Public Health & Health Equity

Program Goals:

Public Health & Health Equity Program Goals

• Students will demonstrate understanding of social, economic, environmental, and legal factors that shape health inequities. (Introduced)
• Students will understand a variety of strategies for reducing health inequities.
• Students will understand the nature of health disparities that exist across populations locally and globally and their underlying causes.
• Students will appreciate how a range of non-biological factors influences the health of individuals and populations.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to engage in critical analysis of complex issues related to public health and health equity. (Introduced)
• Students will apply perspectives from multiple disciplines to understand cases of health inequity and to appreciate or develop strategies for reducing the inequity.
• Students will engage in data-based analyses of cases of health inequity.
• Students will be able to synthesize a wide range of factors to produce meaningful analyses of complex cases of health inequity.
• Students will be able to utilize a variety of qualitative data collection and analysis approaches.
• Students will be able to utilize a variety of quantitative data collection and analysis approaches.
• Students will develop leadership skills, including the ability to communicate effectively in oral and written modes. (Introduced)
• Students will clearly state and support all arguments coherently and with evidence of critical thinking, systematically organize and analyze data, and use correct citation formats. Students will deliver oral and written work that is appropriately designed for a variety of audiences.
• Students will be familiar with anti-oppressive research methodologies and will possess the ability to develop a new area of health equity research. (Introduced)
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of the history of research with communities of color, and critical engagement with epistemological, ethical and political issues related to research.

Core Goals:

Critical Analysis

• Students will critically analyze information and ideas. (Introduced)
• Students will analyze information from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and will consider the historical development of the field as well as current themes.
• Students will examine issues from multiple perspectives. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will analyze information from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and will consider the historical development of the field as well as current themes.
• Students will engage in an exploration of the relationship between past systems of knowledge and present scholarly and creative approaches within and across disciplines. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will analyze information from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and will consider the historical development of the field as well as current themes.
• Students will consider how our understanding of significant questions and ideas is informed by the critical, scholarly, and creative approaches through which we approach those questions and ideas. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will analyze information from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and will consider the historical development of the field as well as current themes.
• Students will develop discernment, facility and ethical responsibility in using information. (Introduced)
• Students will consider ethical and moral obligations of society to provide for public health.
• Students will engage as active participants in the College's intellectual community. (Introduced)
• Students will be able to contribute perspectives gained in class to the broader campus.

Race, Gender & Power

• Students will demonstrate the ability to analyze race and gender as socially constructed, dynamic identity categories related to systems of power and privilege. (Introduced)
• Students will learn about race, gender and power, their intersections with other identities, and how these constructs affect public health.
• Students will analyze the ways in which race and gender intersect with other identity categories including sexuality, class, ethnicity, religion, disability, age, citizenship and nationality. (Introduced)
• Students will learn about race, gender and power, their intersections with other identities, and how these constructs affect public health.
• Students will demonstrate familiarity with the ways that marginalized communities have resisted structures of power through social movements, civic engagement, artistic expression, and scholarship. (Introduced)
• Students will learn about ways in which communities that experience poorer health outcomes are engage in the process of change, and will be required to work and communicate effectively with the diversity of individuals in the class.
• Students will be able to engage with the intellectual and theoretical contributions of marginalized communities, and contrast them with dominant perspectives. (Introduced)
• Students will learn about ways in which communities that experience poorer health outcomes are engage in the process of change, and will be required to work and communicate effectively with the diversity of individuals in the class.
• Students will communicate effectively across differences with an understanding of their own social location. (Introduced)
• Students will learn about ways in which communities that experience poorer health outcomes are engage in the process of change, and will be required to work and communicate effectively with the diversity of individuals in the class.

Program Goals:

Public Health & Health Equity Program Goals

• Students will demonstrate understanding of social, economic, environmental, and legal factors that shape health inequities. (Mastered)
• Students will understand the nature of health disparities that exist across populations locally and globally and their underlying causes.
• Students will understand a variety of strategies for reducing health inequities.
• Students will appreciate how a range of non-biological factors influences the health of individuals and populations.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to engage in critical analysis of complex issues related to public health and health equity. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will apply perspectives from multiple disciplines to understand cases of health inequity and to appreciate or develop strategies for reducing the inequity.
• Students will be able to synthesize a wide range of factors to produce meaningful analyses of complex cases of health inequity.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to apply skills and competencies learned in the classroom to a community and/or clinical setting working with communities of color and other marginalized populations. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will reflect on the connections between their academic work and their community engagement work.
• Students will be able to interact effectively with community organizations and individuals with diverse identities, including identities grounded in race, class, gender, sexuality and national origin.
• Students will work to improve health outcomes of people of color and other marginalized members of the community by addressing non-biological health factors.
• Students will develop leadership skills, including the ability to communicate effectively in oral and written modes. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of principles of group-centered and participatory leadership and apply these skills in the context of group-work in classroom or co-curricular activities.
• Students will be able to collaborate effectively with individuals with diverse perspectives and backgrounds.

Core Goals:

Community Engagement

• Students will apply concepts and skills explored in their Mills education (or specific service learning class if relevant) in a practical community based context. (Mastered)
• Students will directly address the social determinants of health, which is a foundational theme in Public Health and Health Equity, in their work with individual patients and the systems that influence their lives. Students will work with individuals who represent living examples of health inequities, and take concrete steps to improve the health outcomes of those individuals.
• Student​s​ will demonstrate the ability to engage with community organizations on projects that are meaningful to both the organizations and students. (Mastered)
• Students will intern at an Alameda County Department of Health facility to provide support for the hospital and the patients served there. Students will work with a team of fellow students and hospital staff to carry out the mission of the Department.
• Students will develop the ability to engage in thoughtful, self-reflective and ethical collaboration in a community setting. (Practiced)
• Students will work with their team members and engage empathetically and professionally with their clients. Because the students will be serving a population with lower SES, some clients may be challenging to engage with and to support. Students will draw upon their training and their own resourcefulness to offer excellent patient care. Students will engage in group supervisions in which they will reflect on their experiences under the guidance of the Program Directors.

Program Goals:

Public Health & Health Equity Program Goals

• Students will demonstrate understanding of social, economic, environmental, and legal factors that shape health inequities. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will understand a variety of strategies for reducing health inequities.
• Students will understand the nature of health disparities that exist across populations locally and globally and their underlying causes.
• Students will appreciate how a range of non-biological factors influences the health of individuals and populations
• Students will demonstrate the ability to engage in critical analysis of complex issues related to public health and health equity. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will be able to synthesize a wide range of factors to produce meaningful analyses of complex cases of health inequity.
• Students will be able to utilize a variety of qualitative data collection and analysis approaches.
• Students will be able to utilize a variety of quantitative data collection and analysis approaches.
• Students will apply perspectives from multiple disciplines to understand cases of health inequity and to appreciate or develop strategies for reducing the inequity.
• Students will engage in data-based analyses of cases of health inequity.
• Students will develop leadership skills, including the ability to communicate effectively in oral and written modes. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will clearly state and support all arguments coherently and with evidence of critical thinking, systematically organize and analyze data, and use correct citation formats. Students will deliver oral and written work that is appropriately designed for a variety of audiences.
• Students will be familiar with anti-oppressive research methodologies and will possess the ability to develop a new area of health equity research. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will be able to utilize published health equity research. Students will be able to design execute a research project involving data collection, analysis and dissemination.
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of the history of research with communities of color, and critical engagement with epistemological, ethical and political issues related to research.

Core Goals:

Critical Analysis

• Students will critically analyze information and ideas. (Practiced)
• By studying a series of important health equity topics in depth, students will be able to present informed analyses of health equity issues. They will gain practice reading and discuss primary research articles and other resources, enabling them to understand the sources of healthy equity information. Students will also complete a research paper, developed throughout the course, on a focused topic.
• Students will examine issues from multiple perspectives. (Practiced)
• Students will study the complex factors that contribute to health inequalities and strategies for reducing them. They will gain appreciation of multiple perspectives on health equity topics from the presentations of the instructor and the varied source material and primary research articles that will be required reading. Frequent discussions will give students opportunities to hear from the perspectives in the classroom.
• Students will engage in an exploration of the relationship between past systems of knowledge and present scholarly and creative approaches within and across disciplines. (Practiced)
• Students will read writings from the primary literature, both classic texts and current scholarship. In this context, they will analyze a variety of types of data and gain an appreciation for approaches taken to address health inequities, including those generated by marginalized groups within the U.S. and by groups in other countries. Students will learn how historical social stratification shaped health inequities and continue to influence them today. Students will also study examples, both past and present, in which actors attempted to address health disparities, and analyze the outcomes of those attempts.
• Students will consider how our understanding of significant questions and ideas is informed by the critical, scholarly, and creative approaches through which we approach those questions and ideas. (Practiced)
• Students will analyze a variety of types of data presented in scholarly texts and articles. Students will study examples in which actors attempted to address health disparities, and analyze the outcomes of those attempts, including work of marginalized groups within and outside the U.S.
• Students will develop discernment, facility and ethical responsibility in using information. (Practiced)
• Students will approach health as a human right, and will engage in analysis of health disparities in Oakland and Alameda County. Students will also produce a research paper, developed throughout the course. Within those and other contexts, students will consider ethical issues in the production of their scholarship.
• Students will engage as active participants in the College's intellectual community. (Practiced)
• Students will bring their perspective on health inequities to other campus spaces, including those that deal explicitly with student health. Students will contribute to health equity-based campus programs, including those presented by the Public Health and Health Equity Program, and the HEAL+ student club (Health Equity and Leadership +).

International Perspectives

• Students will reflect on their value systems and way of understanding the world and understand that these are not universal. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will analyze a variety of types of data and gain an appreciation for approaches taken to address health inequities, including those generated by marginalized groups within the U.S. and by groups in other countries.
• Students will analyze the history, arts, politics, language, economy of a non-Western national context using scholarly or creative perspectives from the culture being studied and demonstrate the ability to contrast these with dominant US perspectives. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will analyze a variety of types of data and gain an appreciation for approaches taken to address health inequities, including those generated by marginalized groups within the U.S. and by groups in other countries.
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of at least one ethnic or national group and its experiences outside of the United States. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will analyze a variety of types of data and gain an appreciation for approaches taken to address health inequities, including those generated by marginalized groups within the U.S. and by groups in other countries.
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of intellectual and/or creative contributions from at least one culture, country, or region outside of the United States. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will analyze a variety of types of data and gain an appreciation for approaches taken to address health inequities, including those generated by marginalized groups within the U.S. and by groups in other countries.

Race, Gender & Power

• Students will demonstrate the ability to analyze race and gender as socially constructed, dynamic identity categories related to systems of power and privilege. (Introduced)
• Students will study how social, economic, environmental and legal factors shape health inequities. They will explore how the uneven distribution of power and wealth ongoing systems of oppression contribute to health inequities.
• Students will analyze the ways in which race and gender intersect with other identity categories including sexuality, class, ethnicity, religion, disability, age, citizenship and nationality. (Practiced)
• Students will study how social, economic, environmental and legal factors shape health inequities. They will explore how the uneven distribution of power and wealth ongoing systems of oppression contribute to health inequities.
• Students will demonstrate familiarity with the ways that marginalized communities have resisted structures of power through social movements, civic engagement, artistic expression, and scholarship. (Practiced)
• Students will analyze a variety of types of data and gain an appreciation for approaches taken to address health inequities, including those generated by marginalized groups within the U.S. and by groups in other countries.
• Students will be able to engage with the intellectual and theoretical contributions of marginalized communities, and contrast them with dominant perspectives. (Practiced)
• Students will analyze a variety of types of data and gain an appreciation for approaches taken to address health inequities, including those generated by marginalized groups within the U.S. and by groups in other countries.
• Students will communicate effectively across differences with an understanding of their own social location. (Introduced)
• Students will learn about ways in which different communities experience health outcomes, and will be required to work and communicate effectively with the diversity of individuals in the class.

Core Goals:

Quantitative Literacy

• Interpretation: Students will have the ability to explain information presented in mathematical and computational forms. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Accurately define statistical terms, concepts, and symbols.
• Accurately interpret information presented in graph formats.
• Representation: Students will be able to convert information into mathematical and computational forms analytically and/or using computational tools. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Identify relationships between formulas used in statistics (and their components) and statistical concepts.
• Correctly select an appropriate statistical test for a given set of data and conduct that test to answer a research question.
• Analysis: Students will be able to draw appropriate conclusions using mathematical or computational reasoning and understand the limits of such conclusions and the assumptions on which they are based. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Provide a correct interpretation of data, based on the results of a statistical analysis.
• Correctly identify Type I and Type II errors.
• Correctly identify limits of interpretation and distinguish between correlation and causation.
• Communication: Students will be able to communicate quantitative ideas in the languages of mathematics, computer science, or quantitative social sciences and will be able to utilize quantitative information in support of an argument. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Accurately complete hypothesis testing and correctly answer conceptual questions associated with the completion and logic of hypothesis testing.
• Accurately complete multiple linear regression analysis and correctly answer conceptual questions associated with the completion and logic of multiple linear regression analysis.
• Accurately define statistical terms, concepts, and symbols using language of statistics.