Undergraduates are allowed to enroll in this course.
Description: This course provides an overview of trends in aging and health with a particular focus on health behaviors and health promotion. Age-related changes in health and health behavior and the impact of societal and personal attitudes toward aging on health behaviors will be discussed. Successful aging, an emerging paradigm for gerontology, will frame the discussion of strategies for facilitating optimal health behaviors among older adults. Current recommendations and practices and multi-level interventions that focus on specific health behaviors such as physical activity, smoking, nutrition, as well as chronic disease self-management, will be presented. Evidence of the impact of health behaviors on overall health and well-being for diverse populations will be presented and discussed.
Learning Objectives: Foundational Learning Objectives
Profession and Science of Public Health
1. Explain the role of quantitative and qualitative methods and sciences in describing and assessing a population's health
4. List major causes and trends of morbidity and mortality in the US
5. Discuss the science of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention in population health, including health promotion, screening, etc.
6. Explain the critical importance of evidence in advancing public health knowledge
Factors Related to Human Health
9. Explain behavioral and psychological factors that affect a population's health
10. Explain the social, political and economic determinants of health and how they contribute to population health and health inequities
