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Social & Behavioral Sciences |
The Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences focuses on the effects of social factors and individual behaviors on health. By understanding these social and behavioral factors, public health professionals can help people to change their unhealthy behaviors and can advocate to change social conditions that have an adverse impact on health. Departmental faculty have testified on behalf of plaintiffs seeking to curb destructive marketing practices by tobacco companies and have advocated for stricter gun control and drunken driving laws. Together with social service organizations, faculty provide outreach and advocacy services to substance abusers and victims of domestic violence, and have helped public health officials and the private sector coordinate a nationwide program designed to help smokers overcome their habit.
Emerging knowledge about the dangers of obesity, substance abuse, and other threats to physical and mental health presents new and ongoing challenges. By creating innovative ways to address these challenges, and presenting these areas of new knowledge and innovative interventions to the next generation of public health professionals, BUSPH's Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences contributes to the enhancement of the health of the public.
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Boston University School of Public Health 