BASIC COMMUNITY PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE CERTIFICATE

The Basic Community Public Health Practice Campus Certificate (Basic CPHP) targets individuals with a bachelor's degree who are currently working in community, public health or other related fields and whose current or future position requires skills in applying a breadth of knowledge and expertise in assessing and addressing health problems in the community.

This certificate program in community health is offered entirely online and furthers the university's commitment to training public health professionals by offering courses to public health practitioners and students in other health professions who are not able to pursue a graduate public health degree.

Certificate program participants will acquire foundational knowledge and skills that are important for public health practice. These include:

• An understanding and appreciation of the basic principles of public health as a system and social enterprise
• Basic principles of epidemiology and of the social and behavioral determinants of health illness in populations
• Approaches to developing and carrying out community health improvement initiatives.

Together, these knowledge sets represent the core of public heath practice skills for assessing, understanding and effectively addressing priority health issues and problems in the community. Click here for a complete list of certificate program learning objectives and learner outcomes.

Who Should Apply?
The Basic CPHP certificate program is intended for:

• Health professions students and professionals with public health experience who wish to upgrade their community public health practice skills.
• Individuals interested in a shorter course of study in community health.
• Students enrolled in graduate programs at other institutions who may wish to transfer credits into their degree program at their current institution.

Basic Community Public Health Practice Campus Certificate
Course Requirements | 12 total credit hours

Public Health Concepts and Practice
CHSC 400 | 3 credit hours

CHSC 400 provides an overview of the philosophy, purpose, history, organization, functions, tools, activities and results of public health practice. Students are introduced to basic concepts, principles and information through online discussions, exercises and case studies. There are no prerequisites other than admission to the Certificate Program.

Behavioral Sciences in Public Health
CHSC 401 | 3 hours

CHSC 401 provides grounding in the social and behavioral sciences to assist students in understanding complex public health issues including analysis of individual, community, institutional and societal factors influencing health and illness. There are no prerequisites other than admission to the Certificate Program.

Community Assessment in Public Health
CHSC 431 | 3 hours

CHSC 431 provides an introduction to community assessment in health promotion and addresses concepts and models of community health and community social dynamics such as: community participation and capacity building; strategies for situated inquiry and use of existing indicators and ethical issues. Students will be involved in real world community health assessment activities. There are no prerequisites although it is recommended that students have completed or are simultaneously enrolled in CHSC 400 and EPID 400 before taking CHSC 431.

Principles of Epidemiology
EPID 400 | 3 hours

EPID 400 offers an introduction to descriptive and analytic epidemiology, determinants of health and disease in populations and application of epidemiologic methods to disease control; includes use of basic epidemiologic software. There are no prerequisites other than admission to the Certificate Program.