Course Descriptions
Completion of the MSHS program will require a minimum of 18 core credits, plus 12 credits earned through completion of a certificate program in one of seven areas of concentration.
Core Curriculum (18 credits)
Students are required to complete 18 credits of foundational coursework.
Introduction to Library Resources and Scholarly Writing (MHS 600) 1 credit ▾
Offered: 1st 8-week session fall semester (Fall A) and during the 8-week summer session
This course is designed to provide graduate learners the opportunity to develop skills in both accessing relevant online library resources and engage in scholarly writing. The portion of the course focusing on library resources teach and strengthen lifelong research and information competency skills by introducing student to the nature of research and the role of library in the research process. Students learn the core concepts of information retrieval and essential techniques for finding, evaluating, analyzing, organizing, and presenting information. The topics covered include: using online catalogs to locate books and other library resources; developing research strategies; exercising critical thinking to evaluate information; applying critical and search techniques to electronic databases; understanding citation formats and using the internet as a research tool. The scholarly writing of the course will place emphasis on organization, effective conveyance of thoughts through written words, and writing for multiple types of audiences. Students will have the opportunity to improve both their academic writing and their research skills as they write a literature review or a proposal. Emphasis is placed on conventions of scholarly writing and organizational strategies as well as grammar, editing, and usage.
Legal and Ethical Issues for Health, Human Services, and Clinical Professionals (MHS 602) 2 credits ▾
Offered: 1st 8-week session fall semester (Fall A) and during the 8-week summer session
This 8 week, 2 credit online course will explore ethical and legal issues that are timely and germane to health professionals. This course is based on the premise that to act in an ethical manner means to engage in conduct according to accepted principles, and to improve moral confidence and moral action we must prepare the next generation of health professionals with the ethical resources, tools and skills. A case based learning design will be utilized to engage students in ethical discussion, exploration, analysis with the goal of determining ethical and legal action that is sound and logical. This course will prepare students to make ethical health care decisions in the future.
Communications and Leadership (MHS 652) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session spring semester (Spring B) and during the 8-week summer session
Students learn effective management and communication skills through case study-analysis, reading, class discussion and role-playing. The course covers topics such as effective listening, setting expectations, delegation, coaching, performance, evaluations, conflict management, negotiation with senior management and managing with integrity.
Biostatistics for the Health Professional (MHS 615) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 15-week session fall semester (Fall)
We live in a time exploding with data. Everything from individual wearable technology to community and national profiles, yet few students are prepared with the quantitative skills to analyze and evaluate that data and draw conclusions. This course will present basic statistical methods to a broad range of medical or public health problems. The course will emphasize the use of these methods and the interpretation of results using bio-medical and health sciences applications, healing clinicians move beyond the data to decisions.
Research Seminar (MHS 608) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session fall semester (Fall B)
This is a 3-credit seminar course designed to give students the basic information regarding health sciences research discoveries. It also provides students with the tools to approach translational research in their present and future work. The course covers the core competencies in clinical and translational research, and each session addresses a core thematic area. Students log-in once a week during the semester. Faculty members give a lecture, followed by a student-led presentation. The presentation is followed by a discussion in which all students are evaluated based on participation. Students are given a short essay assignment based on each lecture. The student presentations and short essays count toward the final grade. A research paper also is assigned. This coursework is entirely online.
Research Seminar II (MHS 609) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 1st 8-week session spring semester (Spring A)
This course is a continuation of the prior research seminar course. Students will be divided in small groups to work collaboratively, researching under the mentorship of a faculty member to discuss current clinical issues. Students will complete a literature search and propose a practice-based improvement plan. Final approval by a faculty mentor is required. This coursework is entirely online.
Capstone Project (MHS 700) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session spring semester (Spring B)
The capstone is designed to demonstrate the substantive application of the knowledge and skills that have been acquired in the courses taken as part of the M.S. in Health Science Program. The capstone functions as both the practice experience and the culminating experience for the program. The M.S. in Health Science capstone experience includes the following components: development of a capstone proposal; delivery of an oral presentation; and preparation of a capstone portfolio.
Research Ethics Concentration (12 credits)
The goal of this 12-credit, six course certificate program is to provide individuals with an understanding of the ethical and regulatory aspects of human subjects research and to provide them with the skills needed to analyze ethical issues that arise in the conduct of research in domestic and international arenas.
Institutional Review Boards (ETHC 639) 2 credits ▾
Offered: 8-week summer session
This course will cover the legal and regulatory aspects of ethical review systems and cover topics critical to performing clinical research, including structures and operations of institutional review boards, understanding investigational new drug (IND) applications, and conflict of interests. By the end of the course, students will be able to explain the issues involved with regulating institutional review boards and human subject protection programs.
Ethics of Globalization (ETHC 640) 1 credit ▾
Offered: 8-week summer session
This course will introduce students to the identification and assessment of moral dilemmas in the context of changes and development in anincreasingly globalized world with attention to both its theoretical and practical dimensions, including global health. By the end of the course, students will be able to explain the forces associated with globalization; evaluate the impact of globalization on social justice issues; evaluate the moral theories underlying a just globalization; and explain the moral dilemmas posed by an increasingly globalized world.
Introduction to Ethical Theory (ETHC 629) 2 credits ▾
Offered: 1st 8-week session fall semester (Fall A)
The course will introduce students to the prominent theories in ethics and political philosophy that inform our ethical arguments and the articulation of our values. By the end of the course, students will be able to articulate ethical problems, understand how they differ from problems that can be addressed by empirical investigations or scientific discoveries; explain the difference between various schools of thoughts in ethics, and analyze ethical claims in terms of their theoretical assumptions and commitments.
Introduction to Research Ethics (ETHC 637) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session fall semester (Fall B)
This course will acquaint students with basic concepts in research ethics, will examine the ethical and philosophical issues raised by involving human subjects in research, review concepts of risks and benefits, vulnerability, privacy and confidentiality, undue inducement, exploitation, equipoise, and therapeutic misconception. By the end of the course, students will be able to analyze research protocols and assess the ethical appropriateness of such protocols.
Issues in International Research Ethics (ETHC 638) 3 credits ▾
Offered 1st 8-week session spring semester (Spring A)
This course will examine the ethical and philosophical issues raised by research involving human subjects that is conducted in international settings and examine issues involved with the standard of care, informed consent, exploitation, post-trial benefits, and a developmental and organizational model of ethics review systems. By the end of the course, students will be able to construct and support valid arguments in the analysis of exploitative research; analyze ethical questions regarding international collaborations in research, describe methods to achieve a culturally valid informed consent; describe the issues involved with tissue sample research performed between international partners, and assess an ethical review an international protocol.
Responsible Conduct of Research in International Affairs (ETHC 665) 1 credit ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session spring semester (Spring B)
This course will examine the ethical responsibilities of conducting research with special emphasis on collaborative international research that involve scientific integrity, determination of authorship, peer review, conflicts of interest, ownership of data and intellectual property across borders with differing laws. By the end of the course, students will be able to describe examples of research misconduct and methods of dealing with misconduct; discuss the relationship between authorship and accountability; discuss the ethical and legal foundations of intellectual property; and describe how conflicts of interest can corrupt scientific objectivity.
Aging and Applied Thanatology Concentration (12 credits)
The training you receive in our online Thanatology certificate program will help make you more comfortable in addressing dying, death, and grief, as well as enhance your ability to provide the highest level of care in any personal or professional setting.
Palliative Care (THAN 605) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 1st 8-week session fall semester (Fall A)
In this course on end-of-life care, participants will learn practical skills to assist people who are facing incurable illnesses, such as cancer, severe cardiovascular disease, and progressive neurodegenerative diseases. Palliative care focuses on symptom control and amelioration of suffering, which are often underemphasized in conventional healthcare training. Topics will include pain and symptom management strategies, both conventional and complementary, determination of terminal prognosis, hospice care, palliative care emergencies, and discussion of advance directives.
Caring for the Bereaved (THAN 606) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session fall semester (Fall B)
In this course, participants will learn the prominent theories of grieving and the grief reaction, as well as the empirically-based therapeutic interventions available to support and care for the bereaved. Participants will learn to distinguish between anticipatory grief, normal grief, and complicated grief and to identify factors that affect the grieving process. This course also explores reflective practice and self-care for the end-of-life care professional while learning to support those who are dying and those who are grieving.
Psychosocial Perspectives in Aging (THAN 609) 3 credits ▾
Offered 1st 8-week session spring semester (Spring A)
This 3-credit course explores the psychological and social aspects of adult development within the context of the ongoing process of aging. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to describe the major psychological and sociological theories of aging and adult development; understand the physical, psychological, social, and health changes that occur during aging; evaluate the biological, psychological, intellectual, and social dimensions along which developmental changes occur in adult aging and their implications for the aging individual, family and society; understand the importance of an individual’s cultural context while progressing through the life course; and identify current research trends and theories regarding several aspects of the aging process (e.g. death and dying, mental health, positive affect, personality, chronic disease, and social roles).
Death and Dying: Ethical and Legal Considerations (THAN 604) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session spring semester (Spring B)
This course provides participants with the information and skills needed to address ethical and legal concerns related to palliative and end-of-life care. Participants will learn the theoretical foundations of health care ethics, including the Hippocratic Oath, ethical principles, virtue ethics, deontology, utilitarianism, and care-based ethics. The relationship between law and ethics will be clarified. The focus of society and medicine in delaying death and addressing human suffering will be discussed. Emphasis will be placed on developing a knowledge base of key concepts and strategies that can be used to prevent and resolve problems that are specific to palliative and end-of-life care, including advance directives, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, suffering, withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatments, organ donation, and assisted suicide.
Research Administration Concentration (12 credits)
Students interested in Research Administration will have the opportunity to learn about the complex environment that supports academic research. This will include topics such as historical and evolutionary perspectives, legal issues in research, contract management, and safeguarding confidential information.
Introduction to Research Administration (MHS 601) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 1st 8-week session fall semester (Fall A)
Students in this course are provided with an overview of the complex environment that supports the academic research enterprise from a historical and evolutionary perspective, including examples of seminal studies and research controversies. Students consider the partnerships between the federal government, industry, and academic and clinical research institutions. The course explores design and implementation human research studies and explores a variety of topics, including the components, general principles, and issues in academic research.
Regulatory and Legal Issues in Research (MHS 618) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session fall semester (Fall B)
Research involves many ethical, legal, and regulatory issues related to the treatment of subjects, personal privacy, and institutional compliance, among others. This course examines ethical codes of conduct, regulatory requirements, and existing laws that govern research, recruitment and protection of human subjects; diversity and vulnerable populations in research; informed consent; privacy and confidentiality; the role of independent review committees; and the importance of reporting serious adverse events.
Grant and Contract Management in Research (MHS 635) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 1st 8-week session spring semester (Spring A)
This course covers all topics related to Grants Management and Awards. Students will learn how to setup grants proposals and awards, bill and perform cost reimbursement, distribute indirect costs. Students will examine various aspects of maintaining grant and contract awards including increasing or decreasing award funding, adjusting the award budget, updating grant information, updating project status, and closing a grant or contract.
Technology Transfer (MHS 640) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session spring semester (Spring B)
This course introduces the concept of intellectual property in advancing technological innovation and promoting economic development. Students will learn how to safeguard intellectual property and facilitate technology transfer including the legal, licensing, and disclosure. The course will also explore the requirements for issue of a patent including preparation of a patent application. The course explores how research or an invention may be commercialized in the process of technology transfer. Emphasis is placed on the patenting and transfer of technologies pertinent to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device industries
Global Health Systems Concentration (12 credits)
The goal of this 12-credit, six course certificate program is to help students build upon their domestic health skills by developing expertise in global health systems and services. Participants will develop the knowledge and skills they need to operate in the global arena. There are five courses offered in this concentration, but students are only required to take four courses to meet the requirements.
Perspectives on Global Health (MHS 605) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 1st 8-week session fall semester (Fall A)
The course provides an overview to the field of global health, it introduces students to major global health challenges, programs the determinants of health hand disease, current and emerging global health priorities, policies, evidence base intervention, disaster relief, key legal issues, ethics and models of reform. In addition, particular attention is given to building key student competencies in analyzing national public health trends including major communicable and non-communicable disease burdens, key organizations supporting public health and professional opportunities in global health. Student skills are developed in analysis, leadership, team work and communication in a global context.
National/International Approaches to Healthcare Delivery (MHS 610) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session fall semester (Fall B)
This course applies the concepts, theories, and principles of the field of global health presented in the first course to the practical challenges facing global health professionals. Each student will select a specific global health priority for a given national or geo politically defined population to examine over the Durant of the course. The students selected case will be her primary focus for applying needs assessment methodologies, including epidemiological methods, mapping local, national and global policy processes, identifying strategies for building infrastructure and workforce capacity, analyzing financial opportunities and limitations and assessing the impact of macro changes in global economy, political environment and human rights and legal systems. Each student will complete a final summary project report that will summarize findings regarding scope, option, outcomes and a recommended action plan for improving the health status of the population group they have studied.
Critical Issues in Global Women’s and Children’s Health (CIPP 960) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session spring semester (Spring A)
A comprehensive multidisciplinary examination of the complex issues related to women and children’s health across the globe. Based on the World Health Organization’s 2007 Framework for Action for strengthening health systems and the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals and Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Topics include biological and medical issues, reproductive health, violence include biological and medical issues, reproductive health, violence against women and children and its impact on health, infectious and chronic disease, and the relationship of environmental and social issues to chronic disease, and the relationship of environmental and social issues to chronic disease. Analysis also covers current national, regional and global trends; program and policy responses to these trends; and prospects for the future.
Health Responses to Mass Violence and Disaster (MHS 639) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session spring semester (Spring B)
This course increases knowledge of how to apply different theories and intervention strategies to the health assessment and response to mass violence and disaster. Crisis theory used to guide crisis use a system approach to health services management including strategic planning budgeting and resources allocation.
Science Communication Concentration (12 credits)
Students interested in Science Communication will have the opportunity to strengthen their skills as writers by taking courses in technical writing, writing for scholarly journals, proposal and grant writing, and writing for the public. As scholars in the healthcare industry, it is important to understand how to write to appeal to different audiences.
Science Writing Principles (MHS 603) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 1st 8-week session fall semester (Fall A)
This course will provide a rigorous analysis of scientific writing on the sentence and paragraph level. Students will master the elements of concision and coherence as they learn and employ various strategies for packaging information.
Writing for Scholarly Journals (MHS 607) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session fall semester (Fall B)
This course will provide students with a comprehensive overview of the process of writing for scholarly journals. Students will read and analyze articles from a variety of journals, focusing on both form and content of research articles, case studies, meta-analyses, theoretical articles, and book reviews.
Writing Proposals and Grants (MHS 637) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 1st 8-week session spring semester (Spring A)
This course will explore the elements of successful grants and proposals. Students will be required to produce a grant or proposal relating to their capstone project.
Writing for the Public (MHS 627) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session spring semester (Spring B)
This course will prepare students to communicate to lay audiences. Students will analyze the writing in various documents such press releases, magazines articles, websites, and popular science books.
Implementation and Dissemination Science Concentration (12 credits)
Students interested in Implementation and Dissemination Science will have the opportunity to learn about a field that is quickly emerging worldwide. With this degree, students will be able to study methods that promote systematic uptake and translate the results of clinical and population research into everyday clinical practice and public health. We also intend to help students ensure that the knowledge and materials produced by health research will improve individual and population health.
Essentials of Chronic and Infectious Disease Epidemiology (MHS 630) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 1st 8-week session fall semester (Fall A)
In the past 15 years, we have seen a rise in chronic disease impacted by behavior and policy, infectious disease outbreaks and new mechanisms of spread never seen before in the US. Clinicians must consider the biosocial impact of globalization and environmental change upon health and disease. In this course we present fundamental concepts of epidemiology to assist the new clinician in their efforts to critically evaluate the health and medical literature, participate in monitoring and surveillance of disease, and interpret data in their individual practice, community and nation to improve care in their practice and professional sphere.
Research Implementation & Dissemination I (MHS 613) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session fall semester (Fall B)
The past several decades have witnessed advances in medical sciences and the discovery of new medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics tools that have the capacity to lead to large improvements in global health. However, the translation of research findings into practice has been slow and uneven. This has led to a widening gap by applying research and evaluation approaches to identify and address the barriers in scale-up evidence-based interventions in local settings. This course provides an introduction to the emerging field of implementations science by reviewing various design and methods, health systems and policy research, and examples in HIV, non HIV ST and non-communicable disease.
Research Implementation and Dissemination II (MHS 614) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 1st 8-week session spring semester (Spring A)
Dissemination science is the process of distribution of information and intervention materials to a specific public health or clinical practice audience. Translating research into practice is a complex process that involves dissemination science. The purpose of dissemination science research is to translate evidence based interventions into practice to improve lives. This research seminar provides and introduction to dissemination science. Topics include the vocabulary of dissemination science; distinction between dissemination and implementation research; principles and methods used in dissemination science research; and future issues.
Global Non-Communicable (NCD) Epidemiology (MHS 631) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session spring semester (Spring B)
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as obesity, diabetes, mental illnesses, injuries, cardiovascular disease and cancer, are responsible for the greatest burden of death and disability globally. NCDs are of critical importance to all countries currently dominate the global health and political agenda. Responding to this epidemic requires interdisciplinary, multi-systems, implementation and dissemination approaches. Researchers, public health specialists and policy makers from around the world working in this field require a critical understanding of the commonalities and differences in perspectives across sectors, which will enable them to work effectively within a ‘global’ ecological perspective on NCDs. This course will address the current paradigms and controversies in epidemiology. Emphasis will be placed on those NCDs of high prevalence or unique biological characteristics that illustrate interesting epidemiological or etiological characteristics or those that hold greatest promise of control. Comparison of NCD rates across countries and epochs, and the evidence for the causes of these differences will be explored. The goal is to encourage students to think creatively about the NCD problem and explore research opportunities that will contribute meaningfully to reduction in NCD morbidity and mortality throughout the world.
Integrative Health and Wellness Concentration (12 credits)
Students interested in Integrative Health and Wellness will have the opportunity to examine fundamental concepts including history, philosophies and methods of integrative therapies. They will also be able to identify the perceived differences between traditional and nontraditional medicines. Students in this degree program will also learn the fundamentals of health coaching, application of integrative health and wellness, and integrative mind and body interventions.
Introduction to Integrative Health and Biological and Body-Based Interventions (MHS 612) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 1st 8-week session fall semester (Fall A)
Students will examine the fundamental concepts of integrative health and wellness (IHW), including the history, philosophies, and methods of prominent integrative therapies. Perceived differences between and limitations of traditional “allopathic” medicine and IHW “nontraditional” medicine will be identified. Patients’ motivations and patterns of use of IHW approaches will be explored. Components of the five major areas within IHW as identified by the National Institutes of Health will be introduced. These include alternative medical systems, body-based systems (massage, chiropractic, rolfing), mind-body medicine, biological approaches (herbal medicine, nutritional approaches, pharmacological therapies, Ayurveda), and bioelectromagnetics (energy healing). The state of basic scientific knowledge and data from controlled trials relating to the safety, efficacy, and mechanisms of action of integrative therapies are presented.In the second half of the course, an overview of the scientific evidence for the integrative biological and body-based approaches will be provided. Theories for how these approaches function to affect health are examined, such as psychoneuroimmunology, the role of inflammation, and the gut microbiome. Key practice, legal, and ethical issues facing CAM researchers and practitioners are reviewed.
Advanced Skills in Integrative Mind-Body Interventions (MHS 636) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session fall semester (Fall B)
In this course, students will learn about the connections between the mind, body, spirit, and energy in relation to health and disease. An overview of the scientific evidence for integrative interventions for health promotion and treatment is provided. Students will learn advanced skills in approaches that promote or rely on the connection between the mind and body. These include meditation, mindfulness, guided imagery, autogenics, hypnosis, spirituality, movement-based, journaling, acupuncture and energy therapies, and art therapies. Students will participate in experiential learning by practicing integrative approaches and interacting with an integrative health provider to increase their self-awareness of the interconnections between emotional, physical, mental, social, and spiritual aspects of health.
Integrative Health and Wellness Coaching (MHS 628) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 1st 8-week session spring semester (Spring A)
Students will learn the fundamentals of health coaching, which is guiding and enabling patients/clients to make and sustain choices to achieve and maintain health. Students will review frameworks and techniques of health coaching from a holistic perspective including assessment, identification of goals and barriers, development of action plans, implementation strategies, and monitoring progress. Students will be introduced to health behavior change theories and models, as well as interventions from integrative health and wellness. Also explored are personal, social, lifestyle, and medical resources to encourage comprehensive wellness. Students will work to develop strategies appropriate to their patient/client population through research, class discussions, mentored coaching activities, and independent assignments. Students will also complete a behavioral change project with a partner, allowing them to experience the roles of both a health and wellness coach and a client.
Clinical Application of Integrative Health and Wellness (MHS 619) 3 credits ▾
Offered: 2nd 8-week session spring semester (Spring B)
This course will provide students an interprofessional overview of the clinical application of integrative health and wellness approaches. Students will learn the skills necessary for developing an effective therapeutic practitioner-patient relationship and strategies for communicating and educating patients about integrative health and wellness approaches, potential benefits, and possible risks. The factors affecting the utilization, interpretation, and patient understanding of these therapies will be examined. Clinical decision-making and the influence of research on recommendations and evaluation will be examined. Students will learn how the integrative assessment differs from the conventional assessment process and how to develop an integrative treatment plan. Numerous case studies demonstrating the application of integrative approaches for the treatment and prevention of common and chronic diseases will be analyzed. Finally, the challenges in developing research to adequately examine the integrative approach as it is applied in clinical practice will be discussed.