The Ph.D. in Health Education and Promotion emphasizes the interaction among the theoretical, empirical, and applied nature of health education and promotion. The program is particularly appropriate for persons seeking employment in higher education and for persons seeking career advancement within the broad scope of health promotion. Curricula are tailored to meet student needs ensuring common coursework across the program as well as the individualization of coursework.
Although the program is designed for persons whose primary identity is that of a health educator, applicants are drawn from a variety of fields including health education, nursing, nutrition, the medical technologies, and social sciences. Individuals applying to the doctoral program typically possess or are about to complete a master's degree and, so, the faculty works to identify and extend a doctoral student's knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to become advanced health educators.
The faculty members believe that to perform effectively doctoral level health educators need to have an understanding of educational and intervention processes, competence in scholarly inquiry, and maturity in self development. The faculty believes it important to acculturate students into the high standards of professional behavior. Broad objectives of the program include the following educational experiences that extend beyond entry-level health education and promotion program:
- study pertaining to theories related to the principles and practice of health education and promotion;
- study pertaining to the role of health education within the public health agenda;
- study pertaining to intervention theory and methods relevant to health education;
- study pertaining to the social-ecological model relevant to understanding current social and cultural issues;
- study pertaining to design and implementation of quantitative research and methodology;
- study pertaining to design and implementation of qualitative research and methodology;
- study pertaining to models and methods of assessment and evaluation of intervention programs;
- study pertaining to ethical and legal considerations in health education and promotion; and
- study pertaining to the role of racial, ethnic, and cultural heritage, nationality, socioeconomic status, family structure, age, gender, sexual orientation, religious and spiritual beliefs, occupation, physical, and mental status, local, regional, national, international perspective, and equity issues in health education programs; and
- study pertaining to policy development and political advocacy.
