General Program (Competency-Based): BS in Public Health
Transform the quality of health and well-being in your community—while moving your career forward—with Walden’s BS in Public Health.
Transform the quality of health and well-being in your community—while moving your career forward—with Walden’s BS in Public Health.
Shape your future and the future of public health with Walden’s BS in Public Health program, which offers a variety of concentrations to help you meet your personal and professional goals.
The BS in Public Health competency-based degree completion option1 is ideal for busy working professionals like you. Your progress is measured by the mastery or demonstration of skills, abilities, and knowledge in a particular area of study.
Each competency has been carefully designed by expert faculty with input from employers, with your education and future employment in mind.
The General Program is also offered in the following degree completion options:
Students may be eligible to transfer up to 135 credits.
This represents the minimum credits for program completion. Time to completion will vary by student, depending on individual progress and credits transferred, if applicable. For a personalized estimate of your time to completion, call an enrollment advisor at 844-767-9522.
Build foundational knowledge of the principles and practice of safeguarding and improving the health of populations. Examine the philosophies, goals, history, and organization of the field of public health. Discuss the role of the government in improving the health and well-being of its citizens. This course explores key concepts of public health, including morbidity and mortality, infectious and chronic disease, social determinants of health, and health disparities within populations.
Effective advocacy through politics, policy, and professional associations is one method of improving healthcare delivery in the United States. However, effective advocacy depends on individuals who fully understand current issues, systems, existing policies, and related contexts. In this course, you’ll engage in a systems-level analysis of the implications of healthcare policy on issues of access, equity, affordability, and social justice in healthcare delivery. Examine legislative, regulatory, and financial processes relevant to the organization and provision of healthcare services. You’ll also assess the impact of these processes on quality and safety in the practice environment and disparities in the healthcare system.
Many factors influence the health behavior and wellness of individuals and populations. Understanding these factors helps healthcare professionals reduce health disparities and address healthcare access issues for vulnerable populations. In this course, you’ll examine the cultural and behavioral factors and issues that influence the management and delivery of healthcare services. Develop a framework for assessing the effect of culture and behavior in a variety of settings and situations. Identify health disparities attributable to diverse cultural and behavioral factors and discuss their implications for healthcare policy. You will also engage in application-based writing assignments to further examine the goals and objectives of addressing health disparities as well as obstacles for confronting vulnerable populations.
Become familiar with established and emerging health behavior, health education, and health promotion theories and models. Develop the knowledge and skills necessary for applying various theoretical frameworks and models related to understanding psychosocial, cultural, and contextual factors influencing health behavior and behavior change. Throughout this course, you will focus on the role of theories and models in planning, implementing, and evaluating health interventions at various levels.
Human interaction has a major influence on the natural world, resulting in outcomes that can impact human and environmental health. In this course, you’ll learn the principles of environmental health and examine the short- and long-term effects of environmental hazards on human health. You will consider your own interactions with natural and human-made environments to assess the impact of chemical, physical, biological, and social elements on your health. Explore the potential impact of climate change on population health, emerging global health threats related to the environment, and environmental factors involved in the etiology and transmission of both communicable and non-infectious disease. Using concepts and methods presented in the course, you’ll conduct an environmental risk assessment to determine the health of home environments. You will also conduct a written analysis to report your findings, identifying actions to improve inspection results.
Through this course, you’ll explore the historical milestones concerning human disease and prevention, morbidity and mortality rates associated with various diseases, and the biological effects of infectious and chronic disease on the human body. Discuss the general characteristics of disease transmission, symptoms, treatment, prevention, and control among various populations. You will also examine psychosocial and behavioral factors that influence human disease.
The nature of health services, such as personal evaluations, clinical research, invasive surgeries, and end-of-life care, facilitates a host of ethical and legal considerations of which professionals must be aware. In this course, you’ll examine the legal and ethical issues that are fundamental to the practice of healthcare and the conduct of health-related research. Explore a historical overview of events and milestones that have shaped the contemporary regulatory landscape. Investigate and assess issues of privacy and confidentiality, informed consent, licensing, and malpractice, among others. Additionally, you will consider ethical decision-making models for assuring the quality, safety, and appropriateness of healthcare and services. You will also apply ethical principles and legal considerations to real-world scenarios.
The course is designed to provide an overview of public and global health issues that transcend national borders, class, race, ethnicity, and culture. Explore the role of the healthcare provider in preserving and promoting health among diverse populations. Consider global health and their role in health promotion, protection, and maintenance, and in illness prevention of targeted populations. Principles of epidemiology and the influencing sociopolitical factors that impact health and well-being are explored.
This course focuses on the principles governing the study and practice of epidemiology. Explore the various methods available to health professionals for selecting and measuring factors of interest, describing their distribution, detecting associations, and identifying populations at risk. The features, advantages, and limitations of common epidemiologic research designs are also addressed.
This course examines the basic components required for the conduct of health-related research. It provides you with the analytic tools needed to understand and assess research methods described in the scientific literature. Basic research methods are described, including surveys, observational studies, experimental and quasi-experimental design, use of primary and secondary data, and statistical techniques for analyzing and interpreting data.
Effective delivery of health education and communication often leads to improved health literacy and positive changes in behavior among populations. This course provides you with an overview of health education and its role in improving the health of individuals as well as populations. Review the philosophical, historical, ethical, and theoretical foundations of health education as well as effective principles for the delivery of healthcare. Examine the primary responsibilities and competencies of health educators, trends in the field, professional organizations, national certification, and the code of ethics.
This course presents management concepts and theories designed to influence and improve the performance of healthcare organizations. The external and internal environments of organizations are identified, as well as key management functions, roles, and responsibilities. Essential aspects of healthcare management are addressed.
This course engages you in the foundations for economic evaluation from a population health approach. You’ll examine healthcare as a market and compare the supply and demand principles in healthcare versus a typical business. Gain an understanding of how economic losses or gains impact health care policy changes, sectors of the population, physician staffing, and stability. Additionally, you’ll explore the epidemiological, social, global, and future economic impact of healthcare.
Planning culturally relevant and effective public health programs is essential to improving the health of populations. This course gives you an introduction to public health program planning and design, including the process of needs assessment. Examine and apply various models and theoretical frameworks of program planning. Explore fundamental competencies relating to planning, such as writing goals and objectives, selecting strategies, developing budgets, and planning for specific populations. The course introduces concepts related to program implementation, management, and evaluation as they relate to the planning process.
How do public health professionals know when a program is working? This course provides an introduction to evaluating public health programs. Examine various types of program evaluations, including formative, process, outcome, and impact evaluations. Learn how to design and conduct practical and effective program evaluations that determine whether program goals are achieved. You will also practice implementing a program evaluation plan to evaluate the effectiveness of a program, and use the results of the evaluation to improve performance.
In this course, you’ll examine one of the most influential factors shaping the health of populations: public policy. Public health policy impacts the public’s health at the local, state, and federal levels. Explore the institutional, economic, social, ethical, and political factors that impact public policy. Examine how public policy is developed and discuss issues relating to health advocacy within the framework of social justice.
This capstone course gives you the opportunity to examine contemporary global public health issues. You’ll also have the chance to evaluate and synthesize the key concepts and skills you have gained from this program of study. Complete a final capstone project based on service learning, field observations, or a review of literature.
