UIC School of Public Health Student Handbook 2008-2009

MPH Program at the UIC College of Medicine at Peoria

The MPH program based at the UIC College of Medicine at Peoria (UICOM-Peoria) offers a professional enhancement MPH degree. The program is offered through the UIC School of Public Health division of Community Health Sciences (CHS) in coordination with UICOM-Peoria and the UIC College of Nursing, Peoria Regional Program and complements the UICOM-Peoria Program in Population and Community Health. Students will complete the program using a combination of online distance learning and Peoria-based instruction. Students will also have the option of taking courses at the School of Public Health in Chicago. Student admission and performance standards are the same as those for students at the Chicago campus.

The MPH Professional Enhancement Program (PEP) is a 42 semester hour program for medical, nursing, and public health professionals working in public health organizations or in community settings. The admission criteria require the applicant to have a bachelor's or advanced degree in a health or related profession plus 3 years of paid public health or community health experience. Physicians in training, including medical students and physicians in residency training programs, must also complete a field experience (5 semester hours) in addition to the 34 semester hours.

Community Health Sciences (CHS): MPH Learning Objectives

In addition to the school-wide learning objectives, for students pursuing the MPH degree in Community Health Science, the following objectives apply:

1. Design and develop approaches to public health problems, taking into account community and cultural health definitions, culturally-based health behaviors, and cultural communication styles in planning and implementing effective programs and evaluations. These approaches also involve the community in assessing health needs, selecting a program approach, and planning, implementing and evaluating health programs.
2. Work effectively in cross-cultural settings and with culturally diverse communities, promote cultural competence within an organization, and compare culturally appropriate public health interventions cross-culturally within the U.S. and internationally.
3. Access and use national/state/local data sets for data management, determining statistical significance of data; analyze primary and secondary data; monitor data gathering; and review data analysis. Use data and community assessment information to develop solutions to complex public health problems and demonstrate creative problem solving.
4. Design a health education program for a specific audience, including selecting an appropriate intervention strategy, program objectives and evaluation, and include a rationale for all decisions. They also will know when and how to use principles of mass media communication in selecting/designing a health education intervention.
5. Analyze public health policy, regulation and/or legislation; design a policy position; write a policy statement; design and implement an advocacy plan promoting the policy; and defend a policy position in a controversial area.
6. Identify components of a good research design; create a simple quantitative and qualitative research study; select the quantitative, qualitative or combination of analytical methods research process appropriate for a particular public health research problem; select/monitor appropriate research tools; select the qualitative research method appropriate for a public health research problem; and explain how qualitative research will "interact" with public health data sets and other quantitative information.

General MPH Curricular Policies: See http://www.uic.edu/sph/shandbook_mph.htm

* Field Experience

The Field Experience provides the student with practical experience in a public health setting. The overall learning objective of the Field Experience is for the student to apply and integrate the skills and knowledge learned during their graduate study in a real-world application. The Field Experience is required of all MPH students, with the majority being required to complete a 5 credit (320 contact hours) assignment. Some students may qualify for a reduced practicum of 3 credits (192 contact hours) depending on their prior public health experience and career goals, and would need to discuss this possibility within their chosen division.

The field experience may be waived on an individual basis based upon a student’s demonstration of a Bachelor’s or advanced degree in a health or related profession plus 3 years of paid public health experience. A prior professional degree without public health experience; or prior work experience that is not closely related to the academic objectives of the student’s degree program; are not sufficient reason for waiving the practice requirement. If petitioning to waive the field practicum, please attach supporting documentation including a resume and letter explaining relevant public health experiences and how these experiences relate to the field practicum learning objectives found in the SPH student handbook General MPH Curricular Policies.

** CHS Capstone Requirements

Learning Objectives of Capstone Requirement:

Required Courses:

All students must complete the following two course requirements:

1. IPHS 650 Field Experience in Public Health (0-5 SH)
2. IPHS 698 MPH Capstone Experience (1 SH)

Capstone Requirements:

IPHS 650 Field Experience in Public Health - Most students are required to complete a field experience of 5 credits (320 contact hours). Some students may qualify for a reduced practicum of 3 credits (192 contact hours) or a full waiver depending on their prior public health experience and career goals.

All students are required to submit reflective journal entries to their faculty advisor to evaluate student performance. The reflective journal helps the student to synthesize the experience and to assess how the skills and knowledge gained during graduate study can be applied and integrated in a public health setting.

Master’s Paper and Oral Presentation- Each student is required to complete a Master’s Paper and make an oral presentation of his/her work. In addition to the required IPHS 698, students may take up to two hours of Independent Study (IPHS 596) credit toward their Master’s Paper.

The purpose of the Master’s Paper is for the CHS student to be able to integrate health principles and knowledge of some aspect of the public health field at the end of the student’s study period. The paper may be drawn from previous course work and may incorporate results of a community survey, an analysis of secondary data, a literature review , an environmental impact statement, a grant proposal, a position paper, a program evaluation, etc.

NOTE: Students who are doing research involving human subjects will need to undergo training and have their protocols approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Evaluation / Grading Procedures:

The CHS capstone experience will be evaluated in four ways:

1. Evaluation of the field experience/practicum by the student, student’s practicum preceptor, and faculty advisor
2. Evaluation of the Master’s Paper by the student’s advisor and a second faculty member
3. Evaluation of the oral presentation by the faculty in attendance
4. 4. Review by the advisor and a second faculty member to assure the practicum and Master’s Paper together meet the capstone goals as established