General Information
Introduction
| PDF version |  |
Welcome to Community Health Sciences Field Studies! For Students new to Community Health Sciences, this is your opportunity to spend time in the field practicing newly acquired skills. For students with background and experience in Community Health Sciences, this will be an opportunity to hone your skills and have experience in new or different areas of interest. Whatever your status, this will be your time to learn and master the reality of community health. A planned, supervised field experience and the preparation leading to it fosters professional development in several areas:
- The application of public health core knowledge and specialty skills
- The development of new practice-based skills
- Attention to professional self-assessment and personal growth.
The Department of Community Health Sciences focuses on health-related behaviors of individuals within the context of the social structure, community health care systems, and family units. Of particular interest is how health-related behaviors of individuals are influenced by and interact with conditions in the social, political, cultural, physical and biological environment to influence health status with particular emphasis on identifying, evaluating and discouraging health-damaging behaviors and facilitating health-promoting behaviors. The department's curriculum seeks to integrate basic and applied public health theories and methods in applying them to real problems of human populations. Assessment, planning and evaluation are common themes in the department's educational programs.
All students registered in the Master of Public Health Program in Community Health Sciences are required to complete a 400 hour field experience in an appropriate setting. Settings may include hospitals, managed care organizations, government agencies or departments, community organizations, advocacy programs or other related health setting.
The entire field experience and integrative process takes approximately a year, beginning with the field experience search process, experiencing the field placement, and ending with the associated written product.
The field studies website provides important information that will help you to plan your field studies search and activities.