Doctoral Program (Ph.D.) in Health Behavior and Health Education

Core Curriculum

The basic core curriculum of the program consists of three doctoral seminars, a minimum of three additional substantive courses offered by the Department, two courses in research methods, two advanced level courses in statistics, and two terms of supervised research experience. Students must also achieve a basic level of proficiency in Biostatistics and Epidemiology.

Doctoral Seminar Requirements

Doctoral students are required to take HBHE 800, a professional socialization seminar, two times during the course of their PhD program; HBHE 685, which focuses on conceptually- or theory-driven interventions at the community level; and HBHE 686, which focuses on conceptually- or theory-driven interventions at the individual level.

Note that a new doctoral seminar focusing on socio-structural influences on individual and population health is expected to be offered beginning in the 2008-2009 academic year.

Additional HBHE Courses:

Doctoral students must also take three substantive courses offered within the Department, in addition to any HBHE courses taken to satisfy the Research Methods requirement. The selection of specific courses to satisfy this requirement should be made in consultation with the student's advisor.

Biostatistics:

Usually, a student must successfully complete one of the following courses to fulfill the Biostatistics requirement: Statistics 400, Biostatistics 503, or Biostatistics 553. A student has satisfied the biostatistics requirement if s/he has completed any of these courses at the University of Michigan within the last five years with a grade of B or better. If an HBHE doctoral student has taken a similar biostatistics course at another institution prior to coming to SPH, s/he can request a waiver of this requirement through the Biostatistics Department. Exemption from the biostatistics requirement may also be attained by successful completion of the exemption examination. The exemption exam is open book and a calculator is required.

Epidemiology:

A student has satisfied the epidemiology requirement if s/he has successfully completed Epidemiology 503, Epidemiology 600, or Epidemiology 601 at the University of Michigan. If an HBHE doctoral student has taken an epidemiology course at another institution prior to coming to SPH, the HBHE doctoral curriculum committee can decide to approve the course for fulfilling the SPH requirement in epidemiology. In addition, a student may exempt from the epidemiology requirement by successfully completing the exemption examination. The exemption examination is based on the Epidemiology 503 course material. Students may sign up for the examination by contacting the Epidemiology Department Student Administration Coordinator.

Research Methods and Advanced Statistics:

The program requires a minimum of 6 hours of research methods and 6 hours of advanced statistics above and beyond the basic Biostatistics and Epidemiology course requirements. This requirement may be satisfied by courses offered outside the Department. In the past, students have satisfied these requirements by taking courses offered in HBHE, and by the Biostatistics, Psychology and/or Sociology Departments which are offered for graduate level credit. No exemptions are made for prior coursework in statistics and research methods.

Research Experience:

The intent of the research experience requirement is to enable the student to obtain "hands on" training in one or more ongoing research projects. Students are expected to participate in supervised research for at least two terms (the equivalent of 6 credit hours). This research can be conducted under the direction of a faculty member from either inside or outside the Department, and should be arranged in consultation with the student's faculty advisor. Students should register for 3 credit hours of HBHE 900 in the terms in which they fulfill this requirement. If the research experience requirement is to be fulfilled with work under the direction of a faculty member from outside the department, the selection of a mentor should be made with the approval of the student's advisor. Students should register for directed research credit with that individual if possible; if registration is not possible in the mentor's department, the student should register for HBHE 900 with his/her advisor.