Fundamentals of Public Health (MPH 500)
Summer
Course Materials
Text Name
Author(s)
Publisher/Date
ISBN
Introduction to Public Health, 3rd Edition
Mary-Jane Schneider
Jones and Bartlett Publishers/2011
978-0-7637-6381-7
Text Name
Milestones in Public Health: Accomplishments in Public Health over the last
100 Years
Pfizer
Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals
0-9761815-1-7
Author(s)
Publisher/Date
ISBN
Course Description
Fundamentals of Public Health provides an introduction and overview of the extent and history of public health
and the core concepts that represent the foundation of the public health field.
Course Outcomes
Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:
1. Describe the historical development and basic domains of public health including biostatistics,
epidemiology, social and behavioral sciences, environmental health, and health policy and
management.
2. Compare, contrast, and describe how public health protects and promotes the health of
individuals, communities and churches.
3. Recognize the role of public health and medical care in the control of disease, environmental
hazards, injuries, and the reduction/elimination of health disparities.
4. Critically review medical and public health literature and research findings necessary for
participation in the public health field.
5. Demonstrate understanding of research ethics and how to properly work with research subjects.
Instructor Contact Information: (email, phone, Skype, etc.)
Success in an online class requires that you communicate with me whenever you have
questions.
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

If you have general questions that are of interest to the entire group, you should post
them on the Discussion Forum and I will answer them there. If a general question
arrives by email, I will redirect it to the Forum.
If you need to contact me personally, please utilize the contact information listed in
Contact Instructor.
Barring unusual circumstances, I will monitor my email at least once a day Monday
through Friday. Customarily I respond to your email within 24 hours, but occasionally I
may take longer. You might receive responses at night or on weekends, but this is not to
be expected. If you do not receive a reply by the second day, please resend your
message.
Course Content Issues
If you are having problems with either the technology or the course content, you need to let
me know as soon as possible.
o
o
o
Without feedback I will never know what is wrong.
Remember that many of the nonverbal cues that you use in the classroom to
show frustration, boredom, or confusion are not possible in an online class.
You must keep me up to date on any problems you are encountering.
Instructor Presence in Course - Normally I am online at least once every 24 hours and will
respond to questions within 24 hours.
Course Format
This class will be conducted as an online seminar course with students using the discussion board to
respond to material read and raise questions. You will need to read the material for the week before
class so you can discuss knowledgeably. Discussion will also focus on relating these concepts to your
own lives, those around you and current practices, policies and institutions. You will be asked to do
some outside readings and research. As you come across materials that may be of interest to others,
please share. In addition, if you know of a speaker, articles, or part of a video that might be a good
example of a concept or topic, please share that with your peers and with the instructor.
Course Requirements
You are responsible for any information assigned or presented for this on-line class including readings,
discussions, comments, and presentation of reports based on the following:
Course Schedule and Grading
Following are the weekly assignments, contact time, and points values for the assignments in this
course:
Assessment Designation and Mapping
Assessment
Designation
A
B
C
D
E
Outcome
Number
1
2
3
Assessment
Forum Participation
Research Paper
NIH Human Subject Certification
In the News
Contagion Movie Assessment
Description of Course Outcome
Describe the historical development and basic domains of public health
including biostatistics, epidemiology, social and behavioral sciences,
environmental health, and health policy and management.
Compare, contrast, and describe how public health protects and promotes the
health of individuals, communities and churches.
Recognize the role of public health and medical care in the control of disease,
environmental hazards, injuries, and the reduction/elimination of health
Where
Assessed
A, B, D, E
A, B, D, E
A, B, D, E
4
5
disparities.
Critically review medical and public health literature and research findings
necessary for participation in the public health field.
Demonstrate understanding of research ethics and how to properly work with
research subjects.
A, B, D
A, B, C
Course Schedule
Week Title
Assignments
Contact Time
Week 1: What is Public
Health?
Readings: Prologue, Chapters 1-3 (Intro. text),
“Looking Back” in all chapters (Milestones text),
and supplemental materials
8 hours
Written Assignments:
Self-Introduction Posting
Select and Approve Research Topic
Week 2: Analytical
Methods of Public
Health
Discussion #1: Public Health State-by-State
Discussion #2: History of Public Health in
Chicago
Readings: Chapters 4-6 (Intro. Text), three Case
Studies in the Milestones text, and
supplemental materials
Written Assignments:
Contagion Movie Assessment
Epidemiology and Your Research Topic
In the News #1
Week 3: Analytical
Methods of Public
Health cont’d
Week 4: Biomedical
Basis of Public Health
1 hour
3 hours
5 hours
5 hours
30
30
6 hours
5 hours
3 hours
1 hour
30
Discussion #1: Epidemiologic Investigation
Assessment
5 hours
30
Readings: Chapters 7-8 (Intro. text)
4 hours
Written Assignments:
Biostatistics and your Research Topic
Completion of NIH Human Subject Certification
3 hours
2 hours
70
Discussion #1: The Role of Biostatistics in Public
Health
5 hours
30
Readings: Chapters 9-12 (Intro. text) and
Chapters 1, 4-6 (Milestones text)
6 hours
Written Assignments:
Biomedical Basis and your Research Topic
In the News #2
Week 5: Social and
Behavioral Factors in
Public Health
Points
Discussion #1: To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate,
That is the Question
Readings: Chapters 13-18 (Intro. text) and
supplemental materials
15
3 hours
1 hour
15
5 hours
30
7 hours
Written Assignments:
Social and Behavioral Factors and your Research
Topic
Week 6: Environmental
Issues in Public Health
Discussion #1: Public Health Plan
Readings: Chapters 19-24 (Intro. text) Chapters
3 & 7 (Milestones text), and supplemental
materials
Written Assignments:
Continue working on Research Paper
In the News #3
Week 7: Medical Care
and Public Health
Week 8: Future of
Public Health
5 hours
7 hours
30
3 hours
1 hour
15
Discussion #1: Environmental Health Issue
Analysis
5 hours
30
Readings: Chapters 25-27 (Intro. text), Chapter
11 (Milestones text), and supplemental
materials
5 hours
Written Assignments:
In the News #4
Research Paper Due
1 hour
4 hour
15
100
Discussion #1: The Great Debate
5 hours
30
Readings: Chapter 30 (Intro. text) and
supplemental materials
4 hours
Written Assignment:
Complete Course Evaluation
Discussion #1: Public Health Achievements Now
and in the Future
Discussion #2: Research Power Point
Grading Procedures and Rubrics:
Grade/Percentages/Points
A=
93-100%
A-=
90-92%
B+=
87-89%
B=
83-86%
B-=
80-82%
C+=
77-79%
C=
73-78%
C-=
70-72%
D+=
67-69%
D=
63-66%
D-=
60-62%
3 hours
<1 hour
5 hour
30
8 hours
Total Hours:
135
30
Total
Points:
560
F=
0-59%%
With the exception of the introduction, all assignments will be due on a Sunday.
Written Assignment Rubric
All written work must conform to APA guidelines (http://www.apastyle.org/). You will complete many
writing assignments so using correct spelling and grammar is necessary for communicating your
thoughts. Use your spell check, dictionary, and proofread your papers. Points will be deducted for
multiple errors. All assignments will be typed and graded on Format, Content, and Writing Style in
which a Work-place Based method will be used to grade assignments.
Workplace-Based Method (rubric):
A
Your supervisor would gladly send this message with no edits. This document would
make you stand out among other employees.
B
Your supervisor would send this message with minor edits: document has a few
grammatical, mechanical, and/or format errors.
C
This document contains several grammatical, mechanical, and/or format errors. It
needs major editing before it could be sent.
D
This document shows some understanding of the assignment, but it must be completely
rewritten before your supervisor would send it.
F
This document does not show an understanding of the assignment. It would put your
job in serious jeopardy.
Discussion Board Rubric
Your discussion board assignments will be due weekly. Discussion will play a vital role in the learning
process of this online course. Questions will be posted each week in class that will require your
thoughtful responses to the readings. Post your weekly discussion board comment sets to the
Discussion Board each week by Thursday at midnight, CST. Respond to at least four fellow students by
Saturday at midnight, CST.
How to Complete Discussion Sets
a. While I prefer that you cut and paste responses into the discussion board box, you should
always type the material into a document and save that document. The online course platform
will time out after 90 minutes. If you write for more than that without saving or copying the
material you may lose your work.
b. Write down comments that come to mind about what you are reading.
c. Pick four comments/thoughts that will lend themselves for reflection and discussion. While you
may connect to previous readings and should, the focus must remain on the current topic.
d. Reflect and respond on what you pulled out of the readings. You may connect your
response/reflections to real world experience, but frame them within the context of the
reading. You may ask questions, but you must also reflect on why you ask particular questions
and propose how you might respond to them.
e. Cite the context of your discussion by indicating the book and page number(s) so that your peers
may know and locate your source. Use the APA guidelines to cite your sources (i.e. Gernant,
2008, p. 177-178).
f. Respond to readings each week and post comment threads to at least four of your peers.
g. Your personal responses should be a minimum of 500 words. Your responses to others should
be a minimum of 200 words.
In the News Rubric
Good
5
Adequate
3
Needs Improvement
1
Article Choice
Reflection
Spelling, Snytax, and APA
Total Points
You selected a recent
(current year) newspaper
article that illustrates
public health in the news.
You make insightful
connections between the
article and public health
and describe what basic
public health domain it
could be classified as.
Your reflection is very
well written, with almost
no errors in spelling or
syntax. You included a
correct APA citation of
your article.
Your article is not from
the current year, but
illustrates public health in
the news.
You make connections
between the article and
public health.
You did not select an
article that illustrates
public health.
Your reflection contains
few errors in spelling,
syntax, and APA citation
(approx. 3 or less).
Your review contains
frequent erros in spelling,
syntax, and APA citation.
You make minimal or no
connections between the
article and public health.
Research Paper Rubric
Category
Identified a disease or health-related condition that is
important to public health
Needs
Improvement
1 2 3
Meets
Expectations
4 5 6 7 8
Exceeds
Expectations
9 10
Explained the disease or condition from the epidemiological
perspective including risk factors and distribution of disease
in the population
Described the biomedical basis of the disease or condition
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Explained the environmental factors of the disease or
condition
Explained social and behavioral factors of the disease or
condition
Discussed the biostatistics (kind of data collected and how it
is used) for the disease or condition
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Explained what the government (at all levels) is doing and
what it should do to reduce/improve the disease or
condition (Health Policy)
Attention to mechanics (spelling, punctuation, grammar,
syntax)
Used APA format for citations both in the body of the paper
and in reference list
Utilized at least 12 references/resources and paper was at
least 8-10 pages in length (excluding title and reference
pages) to demonstrate you fully understood all public health
facets of the disease or health-related condition
Total – 100 Points Possible
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Concordia University Policies
Course Workload: In the face-to-face, online, and hybrid classrooms at Concordia University, Nebraska,
course workload occurs through student-to-instructor interaction, student-to-student interaction,
Blackboard activities, contact with course-specific content, assignments, research, assigned readings,
and other activities. Students can expect to devote approximately 45 hours of work for each 1-credit
hour, as mandated by the U.S. Department of Education.
Course Participation: Federal Financial Aid regulations, which Concordia observes for all students,
require that students regularly participate in courses in which they are enrolled. All students must log
into the course management system (Blackboard) or participate in a face-to-face session weekly in order
to avoid being tagged as a non-participant. Students must use the Concordia Blackboard and e-mail
messaging systems to contact instructors and advisors. Students who are unable to participate regularly
in their course for any reason should contact their instructor and their advisor. Students who intend to
withdraw from a course or a program should notify their instructor and advisor.
Academic Integrity: At Concordia University Nebraska, we are guided in all of our work by the values of
academic integrity: honesty, trust, fairness, responsibility, and respect. As a student, you are required to
demonstrate these values in all of the work you do. Participating in a behavior that violates academic
integrity (e.g., plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, multiple submissions, cheating on examinations,
or fabricating information) will result in your being sanctioned. Violations may subject you to disciplinary
action including the following: receiving a failing grade on an assignment or examination, receiving a
failing grade for the course, and/or being suspended from the university.
ADA and Special Needs: Students with a documented disability, who need reasonable accommodations,
should contact ADA & Academic Support located in Link Library to arrange an appointment to discuss
their individual needs. Students are also encouraged to notify their instructors immediately about any
disability-related academic needs they may have. To contact the ADA & Academic Support Director,
Angel Hoppe, please call 402-643-7377 or 800-535-5494 ext. 7377 or e-mail angel.hoppe@cune.edu.