Ph.D. in Public Health
with a concentration in Social and Behavioral Health Sciences

Overview

The Ph.D. in public health is designed to prepare future public health leaders with the academic skills needed to enhance health in human populations. The program focuses on the preparation of individuals who will serve as researchers, teachers, public health administrators, clinicians, and industry employees competent to carry out the broad public health mission within Connecticut.  The doctoral program builds on the long-standing collaborations between the University of Connecticut and the Connecticut Departments of Public Health and Mental Health and Addiction Services. The scientific knowledge of UConn faculty members in conjunction with practical expertise and data resources at these two state departments is an ideal foundation for doctoral training.

Health needs in Connecticut require public health interventions with a focus on the Social and Behavioral Health Sciences. Sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy diets, tobacco use, excessive alcohol consumption, high-risk sexual behaviors, and substance abuse are the nation's leading causes of morbidity and mortality, which impose a significant burden on our healthcare system. The public health approach to prevention, early recognition of risk factors, and disease management will help address declining health and increasing costs and address major disparities in health among populations. A shortage of qualified public health workers adversely affects the capacity of our workforce to respond to these emerging public health problems. The need for workforce development is evident from personnel shortages and the small proportion of the overall workforce with doctoral training in public health, particularly in the social and behavioral dimensions of health.

Faculty resources are strong in the areas of HIV prevention, high-risk sexual behavior, community nutrition, women's health, behavioral risk factor intervention in primary health care, social epidemiology, psychiatric epidemiology, and tobacco control. The Social and Behavioral Health Sciences concentration within the doctoral program in public health offers students specialized instruction in the theory and methods that emphasize social, psychological and behavioral influences on health, illness and injury.

Curriculum

Each student’s academic program results from joint planning by the student and major advisor based on the student's goals, academic and professional background, and Ph.D. program requirements.  Students complete a minimum of 45 credits, anchored by a required seminar series (4 credits). The core program consists of 8 credits in discipline-specific theory, and elective courses to complete the plan of study for Social and Behavioral Health Sciences (9 – 12 credits). Students complete 9 credits of research methods and elective courses for competency in advanced research methods, including hypothesis formulation, research design, quantitative and qualitative methods, data analysis and computer application. After completion of course work, students sit for a general examination, develop and present their research proposal, then write and defend a dissertation, which fulfills 15 credits.

Resources

Offices which include conference rooms, fax and photocopy machines, computer equipment, and teleconferencing capability are allocated for the Center for Public Health and Health Policy on both the Storrs and Health Center campuses and in East Hartford. Students use offices and labs provided by their major advisors.  The Social and Behavioral Health Sciences faculty is comprised of twenty-five members from the Storrs and Health Center campuses to advise, mentor, provide resources, and office space for doctoral students.