Areas of Interest

The department highlights four areas of interest:

 

Health and social policy A wide range of social policies—including but not limited to labor, poverty, family, housing, and educational policy—have a dramatic impact on health. This area of interest prepares students to design new and improve existing social policies and focuses on strategies for the successful implementation of social policies that improve health. Students who study in this area may be interested in working on public policy through research, within the government, or in a nonprofit organization.

Human development The department's emphasis on human development across the life course results from faculty research and interest in three areas: the physical, mental, and behavioral health and well-being of children and adolescents; basic developmental processes (including physical growth, nutrition, and psychological development); and growing attention to the impact of early-life conditions on long-term health and functioning. Course work includes material on physical growth and development, principles of psychological and social development, and longitudinal research methods. Research conducted by faculty members involves longitudinal studies of both at-risk and community samples, emphasizing cumulative risk and protective influences across the lifespan and implications for prevention, early intervention, and treatment strategies.

Planned social change This area of interest focuses on the application of theory in the design of intervention programs, as well as on research and evaluation methodology. The area includes work on interventions using randomized clinical trial designs and quasi-experimental approaches. Attention is given to the following design steps: problem diagnosis, assessment, formative research, program design, and evaluation. The social settings for interventions may be communities, workplaces, schools and colleges, and health care facilities. Populations of interest include those who are underserved, marginalized, and in special need. Intervention strategies include educational interventions, community organizing and development, social marketing, communication, adult-learning approaches, and advocacy.

Social determinants of health This area of interest emphasizes the analysis of the major social conditions that affect the health of populations. Research stresses socioeconomic position, social and economic inequality, discrimination, social networks and support, social capital, work conditions, and psychological states. Seminars, tutorials, and courses enable students to explore a range of the health consequences of various social factors by studying varied subgroups, at different times and places and under diverse and changing conditions. Students examine mechanisms and processes through which social factors exert their impact, and also investigate mechanisms that mediate or moderate relationships between social factors and health outcomes.