Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• SPH PM 851: Organizing and Advocacy for Health Policy Change
  Graduate Prerequisites: SPH PH719 - There is abundant evidence in public health that one of the most effective ways to improve population health is by changing the policies and structures that set the contexts in which people make their decisions about health, and through which they access their health care. To change these policies and structures, public health professionals should be familiar with existing techniques and technologies for mobilizing and expressing popular support and pressure within existing policy frameworks that often seem unresponsive to community-based public health concerns. This course introduces students to two key areas of knowledge in public health practice: 1) the principles and methods of community organizing and 2) campaigning for policy and structural change. A series of short assignments culminates in a final product: the creation of a campaign plan for changing public policy regarding a specific public health problem. Students will also choose an actual policy campaign, volunteer with that campaign, and use the course materials to reflect critically on their campaign experience.
• SPH PM 864: Contemporary Structures of Health Services
  This course is designed to provide an introduction to the objects of inquiry in health services research: the structures of health services that are the sites of organized processes that produce health outcomes. These structures include financial arrangements, e.g., insurance, ambulatory services, hospitals, systems for providing community-based care, and the socially organized relationships between organized services and their clienteles. These structures are examined in light of their constant evolution in changing social, economic, and political contexts.
• SPH PM 866: Theory in the Analysis of Health Services
  This course is an introduction to theory to inform analyses of the structures, processes, and outcomes of health services. Theoretical approaches, drawn from the social sciences, are reviewed in elucidating the evolving structures of health services, the providers' practices within organizations, and the relationships between providers and consumers of health care.
• SPH PM 874: Causal Inference for Health Services and Policy Research
  Public health research often entails asking and trying to answer questions about the causes of health outcomes. Answers to such causal questions require us to combine data (e.g., from randomized trials or observational studies) with assumptions to infer causal effects. This course will teach students to think critically and rigorously about the implications of study design and analysis for addressing public health questions. Students will develop a rigorous understanding of the statistical foundations of causal inference approaches, including classical regression models and extensions. They will also be asked to draw upon their own research experiences and prior training to evaluate public health studies.
• SPH PM 900S: FT Doctoral Study in Health Services and Policy Research
  Doctoral Student Summer Enrollment for students engaged in coursework.
• SPH PM 905S: PT Doctoral Study in Health Services and Policy Research
  Doctoral Student Summer Enrollment for students engaged in coursework.
• SPH PM 931: Directed Studies in HPLM
  Directed Studies provide the opportunity for students to explore a special topic of interest under the direction of a full-time SPH faculty member. Students may register for a 1, 2, 3, or 4-credit directed study by submitting a paper registration form and a signed directed study proposal form. Directed studies with a non-SPH faculty member or an adjunct faculty member must be approved by and assigned to the department chair. Students are placed in a section by the SPH Registrar's Office according to the faculty member with whom they are working. Students may take no more than eight credits of directed study, directed research, or practica courses during their MPH education.
• SPH PM 932: Directed Research in HPM
  Directed Research provide the opportunity for students to explore a special topic of interest under the direction of a full-time SPH faculty member. Students may register for 1, 2, 3, or 4 credits. To register, students must submit a paper registration form and signed directed research proposal form. Students are placed in a section by the SPH Registrar's Office according to the faculty member with whom they are working. Students may take no more than eight credits of directed study, directed research, or practica courses during their MPH education.
• SPH PM 980: FT Continuing Study in Health Services and Policy Research
  Graduate Prerequisites: For Doctoral Students who have completed coursework. Doctoral students who have completed all academic course requirements, must register for Continuing Study every Fall and Spring semester until they have successfully defended their dissertation and graduated from SPH. Students are certified full-time and charged for student health insurance, the equivalent of two credits of tuition, and all relevant fees.
• SPH PM 985: PT Continuing Study in Health Services and Policy Research
  Graduate Prerequisites: For Doctoral Students who have completed coursework. Doctoral students who have completed all academic course requirements, must register for Continuing Study every Fall and Spring semester until they have successfully defended their dissertation and graduated from SPH. Students are certified part-time and charged for the equivalent of two credits of tuition, and all relevant fees.
• SPH SB 730: Stress as a Public Health Problem
  Research on the impact of excessive stress indicates that it plays a significant role in physical and psychological health, in rising incidence of substance use and violence in communities, in increased absenteeism and decreased productivity in the work place, and increased medical costs. This course examines the impact of psychological, biological, environmental and social stressors on health, illness, health-risking behavior and its economic and public health consequences. Education and intervention strategies and programs involving stress management, community awareness and participation are evaluated. Through readings, lecture and discussion, students examine the field and explore its application to public health.
• SPH SB 733: Mass Communication and Public Health
  Graduate Prerequisites: SPH PH720 or instructor permission. - This course explores the use of mass communication as a tool for health promotion, both domestically and internationally. The course examines the role of the mass media in shaping a social and cultural environment that affects the public health, and then reviews a range of mass media strategies available to the practitioner--public communication campaigns, social marketing, public relations, and media advocacy. Students discuss the strengths and limitations of each approach and gain experience in applying these strategies to specific public health problems. Students work in groups on a final project in which they develop and present a proposal for a plan for a public health communication campaign that uses mass media.
• SPH SB 745: Homelessness: Stories, Solutions, and Advocacy
  Homelessness is one of the most urgent and misunderstood public health challenges of our time. This course asks a bold question: What would it take to respond differently and more effectively to homelessness in America? We examine structural roots, human consequences, and policy responses at the individual, family, community, and systems levels. Using the Mass and Cass encampment near BUSPH as a case study, alongside examples from cities across the U.S. and globally, students analyze current policies, service systems, and advocacy strategies. A central feature of the course is storytelling as a tool for public understanding and change. Students learn to translate data and lived experience into ethical, persuasive communication with assistance from guest speakers, shelter engagement, legislative advocacy, and team presentations. This class is ONLY for students ready to wrestle with complexity and lead meaningful change.
• SPH SB 747: Gun Violence and Community Health Equity
  Gun violence is a public health crisis in the U.S. that disproportionately affects communities of color. Why is this, what can be done, and how will we know whether efforts are working? This community-partnered course brings students to the frontlines of efforts to prevent gun violence and address its traumatic aftermath. We will focus on the case study of Massachusetts, where firearm death rates are low overall, but racial and ethnic disparities are vast. The course will review the epidemiology of gun violence and its legal and structural underpinnings, including segregation, disinvestment, and mass incarceration. Students will hear directly from community organizations who are working to improve services for the individuals and families most exposed to gun violence. Along the way, students will gain a critical understanding of the study designs that inform our current scientific knowledge on community gun violence interventions, including methodological skills in causal inference and quantitative program evaluation (no prior background required). For their final deliverable, students will partner with a community-based organization on a research proposal, data analysis, or other product that will advance the organization’s mission and prepare the students for community-engaged public health work.
• SPH SB 753: Preventing Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence: A Public Health Perspective
  This course addresses key topics in sexual violence and intimate partner violence, focusing on primary prevention (preventing violence before it occurs). Taking a social-ecological perspective, and informed by principles of intersectionality, lectures and discussion will address broad concepts in interpersonal violence (e.g., bystander intervention, polyvictimization) and dynamics for specific populations (e.g., LGBTQ+ people, adolescents, college students). Students will choose one of two semester-long project options: developing a workshop lesson plan or research grant proposal relevant to interpersonal violence prevention. With supportive feedback from the instructor and their peers, students will complete the course with a work product suitable for real-world practice or research. NOTE: This course addresses emotionally intense topics. Detailed descriptions of violence will be kept to a minimum. However, students considering the course should reflect on their current capacity to engage with these topics in a classroom setting.
• SPH SB 760: LGBTQ Health
  This course prepares emerging leaders to address the health inequities experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual and gender diverse (LGBTQ+) populations. Grounded in social justice and health equity frameworks, the course critically examines how structural systems of oppression—including heterosexism, racism, patriarchy, transphobia, and colonialism—shape health risks, access to care, and health outcomes across diverse LGBTQ+ communities. Students will engage with epidemiologic trends, intersectional theory, policy analysis, and community-driven research to understand LGBTQ+ health from local, national, and global perspectives. The course explores advocacy strategies, program development, and structural interventions designed to advance equitable health systems. The course adopts a strengths-based lens, highlighting how LGBTQ+ communities cultivate resilience and resistance, build social support networks, mobilize collective action, and influence policy environments for health promotion. By the end of the course, students will be equipped to design, implement, and influence policies, programs, and research initiatives that affirm LGBTQ+ lives and advance transformative change in public health practice.
• SPH SB 767: Health (Mis)Information: Understanding and Countering Infodemics
  Graduate Prerequisites: SPH PH720 or instructor permission. Alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Because virtually everyone has some experience with ATOD use themselves or in others, much about this topic is thought to be common knowledge, but in this course students will be surprised at the depth of scientific knowledge known that is not widely understood, in part evidenced by common policies and approaches that are not evidence-based. This course asks students to critically examine current ATOD research, policy and intervention and prevention practice, with the goal of acquiring skills with which to improve strategies to reduce ATOD-related consequences, illness and injury. Specifically, students will become well-versed in models for understanding ATOD use; gain knowledge in ATOD use across multiple populations and throughout the lifespan; understand contemporary public health debates regarding ATOD research and prevention strategies; learn how to address the deficiencies in current public health approaches to ATOD use; and be able to apply knowledge to emerging public health problems.
• SPH SB 780: Mental Health and Public Health: A Social and Behavioral Sciences Perspective
  Graduate Prerequisites: SPH PH720 or instructor permission. This course provides an investigation into mental health and mental illness from a public health perspective. The courses examines the social determinants of mental health, and evaluates the ways in which key public health strategies (i.e., surveillance, screening, prevention, wellness promotion, community and policy advocacy) address mental health in various communities. Students develop an understanding of the challenges facing the current system of services and the role public health must play going forward. Student teams develop and apply skills by evaluating programs and strategies to promote mental health and wellbeing for vulnerable populations.
• SPH SB 785: Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Use: People, Populations and Policies
  Graduate Prerequisites: SPH PH720 or instructor permission. - Alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Because virtually everyone has some experience with ATOD use themselves or in others, much about this topic is thought to be common knowledge, but in this course students will be surprised at the depth of scientific knowledge known that is not widely understood, in part evidenced by common policies and approaches that are not evidence-based. This course asks students to critically examine current ATOD research, policy and intervention and prevention practice, with the goal of acquiring skills with which to improve strategies to reduce ATOD-related consequences, illness and injury. Specifically, students will become well-versed in models for understanding ATOD use; gain knowledge in ATOD use across multiple populations and throughout the lifespan; understand contemporary public health debates regarding ATOD research and prevention strategies; learn how to address the deficiencies in current public health approaches to ATOD use; and be able to apply knowledge to emerging public health problems.
• SPH SB 806: Designing Strategic Interventions and Communications to Advance Public Health
  Graduate Prerequisites: SPH PH720 or instructor permission. - This core communications course focuses on 1) the development of an evidence- informed and innovative intervention and 2) the execution of a strategic and creative communications plan for a public health organization that is responsible for the intervention developed. The course also features a review of basic theory and research that can inform the health communications process as well as strategies for accessing the literature. Students are assigned a public health problem faced by a public health agency, and consult with the public health agency throughout the semester. Working through a sequence of written assignments, students conduct a literature review to inform an intervention plan, design an innovative and feasible intervention, and then prepare several materials to execute a communications strategy in support of the intervention. Communication pieces may include, but are not limited to: press release, letter to the editor, pitch letter with infographic, editorial, social media, video, website wireframes, texting campaigns and mHealth, videos, chatbots, podcasts, and press event. Writing workshops in class, skill-based exercises, and consultations with the teaching team and stakeholders are designed to give students ideas for their projects, interim feedback on their written assignments, and tools necessary to successfully develop and present a product that can be implemented by the public health agency. Students present their final project to the class and to the public health agency.