PHSC 510 - Social Determinants of Health and Health Equity

(3 semester hours)
Prerequisites: None
Description: This course aims to introduce the social, economic, and political factors that impact individual and population health. The course presents the student with theories and evidence supporting multiple underlying determinants of health in populations. We will consider how health is affected by various determinants, and we will explore how social influences affect population health. Social influences include socioeconomic status, environment, policy (political influence), gender, race, sexual orientation, and neighborhood quality. We will examine structural factors that impact population health globally as well as in the United States. We apply the research and practice-oriented competencies and explore the potential for structural interventions and research to address health inequities and improve population health outcomes. The student will be encouraged to consider how they can make a difference in reducing or closing the health inequality gap that otherwise results from flawed understandings of patients’ health ecologies.