{"id":65753,"date":"2016-03-22T11:55:05","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T15:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/academics\/?page_id=65753"},"modified":"2026-04-02T13:01:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T17:01:16","slug":"community-assessment","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/academics\/sph\/programs\/mph\/community-assessment\/","title":{"rendered":"MPH Functional Certificate: Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Assessing community needs and resources, program design and implementation, and evaluation are core functions of public health practice. This 16-unit certificate equips students with the essential tools and knowledge to conduct effective community-based health promotion activities with a diverse array of populations and health issues. Special emphasis is placed on acquiring skills for anti-oppressive, culturally humble public health practice and strategies for developing authentic partnerships that amplify sustainable political and social power in marginalized communities.<\/p>\n<h2>Learning Outcomes<\/h2>\n<p>Upon graduation, students will be able to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Plan and conduct systematic community health needs assessments, integrating multiple sources of data and community and stakeholder input.<\/li>\n<li>Synthesize the published evidence base with information identified through community needs assessment to create a comprehensive public health intervention plan which responds appropriately and effectively to key identified priorities.<\/li>\n<li>Formulate an implementation and sustainability plan designed to engage community members, policymakers, practitioners, funders, and researchers.<\/li>\n<li>Design a program evaluation, including formative, process, and impact evaluation, and be able to articulate a plan for evaluation using a standard logic model.<\/li>\n<li>Apply strategies for equitable, collaborative partnerships with communities, based on common recognition of sources of structured social privilege and disadvantage and a shared goal of seeking to expand community assets and power to improve health outcomes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Course Requirements<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Choose one of the following needs assessment courses:\n<ul>\n<li>SPH PH 851 Needs Assessment (4 units)*<\/li>\n<li>SPH SB 820 Assessment and Planning for Health Promotion (4 units)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Choose one of the following intervention\/implementation courses:\n<ul>\n<li>SPH GH 744 Program Design for Global Health (4 units)<\/li>\n<li>SPH GH 887 Planning and Managing MCH Programs in Developing Countries (4 units)<\/li>\n<li>SPH SB 806 Designing Strategic Interventions and Communications to Advance Public Health (4 units)<\/li>\n<li>SPH SB 821 Intervention Strategies for Health Promotion (4 units)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Choose one of the following evaluation courses:\n<ul>\n<li>SPH GH 745 Monitoring and Evaluation of Global Health Programs (4 units)<\/li>\n<li>SPH PH 854 Program and Policy Evaluation (4 units)*<\/li>\n<li>SPH SB 822 Quantitative Methods for Program Evaluation (4 units)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Choose 4 units from the following community partnership\/equity courses:\n<ul>\n<li>SPH MC 750 Disability Justice through the Life Course: Programs, Policies, and Turning Advocacy to Action (4 units)<\/li>\n<li>SPH MC 775 Social Justice and the Health of Populations: Racism and Other Systems of Oppression in the United States (4 units)<\/li>\n<li>SPH MC 802 Implementing Community Health Initiatives: A Field-Based Course in Leadership and Consultation (4 units)<\/li>\n<li>SPH PH 802 Environmental Justice: Social Movement, Science and Policy (2 units)<\/li>\n<li>SPH PH 803 Community-Based Participatory Research: Theory and Methods (2 units)<\/li>\n<li>SPH SB 745 Homelessness: Stories, Solutions, and Advocacy (4 units)<\/li>\n<li>SPH SB 747 Gun Violence and Community Health Equity (4 units)<\/li>\n<li>SPH SB 760 LGBTQ Health (4 units)<\/li>\n<li>SPH SB 785 Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use: People, Populations and Policy (4 units)<\/li>\n<li>SPH SB 818 Qualitative Research Methods (4 units)<\/li>\n<li>SPH SB 832 Trauma, Trauma-Informed Care, Recovery &amp; Resilience (4 units)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>*Doctoral-level course; requires instructor approval.<\/p>\n<h3>Integrative Learning Experience (ILE)<\/h3>\n<p>The ILE will give students the opportunity to practice the skills essential to interpreting a basic community needs assessment and formulating an intervention, implementation, and evaluation plan in the form of a short community grant proposal. Students are strongly advised to complete at minimum the assessment course and the intervention\/implementation course before embarking on the ILE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Assessing community needs and resources, program design and implementation, and evaluation are core functions of public health practice. This 16-unit certificate equips students with the essential tools and knowledge to conduct effective community-based health promotion activities with a diverse array of populations and health issues. Special emphasis is placed on acquiring skills for anti-oppressive, culturally [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4502,"featured_media":0,"parent":17110,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65753"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4502"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65753"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100807,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65753\/revisions\/100807"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}