Department of Health Promotion Sciences

Mission

The Department of Health Promotion Sciences prepares public health professionals to function in leadership roles in the development, promotion, and application of social and behavioral science theory and methods for solving community health problems.

Role of the Health Promotion Professional

Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. It moves beyond a focus on individual behavior towards a wide range of social and environmental interventions. –WHO 2017

Organizational Settings

Public health agencies at the national, regional, state, and local levels, including health maintenance organizations, health departments, tribal nations, clinics, industry, community agencies, schools, colleges, and universities.

Professional Roles

Graduates provide planning, implementation, and evaluation skills to local, state, national, and tribal organizations.

Learning Objectives

Skills acquired include community assessment and development; health promotion program planning, implementation, and evaluation; data management; application of health behavior theories; priority population expertise; and other specifics from electives.

Curricular Areas for This Program

  • Knowledge and skills related to program stages, including community assessment, program planning, program implementation, and program evaluation.
  • Knowledge and skills related to levels of intervention, including working with individuals, small groups and populations, network strategies, organizational development and change, community development, public policy, and mass media.
  • Content areas, such as health workforce development, nutrition, food security, youth health, gerontology, social marketing, chronic diseases, communicable diseases, stress, exercise, substance use, intentional and unintentional injuries, and health promotion/disease prevention strategies for relevant screening.
  • Knowledge of social and behavioral science theories, research methods, epidemiology, and biostatistics.
  • Familiarity with various populations, such as racial, ethnic, and gender groups, age spectrum groups, poor and disenfranchised, and rural and urban residents.
  • Familiarity with health promotion settings, including schools, work sites, hospitals and health care providers, government agencies, American Indian Tribes, and other community organizations.
  • Professional issues, including philosophy, principles and ethical issues in health promotion, the history of public health, and knowledge of the various professional organizations.

Professional Degrees Offered

  • Accelerated BA Community Health/MPH in Health Promotion Sciences (offered with OU Norman)
  • Accelerated BS Community Health/MPH in Health Promotion Sciences (offered with OU Norman)
  • Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in Health Promotion Sciences
  • Master of Public Health/Master of Social Work (MPH/MSW) dual degree

Graduate Degrees Offered

  • Master of Sciences (MS) degree in Health Promotion Sciences
  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Health Promotion Sciences