HEALTH BEHAVIOR

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.

Planning a Program of Study

PhD Program Planning Template

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

 

Specialization Area

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 Exam

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.

Dissertation Proposal

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

Final Dissertation Defense Meeting

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.