Readings and discussion-based seminar. Readings emphasize practice and policy solutions to health disparities. prereq: CSPH 5115 OR PubH 6066 OR PUBH 6055 OR PUBH 6855, 2d yr MPH student completing SPH health disparities interdisciplinary concentration] or instr consent

How knowledge can become resource for individual, family, community health. Interactive glimpse of wisdom of cultural communities. Develop capacity to see culture within professional education/practice. Cultural constructs underpinning medical system, role of culture in interaction between practitioner/patient, role of reconnection to cultural heritage in healing. prereq: Jr or sr or grad student or instr consent

Extent and causes of social inequalities in health. Degree to which understanding of these inequalities is hampered by methodological limitations in health research. Focuses on individual, community, and policy approaches to reducing social inequalities in health.

Taught with Powderhorn-Phillips Cultural Wellness Center. Introduction to community building/organizing. Using culture as a resource for health, reducing barriers, identifying community assets, planning organizing strategy, understanding the impact of history. Emphasizes self-reflection and skill-building for authentic, grassroots community work.

Introduction to common theoretical/empirical approaches used by sociologists to study health/illness. How content reflects social inequalities in health/illness. Social processes that shape experience of health/illness. prereq: [[Grad or professional school] student, previous experience with statistical software] or instr consent

Often, the most progress on challenging issues such as health and equity is made when you apply an interdisciplinary perspective. The same is true for global health issues. Whether responding to emerging pandemics, food insecurity, maternal mortality, or civil society collapse during conflict, solutions often lie at the intersection of animal, environmental, and human health. In this course, students will work in teams to examine the fundamental challenges to addressing complex global health problems in East Africa and East African refugee communities here in the Twin Cities. Together we will seek practical solutions that take culture, equity, and sustainability into account. In-field professionals and experts will be available to mentor each team, including professionals based in Uganda and Somalia. This exploration will help students propose realistic actions that could be taken to resolve these issues. This course will help students gain the understanding and skills necessary for beginning to develop solutions to global health issues. This is a Grand Challenge Curriculum course. GCC courses are open to all students and fulfill an honors experience for University Honors Program students.

Imagine a world where factors such as race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status had no bearing on a person's health status, quality of life, or longevity--a world where everyone had an equal opportunity to live a long and healthy life. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Despite decades of focused public health efforts, health inequities remain; individuals from low income and diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds are far more likely to, (1) struggle with chronic health conditions, (2) report lower quality of life, and (3) have a lower life expectancy, than others. Bold and innovative solutions are needed to address this grand challenge. Integration is one such method that can potentially increase the success and sustainability of approaches to reduce health disparities and create a culture of health for all. Integration is an approach to solving complex public health problems that merges academic research, clinical practice, policy and community resources in new ways. This interactive course will challenge students to identify root causes of health, including access to food, housing, transportation and education. Students will also focus on health disparities and barriers to eliminating these existing, disparate, negative outcomes. Students will be introduced to the concept of integration science and practice; will learn about the importance of integration across research, practice, community, and policy domains to address health disparities; and will cultivate the communication skills needed to intentionally and successfully facilitate integration practice. Course instructors with unique vantage points as concerned scientists, health practitioners, and policy wonks will engage students in class discussions and activities, individual writing assignments and small-group work aimed at unveiling the reasons health disparities persist globally--challenging them to consider opportunities for integration to alleviate existing disparities. The semester will culminate in students working in groups to create their own integrated projects aimed at addressing a health disparity.

Focus on population- based public health and mental health nursing practice across the lifespan, with local to global perspectives. Emphasis on health equity, health promotion and levels of disease prevention. Apply theory and research to examine interventions and outcomes.

Physical/spatial basis for land use planning at community/regional level. Role of public sector in guiding private development. Land use regulations, comprehensive planning, growth management, innovative land use planning/policies. prereq: Major or minor in urban/regional planning or instr consent

Nature/extent of poverty/inequality in the United States, causes/consequences, impact of government programs/policies. Extent/causes of poverty/inequality in other developed/developing countries. prereq: Grad or instr consent

Historical roots of racial inequality in American society. Contemporary economic consequences. Public policy responses to racial inequality. Emphasizes thinking/analysis that is critical of strategies offered for reducing racism and racial economic inequality. prereq: Grad or instr consent

Introduction to key issues in global health. Global burden of disease. Cultural issues/health. Nutrition. Infectious diseases. Environmental problems. Women/children. Prereq Grad student.

The course will present evidence that cultural humility is a lifelong quest toward achieving positive outcomes in work with American Indian Tribes and American Indian communities. It is essential that health care and health service providers learn the respective cultures of the American Indian population they are serving. Equally important is the fact that every federally recognized tribe, of which there are 573, has their own unique traditional customs, history with other tribes, and often subpopulations within the governance of a single tribal government. The realization of understanding how populations have been driven by their respective cultures to their overall health and well-being is necessary to promote achievement of positive outcomes for stakeholders and communities. The course will target methods to help health professionals to ensure that health services take into account individual understanding of the professional?s knowledge and how this knowledge should be respectful of individual cultural preferences. A systematic process will be provided to assist in how to learn community policies, learning processes, and traditions; as well as learning about various structures by which the culture of governments, organizations and individuals develop and support the attitudes, behaviors, practices and systems that are needed for effective cross-cultural interactions between health professionals and community members. Students will learn that ultimately, cultural humility effectiveness is determined by the individual who is receiving the services. The course is grounded in the understanding that cultural humility can effectively be used to strive for continuous improvement, to effectively utilize assets and address the health needs of individual American Indian communities.

Unique legal, political, and cultural dynamics surround environmental health in federally recognized American Indian Tribal communities. From the earliest days of colonization, the diseases brought from other populations proved far more lethal than any arsenal. Infectious diseases, including measles, smallpox, and plague, among others, annihilated entire communities lost forever from history. The toll taken by infectious disease, when combined with the effects of war, and the expulsion of virtually all American Indians from their ancestral lands, destroyed knowledge about traditional healing plants and natural resources. This lost knowledge has a direct impact on using historical practices that was based on practicing environmental protection as a means of survival. While this course focuses on American Indian environmental case studies and resulting inequities, there are many parallels that will be discussed as this history relates to other oppressed populations. These historical lessons help fortify the knowledge of all students regardless of race, and culture, by learning accurate American Indian environmental issues, and other experiences of ?tribal-like? populations from around the World to be utilized in individual professional endeavors. American Indian tribes are sovereign governments, with inherent and Constitutional powers of self-governance over their citizens and their territories. Historically, tribes had utilized a governance structure to advance and maintain natural resources, traditional diets, life styles, food sources, spiritually that respects earthly harmony, and preservation of resources for future generations. Case studies will be used that utilize current best or promising practices that have served as model programs to address diabetes, smoking, cancer, integration of traditional healing, health policy, community engagement, private sector partnerships, and tribal self-determination in health and wellness systems. This course will offer an examination of historical environmental health case studies and the resulting inequities to justify methods for learning and gaining confidence in working with tribal communities, establishing collaborations to improve awareness of social and cultural contexts, honoring traditional customs, and respecting traditional spiritually practices. The focus of the course will be promotion/development of policies that include tribal participation that advances positive tribal public and environmental health. This course is designed to help students understand how to work respectfully and effectively with tribes and American Indian communities, to understand the accurate environmental history and historical trauma as it relates to understanding health inequities and the devastating health issues currently experienced by American Indians. Constructs learned from this course can be advantageous for students to adapt to other unique populations around the world. Learning the promotion and or development of policies that include community participation are critical to understanding readiness to foster public and environmental health for all populations.

As sovereign nations, American Indian Tribes are responsible for the overall health and well-being of their members. Tribes are becoming increasingly involved in more public health activities and regulation, and deliver public health services through various funding sources, grants, and contracts, alone or in collaboration with other tribes and local, county, and state health departments. The history of American Indians pre and post colonization will be discussed as it relates to the health and wellness of present day American Indians. There are significant Indigenous knowledge lessons that will be shared from American Indians who lived and continue to live upon their land (including forced relocation to non-traditional land) to help understand the relationship to the land culture and its other inhabitants today. While this course focuses on American Indian history, there are many parallels that will be discussed as this history relates to other oppressed populations. These historical lessons help fortify the knowledge of all students regardless of race, and culture, by learning accurate American Indian history, and other experiences of ?tribal-like? populations from around the World to be utilized in individual professional endeavors. American Indian tribes have had a unique history with the United States that is mixed with conflict, warfare, lack of cooperation, and lack of collaboration. This history has resulted in a complex unique web of federal Indian policy, treaties, and inter- governmental relationships. Services provided to American Indians persons have been guaranteed through treaties, executive orders, and other legal bases. The US Constitution established the current ?government to government? status federally recognized tribes and tribal organizations have with the federal government. In this course students will learn about the legal responsibility of the United States to the 574 federally recognized tribes and tribal organizations, to provide health services to American Indians. Students will examine the public health issues facing American Indian communities by reviewing historical implications of forced acculturation, warfare, and severely underfunded health services, that has lead to health inequities. Students will examine the health status of American Indian tribes and American Indian communities, that have/are suffering needless loss of life related to preventable and treatable illness as a matter of social justice and civil rights. The hostile environment against American Indians and resulting historical trauma from the federal government will be discussed, e.g. the United State voted against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People in 2007. The United States subsequently reversed to approve in 2010. This course is designed to help students understand how to work respectfully and effectively with tribes and American Indian communities, to understand the accurate history and historical trauma as it relates to understanding health inequities and the devastating health issues currently experienced by American Indians. Constructs learned from this course can be advantageous for students to adapt to other unique populations around the world.

How a society's social interactions, past and present, yield differential exposures and differences in health outcomes between persons who make up populations. New disease-specific risk factors. How well-known exposures emerge and are maintained by social system.

Population health is the field of practice and research concerned with the health of groups of individuals and the equitable distribution of health within these groups. Populations may be defined by geographic area, by social and economic characteristics such as gender, socio-economic status, and race/ethnicity, by disease states such as persons with mental illness or diabetes, or by enrollment in a health care plan or utilization of a specific health care organization. Population health takes an upstream approach, focusing on the social determinants of health and fundamental issues of health equity. While improving population health requires the involvement of multiple sectors such as public health agencies, health departments, education, housing, faith-based organizations and criminal justice, here we focus on how population heath can be addressed from within the health system through partnerships with other sectors. Using case studies, we will explore how population health innovations are applied by health systems.

Women's health conditions, programs, services, and policies in developed/developing countries. Social, economic, environmental, behavioral, and political factors affecting health behaviors, reproductive health, chronic and acute diseases, premature mortality and longevity. prereq: Grad level student

This course is focused on 1) major causes of illness at each phase of fetal, infant, and child development, 2) how the social determinants of health interact with underlying biology in early life to shape health over the life course, and 3) evidence-based child public health programs and interventions.

This two-credit course focuses on the major public health issues of adolescents and the programs and policies that impact the health and well-being of this population. Course readings and discussion focus primarily on adolescents in the United States, although international contexts are also considered. The course is designed to examine the prevalence and etiology of health and wellness indicators for youth, including mental health; sexual and reproductive health; physical activity and nutrition; and prevention of tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use, violence involvement, and injury. In addition, the course analyzes contemporary social movements and issues that impact adolescents through a public health lens (e.g., Black Lives Matter, DACA and the DREAM Act, achievement gap, inequitable distribution of wealth and economic opportunities, gender equity, civic engagement). The course is designed for graduate public health students with professional interests in preventive interventions to reduce health inequities. Students in other related health professions (e.g., medicine, nursing) or human services professions (e.g., public affairs, social work) with an interest in health issues are also welcome. The course meets the requirement for the Health Equity Minor in the School of Public Health.

Programs, services, and policies that affect women's health in the United States. Methodological issues in research. Emphasizes social, economic, environmental, behavioral, and political factors. Measurement/interpretation of factors, how they translate into interventions, programs, and policies.

Design has always played a significant role in public health, including the birth of Public Health, where John Snow discovered that a poorly designed water pump placement (sanitary system design) was the root cause of an 1854 cholera outbreak in London. Today, while the challenges facing public health leaders, researchers and practitioners have changed, the need for Human Centered Design (HCD) competencies such as systems thinking, interdisciplinary collaboration and creativity, has only become more apparent. 21st Century public health problems are what designers refer to as ?wicked problems? or those problems that are difficult or impossible to solve in the traditional sense because they are complex, long-term and constantly evolving, requiring a new set of tools and approaches well suited for HCD. HCD in public health is an applied research and innovation framework that: 1) prioritizes understanding the lived experiences of those individuals and populations most familiar with, and impacted by, a challenge; 2) recognizes the role of power and privilege in designing public health systems; 3) involves an inclusive and collaborative approach throughout the design process, and; 4) promotes iterative prototyping of assumptions and ideas to learn quickly and safely into unknowns. Those looking to address complex public health challenges such as obesity, mental illness, poverty or health disparities, will need to learn how to master a variety of practices that support cross-sectored collaboration, systems thinking, creativity, experimentation and equity: Human Centered Design is an effective compliment, convener and enhancer to other core public health, public policy and health system management policies and practices. This course is an introduction to Human Centered Design for 21st century public health leadership, practice and research and is a prerequisite for PUBH 6262 Human Centered Design for Public Health Studio I: Applying HCD for Community Health Innovations.

This course will cover some of the broad issues related to rural context, social determinants of health, health care, and health disparities, with the purpose to provide an introduction to the field of rural health. The focus of the course will primarily be on the U.S., although it will touch on the global context and students are welcome to explore rural health issues in other countries in some of their assignments.

Social-psychological processes that shape experience of mental health/illness. Consequences of disorders for individuals, families, and communities. Epidemiology research, theories of mental health/illness. Effect of policies related to organizing/financing services.

This introductory course is intended for junior faculty, post-docs, graduate students and community practitioners interested in adding CBPR to their repertoire of effective approaches to understanding and addressing social and health disparities. Topics will explore the purpose and applications of CBPR; partnership formation and maintenance; issues of power, trust, race, class, and social justice; conflict resolution; ethical issues; CBPR's relationship to cultural knowledge systems, and funding CBPR projects. This is NOT a methodology course. CBPR is an approach to conducting research that is amenable to a variety of research designs and methodologies and will NOT cover topics such as survey design, quantitative methods, qualitative methods, focus groups, community needs assessment procedures, etc.

Public health problems associated with armed conflict; interdisciplinary perspective with emphasis on analyzing the complexities. Consequences of mass displacement, effects on community and family, women's roles and experiences, trauma and healing. Health intervention strategies. Seminar discussion format.

Major theoretical debates. Classic and contemporary theoretical approaches to studying U.S. race relations; contemporary and historical experiences of specific racial and ethnic groups.

Definition/importance of culture as dimension of social life. Structural/Durkheimian approaches, cultural Marxism, practice theory. Cultural creation/reception. Identities as cultural formations. Culture/social inequality. Culture and race. Cultural construction of social problems. Culture and globalization.

Community practice, including community organizing, policy advocacy, social service/change leadership. prereq: [5051, 5101, 8151, 8152, 8153, 8154] or MSW Adv Standing or instr consent

This interdisciplinary course examines the causes and consequences of place-based health disparities in cities, explores how health disparities can be mitigated and exacerbated by urban planning decisions, and introduces best practices in urban planning for achieving community health equity. The course will involve extensive readings, guest lectures, field-based assignments, data-collection activities, and local community involvement. Twin Cities has one of the largest disparities in health outcomes in the nation and local practitioners are pioneering new urban planning solutions to reduce place-based health disparities. The course will utilize this location advantage and use the region as an immersive learning environment. Students are expected to apply knowledge and skills learned in the class locally in the Twin Cities region. At the end of the course, students will be able to: Understand the historical foundations, current trends and challenges, and international perspectives in connecting urban planning to health equity issues; investigate how various planning sectors and urban environment dimensions, including land use, transportation, open space, housing, food systems, and community social capital, interact to affect health disparities in cities; critically evaluate how existing planning processes and decisions respond to the needs of vulnerable populations and contribute to health equity; and develop skills to engage communities and identifying community-sensitive solutions for reducing place-based health disparities. Fulfills a requirement for graduate Health Equity Minor (http://www.sph.umn.edu/academics/minor/health-equity/).

Policymaking/politics of planning in housing, community development, social policy. Connecting policy to local/regional politics. Role of institutional decision-making structures on policy outcomes. Importance of citizens, social movements, interest groups in policymaking process.

Marginalized populations tend to be viewed as objects of social policy, passive victims, or a cause of social problems. Processes of marginalization we will explore in this class include: structural racism, colonization, economic exclusion and exploitation, gender bias, and more. Policy and research are typically driven by mainstream/dominant society members with little direct knowledge about the real lives of people on the margins. This can lead to misguided actions, misunderstandings, paternalism, unintended negative consequences, and further marginalization and/or stigmatization. In this course, we will learn about community-engaged research methodologies such as participatory action research (PAR) and community-based participatory research (CPBR). We will use case studies to explore the challenges, rewards, and ethical implications of these community-engaged approaches to research and policy-making. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, sex trafficking, housing, and youth work. Instructors and students in the course will work together on a real-world research and policy challenge so that students contribute to ongoing work in the field in real-time.

GAINS: Gender and Intersectional Network Series, Leadership Workshop prepares students with the skills to lead effectively and challenge institutional norms and practices that perpetuate disparities based on gender, race and other structural inequalities. Women, racially marginalized individuals, and LGBTI-identified individuals are still disproportionately underrepresented in leadership roles in public, private, and nonprofit institutions in spite of high rates of educational attainment and equal opportunity legislation. Women of color and indigenous women face even greater obstacles to advancement compared to white women. Barriers to diverse leadership today stem less from overt discrimination and more from “second generation” forms of bias – often invisible but still powerful cultural beliefs as well as workplace structures and practices. Achieving leadership parity thus entails individual, collective and institutional change. Course pedagogy includes case studies, group discussions, self-reflection and simulations that have been proven to have a lasting impact on individual leaders in developing their own leadership capacity. Guest speakers offer potential role models and share their leadership perspectives. The workshop and two-semester format of the course allows students to benefit from a cohort model of learning and develop their own network of practice. Moreover, GAINS focuses not just on individual leadership development, but also organizational and systems level change. Students of all genders interested in addressing personal and institutional barriers to advancement that are rooted in gender inequalities and their intersections with race and other forms of inequality are welcome to enroll. To get the most out of the network and cohort development aspects of this course, students are encouraged to participate for two semesters.

GAINS: Gender and Intersectional Network Series, Leadership Workshop prepares students with the skills to lead effectively and challenge institutional norms and practices that perpetuate disparities based on gender, race and other structural inequalities. Women, racially marginalized individuals, and LGBTI-identified individuals are still disproportionately underrepresented in leadership roles in public, private, and nonprofit institutions in spite of high rates of educational attainment and equal opportunity legislation. Women of color and indigenous women face even greater obstacles to advancement compared to white women. Barriers to diverse leadership today stem less from overt discrimination and more from ?second generation? forms of bias ? often invisible but still powerful cultural beliefs as well as workplace structures and practices. Achieving leadership parity thus entails individual, collective and institutional change. Course pedagogy includes case studies, group discussions, self-reflection and simulations that have been proven to have a lasting impact on individual leaders in developing their own leadership capacity. Guest speakers offer potential role models and share their leadership perspectives. The workshop and two-semester format of the course allows students to benefit from a cohort model of learning and develop their own network of practice. Moreover, GAINS focuses not just on individual leadership development, but also organizational and systems level change. Students of all genders interested in addressing personal and institutional barriers to advancement that are rooted in gender inequalities and their intersections with race and other forms of inequality are welcome to enroll. To get the most out of the network and cohort development aspects of this course, students are encouraged to participate for two semesters.

Application of economic reasoning to a wide range of contemporary public policy issues. The following topically-focused courses also fulfill the MPP economics requirement: PA 5431: Public Policies on Work and Pay, PA 5503: Economics of Development, PA 5521: Development Planning and Policy Analysis, PA 5722: Economics of Natural Resource and Environmental Policy, and PA 5805: Global Economics. prereq: 5021 or equiv

This course examines the impact of contemporary immigration in the U.S. on urban planning and public affairs. Through a review of canonical scholarship and contemporary research, it engages several issues including migration theory, an exploration of immigrant settlement patterns, labor market outcomes for immigrants, and community development in immigrant communities. The course concludes with a focus on how urban planners and public policy makers can work more effectively with immigrants in the U.S.

American Indian health-related problems and the lack of adequate health care and services has resulted in a disproportionate burden of disease and social suffering on the population. History indicates that time and again health inequities are directly and indirectly associated with colonization, social support, hope, general resilient coping abilities, traditional cultural and spiritual practices, ethnic pride/enculturation, community mastery, and political inequities. It is also important to understand how American Indians ?survived? to this day. Resilience is a major factor in understanding health and wellness equity. It is also important to understand the unique differences between each of the 574 tribal governances, cultural traditions, respect for elders, community reciprocity, historical trauma, kinship, food security, healing, economy, social dependence and extended family of each of the 574 federally recognized tribes and American Indian Communities. While this course focuses on American Indian public health and wellness equity, there are many parallels that will be discussed as this history relates to other oppressed populations. These historical lessons help fortify the knowledge of all students regardless of race, and culture, by learning accurate American Indian heath and wellness equity issues, and other experiences of ?tribal-like? populations from around the World that can be utilized in individual professional endeavors. From the earliest days of colonization, the diseases brought from the ?Old World? proved far more lethal than any weapon in the European arsenal. Infectious diseases, including measles, smallpox, and plague, among others, annihilated entire communities lost forever from history. The toll taken by infectious disease, when combined with the effects of war, the expulsion of virtually all American Indians from their ancestral lands, and the destruction of traditional American Indian ways of life, effectively destroyed the historical governance structures previously employed by American Indians. As a consequence, American Indians became dependent on the federal government for the provision of health services as noted in the U.S. Constitution. American Indians are dying of preventable diseases including: diabetes, alcoholism, tuberculosis, suicide, unintentional injuries, and other health conditions at shocking rates above the general U.S. population. This course will discuss the differences of health disparities and health assets from the Northern Plains Tribes to other regional areas and other populations. The course will offer examples about communication plans, hopelessness behaviors, public perceptions, resilience, and social marketing in Indian Country. Constructs learned from this course can be advantageous for students to adapt to other unique populations around the world. Learning how American Indian?s resiliences and assets have allowed this population to exist today are valid examples that can be utilized (with adaptations) for non-American Indian populations.