTRITION (2-3)
Faculty.
This course introduces the student to community nutrition in community agencies and to the role of the nutritionist in the delivery of nutrition services.

CHSC 675 NUTRITION ASSESSMENT AND MONITORING (3)
Professor Rose.
Prerequisite: CHSC 669, which can be taken concurrently.
This course offers a thorough review of the tools used for the assessment of nutritional status of populations. Topics include anthropometric, biochemical, and socioeconomic indicators of nutritional status; methods for the collection, analysis, and interpretation of dietary data; measurement of household food security; and the use of data from nutrition monitoring and surveillance sources.

CHSC 677 FOOD AND NUTRITION POLICY (1-2)
Professor Rose.
This course surveys domestic policies and programs that affect nutrition at the population level. Subjects include: dietary policy, including the politics of the food guide pyramid; food labeling policy; food access policy, including the U.S. food assistance programs; food safety and food supply policies; the obesity epidemic, including the role of the food industry; environmental determinants of nutrition outcomes and efforts to improve them; actors and agencies involved in making policy; and nutrition advocacy.

CHSC 680 TRAINING METHODOLOGIES FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES (2)
Faculty. Class enrollment limited to 25 with preference given to HEDC majors.
An introductory course intended for health professionals who will be responsible for designing and carrying out short-term training courses for paramedical and village-level personnel in primary health care in developing countries. Such elements of training programs as trainee selection, needs assessment, selection of content, behavioral objectives, course design, training methodology, and processes of evaluation will be reviewed.   Emphasis will be given to the use of participatory training techniques, which are especially important when trainees have limited educational backgrounds.

CHSC 681 THEORIES OF BEHAVIORAL PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO PUBLIC HEALTH (2) 
Professor Johnson.
This is an applied course, which will offer a review of the learning theories of behavioral psychology as background for the course focus. The course focus will be analysis, critique, and development of media and public and clinical health programs based on empirically supported principles of learning, such as modeling, behavior modification, vicarious learning, and reinforcement.

CHSC 682 PROGRAM PLANNING, RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, AND GRANTMANSHIP (2)
Professor Farley.
The course is designed to assist the student in acquiring the ability to plan and develop an educational or health promotion project. The course will provide the student with the necessary tools which will enable him/her to identify sources of funding, utilizing the Internet and other methods, and to write a successful grant proposal. Emphasis will be placed on writing goals and objectives and on the preparation of an evaluation plan and budget.

CHSC 683 INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH (2)
Faculty.
This course serves as a basic introduction to how research is conducted in the health sciences. Students learn about the relationship of science and theory and how to define a research proposal. Experimental methods, surveys, and qualitative research designs are reviewed. Other topics covered include sampling, reliability and validity, and measurement. Students are also introduced to the ethical guidelines for research with human subjects.

CHSC 751 SEMINAR IN WOMEN'S AND CHILDREN'S HEALTH (2)
Professor Magnus. Class enrollment limited to 30.
Many issues in women's and children's health require discussion and consideration before appropriate public health action can be taken. To implement such action, groups of all sizes and backgrounds must frequently come to consensus. Yet the process for achieving positive and dynamic group consensus/action is not always well understood nor practiced. Nor is the full range of factors surrounding an issue necessarily appreciated. This seminar is designed to advance students' appreciation of and participation in consensus building through discussion, debate, and resolution around current topics in maternal and child health.

CHSC 760 NUTRITION SEMINAR (1)
Faculty.
Students meet once each week to view videotapes and slides, and to discuss current nutrition problems and issues. Major areas of concern are included as needs arise.