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MINORS · MASTER OF SCIENCE PROGRAM · Dept. of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Minor: Health Policy

Coordinator: Ruth Malone, RN, PhD, FAAN

The minor in health policy offers students the opportunity to analyze and critique health policy issues at local, state, national, and international levels. The minor requires that students complete three additional health policy courses beyond the required core health economics and policy course (S222), and a variety of courses with a health policy component are available (see list below).

The aim of the minor is to further expose interested students to the role and influence of health policies on the initiation, development, and provision of diverse health care and public health services and programs throughout the world. Students are encouraged to consider their specific policy interests in choosing among health policy courses.

Courses approved for Policy Minor (Note that not all courses are offered every year):

N253 Theories of the Policy Process
Course focuses on learning and using theories of the policy process, including analyzing how health policy problems are constructed. Perspectives on agenda setting, media roles, advocacy, policy innovation, diffusion, and implementation will be integrated with examples of policy problems. (Malone)

N267.01 Ethical Issues in Nursing Practice
Course explores selected ethical theories including social ethics related to health care and nursing practice. Both institutional and broader health care policies related to ethical issues will be explored in light of virtue and social justice ethics. (Benner)

N294D Ethics & Policy in Genetics & Genomics
Course explores ethics, philosophy, and social policy of genetics research, screening, and therapeutic interventions using case-based discussions. Students explore use of genetics and social policy in light of past, current, and future research. Social and health care implications related to the understanding of human nature, informed consent, insurance, employment, emotional impact, and predictive variability of genetic screening will be explored. (Benner)

S201 Violence as a Health Problem in the United States
Class explores the scope and etiology of violence in the United States. Discussion includes the links between different types of violence, examination of competing theoretical approaches to explain the causes of violence, and different policy approaches to resolve and prevent violence. (Pinderhughes)

S211 Information Technology and Organizational Change
The course examines electronic medical records (EMRs) in health care organizations, focusing on EMR capabilities, use, costs and benefits; factors affecting costs and benefits; theories of innovation diffusion; the relationship between IT and organizational changes; EMR health policy options. (Miller)

S219 Social Policy and Aging
Course provides a critical analysis of major social, economic, and political issues of growing old in America. Examines social policy in the public and private sectors including health, income, and social services and considers prospects for social change and political movements. (Estes)

S223 Perspectives on Social Policy and Health
Course will examine the impact of family and welfare policy on health status, health care access, and health outcomes. The course will explore theories on the historical constructions of poverty and the poor and governmental policies affecting poor and working class employment, family supports, income subsidy, childcare, and access to health care. The course will examine the debates over universal access to health care and the impact of social constructions of poverty on the debate. (Pinderhughes)

S225 Health Care Institutions
Course examines formal organizational theory, structure, and processes for health care organizations. The focus is on how organizations function within the socioeconomic and political environment in the United States. (Kitchener)

S226 Long Term Care Policies
Course examines long term care policies, with a special emphasis on nursing homes, home health care, and home and community based waiver programs. Issues around the long term care labor market, access to services, quality of care and quality of life, and critical cost and legal issues are examined. (Harrington)

N262.06 Research Utilization in Health Policy
Course focuses on the development of critical thinking skills related to utilization and evaluation of research findings in the area of health policy. The course uses scientific and practical approaches to research and policy analysis. (Chapman)

S235 Tobacco Control Policy Issues
Course will focus on developing students' understanding of the key issues in and evolution of tobacco control policies in the United States and internationally. Lectures and readings in the history of tobacco control will prepare students to engage in weekly discussions and case studies of particular tobacco control policies. (Malone)

S236 Race/Class Factors in Health Care Delivery
Course examines racial and class membership impact on access to health care services, variations in the quality of those services, variations in the quality of those services, and how professional and subprofessional roles in the health care system are organized along racial and class lines. (Pinderhughes)

S246 Communications and Policy Leadership
Course focuses on developing students' skills in various types of policy-relevant communications and leadership across different policy venues.(Malone)

S283 Selected Topics/Health Economics
Course examines selected topics in health care economics, with attention to basic economic theory of supply and demand for health care services and health insurance. Includes national health insurance proposals and the Canadian health care system. (Miller)

S284 Health Care Economics
Course examines basic economic theory as applied to the health care sector. This will include the structure of health care service and labor markets and the analysis of critical economic and cost issues relevant to public policy. (Max)

Notes: Independent study, policy research practicum, or health policy residency may be substituted for one course. S210 Health Policy Pro-Seminar, and S227 Advanced Seminar in Organizational Analysis of U.S. Health Care may be taken as supplements to other Health Policy courses taken for the minor.

Revised: Feb. 2007
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