The doctoral program in Health Education and Behavior trains Health Behavior researchers for positions in academia, federal health agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, and for post-doctoral research fellowships.
The Graduate School requires that the PhD program include at least 90 credits beyond the bachelor’s degree work.
Within the first semester, PhD students will meet with their major professor and, if selected, their supervisory committee to brainstorm on suggestions for their program of study. After the meeting, the student and Major Professor take care of details such as deciding on final committee members (if the committee still isn’t complete) and putting together a formal program of study that will be approved by the Supervisory Committee. The Department provides students with a PhD Program Planning Template. In addition to specifying coursework in the various categories, the overall plan includes projected dates (semesters) for taking the qualifying examination, presenting a formal dissertation proposal, and defending the dissertation. The student and major professor also project a month and year for graduation. The dates may change, but the student and Supervisory Committee begin work with a projected calendar. All Supervisory Committee members sign the program of study.
**A copy of the approved program of study should be placed in the academic file by the end of the second semester.
Health Behavior Required Coursework: 27 Credit Hours
Credit Hours 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 |
Course Number HSC 5956 HSC 6318 PHC 6001 HSC 6603 HSC 6712 HSC 6735 HSC 7937 PET 5936 HLP 7939 |
Course Title Writing for Professional Publications Planning Health Education Programs Epidemiology & Public Health Theories of Health Behavior and Practice Evaluating Health Education Programs Research Methods in Health Education Advanced Seminar in Health Education Grant Writing HHP PhD Professional Development Seminar |
Research Methods and Statistics Coursework: 18 Credit Hours
Required Core: 6 credit hours
Credit Hours 3 3 |
Course Number STA 6126 STA 6127 |
Course Title Statistical Methods in Social Research I Statistical Methods in Social Research II |
Additional Courses Selected with Adviser Approval: At least 12 credit hours
Credit Hours 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 4 3 3 3 3 3 |
Course Number EDF 6436 EDF 6471 EDF 7412 EDF 7491 EDF 7439 EDF 7932 EDA 7985 STA 5503 STA 5507 GMS 6846 EDF 6475 EDF 7483 EDF 7479 NGR 6815 NGR 7814 SYA 6315 |
Course Title Theory of Measurement Survey Design and Analysis in Educational Research Structural Equation Models Evaluation of Educational Products and Systems Item Response Theory Multivariate Analysis in Educational Research Research Design in Education Categorical Data Analysis Applied Nonparametric Methods Meta-Analysis in Clinical, HSR, and Public Health Qualitative Foundations of Educational Research Qualitative Data Collection Qualitative Data Analysis Foundations of Qualitative Research in Nursing Field Methods for Health Related Research Qualitative Research Methods |
HLP 7979 Advanced Directed Research Requirement: 6 Credit Hours
Minor, Graduate Certificate Interest Area, or Elective Coursework: 24 credits*
Students who pursue a minor must comply with requirements specified by the minor department. By approval of the supervisory committee, students may select lecture and non-lecture courses in HEB to support the concentration in health behavior or their dissertation research focus, or select additional research and statistic courses.
*Transferred Coursework
Student may request to transfer up to 18 credit hours of previous graduate lecture coursework relevant to the field of health promotion, health education, and health behavior or their officially declared minor by approval of the supervisory committee and the HEB Graduate Program Advisory Committee.
Qualifying examinations (written portion and oral portion) must be completed during the Fall and Spring Semesters, or by the mid-point (end of week 3) of the Summer Session A Term. Qualifying examinations may not be scheduled during the Summer Session B Term. Upon conferring with their major professor students are responsible for scheduling their qualifying exam with their committee members and the graduate program assistant. Qualifying examinations include both written and oral components.
After conferring with their major professor, students are responsible for contacting committee members and arranging a date, time, and location for the oral portion of the qualifying examination some 2-3 weeks (10-15 work days) after the date set for the written portion.
Work closely with the Major Professor and Supervisory Committee at all stages in developing a dissertation proposal. Dissertations may use either the traditional format or a publishable paper format. Doctoral students and their supervisory committee will decide on the format prior to the date of the qualifying examination.
Students will prepare a dissertation proposal that includes 3 fully developed chapters consisting of the (1) Introduction, (2) Literature Review, and (3) Proposed Methodology or an agreed upon format for the publishable paper.
HLP 7980 Doctoral Dissertation Research Requirement: 15 Credit Hours Minimum
Dissertation final defense meetings must be completed during the Fall and Spring semesters, and by the mid-point (end of week 3) of the Summer Session A Term. Dissertation final defense meetings may not be scheduled during the Summer Session B Term. Final defense presentations typically last about 30 minutes. They often include a brief handout of the presentation outline and main points, and electronic presentation formats. Advisors help students decide on an appropriate presentation package.