Winter

Social Determinates of Health

The Great Works Symposium presents the second in its 2011-2012 series on "CLASHING VIEWS IN HEALTH AND SOCIETY ":

The Social Determinants of Health

UNIV 241, 3 credits
Winter 2012 Sections 001, 002, 003
Thursday 6:30 p.m. to 9:20 p.m.
Disque 108; Curtis 459; Curtis 457

Course Description:
The course takes a transdisciplinary approach to understanding the health of a people, aside from a strict medical model, and explores the many social determinants of health such as economic means, social status, education level, the built environment, power, political engagement, and existence of social capital in a community.

Using the chronic disease diabetes in which the incidence has climbed steadily in many populations, students will examine social, economic, and political factors, as well as policies, programs, and the built environments that contribute to the risk factors of this debilitating disease.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion has included the category "social determinants" for the first time in its decennial goals and objectives for the nation's health plan.

A major project in this course is for students to identify contributing factors to diabetes prevention, onset, or treatment and understand how social determinants promote or reduce this condition in a defined community. Student teams will present their findings and recommendations from this work to the rest of the class at the end of the quarter. This project gives students an opportunity to exercise a number of Drexel Student Learning Priorities such as creative and critical thinking, information literacy, self directed learning, research and scholarship, and responsible citizenship.

Course Learner Objectives

After completing this course students will be able to

capitalize on their personal knowledge and experiences to contribute to their assessment of problems and solutions to social determinants of health.
give a definition of and provide several examples for how social determinants effects the health status of an individual or population.
give a definition for and provide several examples for primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention in the health promotion and disease prevention context.
develop the skill in making comparisons of information, points of view, and interpretations of the causes of the diabetes epidemic occurring in many counties, including the U.S.
utilize critical reading, writing, thinking and communication skills when analyzing, evaluating, and making judgments about social determinates of health and more specifically with diabetes.
explain how applied social and behavioral science is used to address complex health problems
implement information management to include Internet searches, electronic mail, and library skills to search, select, interpret and use credible sources in a major team project
recognize some best practices in undertaking community based research

Instructional Approach/Format:

Social Determinants of Health is a Great Works Symposium interdisciplinary course designed for students who are willing to make a commitment to participating in and contributing to their learning. The course relies heavily on students' open and intense participation in class, as we discover the role that social determinants play in health promotion and disease prevention. Each session will provide presentations by subject matter experts or guest panels (meeting in Disque Hall Room 108), followed by break-out meetings with a group of students focusing on a contributing factor to diabetes prevention, onset, or treatment.

The role of faculty in this course is to 1) facilitate the learning process of individuals and the group; 2) serve as a subject matter expert when needed; and 3) assist you in developing your community based research strategy and presentation.

Students are expected to complete readings before class. Further reading and research is recommended each week to gain a deeper understanding of the social determinants of health. Working on a group project will demand a lot of time, attention, and civility but should be a rewarding experience for all.

Required Textbook/Supplies:

Readings from academic journals, newspaper articles, health organization publications as assigned by the instructors. Students can access the readings electronically on the Great Works Symposium website http://www.drexel.edu/greatworks/Theme/Winter/

Course Learning Activities:

Readings: Students will read journal articles, book chapters, newspaper articles, etc. as assigned by the faculty each week to prepare for the health and society issue. Students are encouraged to seek original or summary sources related to the week's health & society issue.
Guest Speakers: Students will meet at the beginning of each class in Room 108 of Disque Hall to hear a presentation by an invited speaker who is a subject matter expert in a facet of the social determinants of health issue. (See weekly topics at end of syllabus.) Students should have completed the readings prior to class to help formulate questions and responses to the guest speaker.

Didactic Presentations: Faculty will present knowledge-based and skill building sessions around process issues in undertaking an investigation of a social determinant of health. These will take place during the student groups break-out sessions.

Week 4 Assessment: Students will prepare a health data translational piece in a chosen medium that demonstrates understanding of the social determinants of health issue. This is due to the faculty group leader by Sunday 6:00 pm. (20% of grade)

Take Home Examination: A take home examination will be due Sunday 6:00 pm of Week 8. Material covered will be major concepts in weekly topics and guest presentation and a test of knowledge gained from the weekly readings. The test will include a cogent and precisely written essay or two and 8-10 short identifications in which the student can demonstrate having read assignments and apply major concepts of social determinants of health. (20% of grade)

Community-Based Team Project: In week 3 of the course, students will select which social determinant of diabetes they wish to investigate. Students will work with one faculty member with an interest in this area. Areas of investigation will generally be related to the following risk factors (Student groups may expand or refine the area under investigation.):

Adult Physical Activity (S.F. Gambescia)
Getting the 5-a-Day (fruits and vegetables) (S.F. Gambescia)
School-based Physical Activity (Y. Michael)
Community Gardens (Y. Michael)
Making Controlling Diabetes Fun! (A. Morss Clyne)
Communicating the Long Term Effects of Diabetes (A. Morss Clyne)

Students will choose a population and area in the community to research and investigate recommendations to ameliorate any negative influences or promote positive influences to the social determinants of health for diabetes. Students will work closely in groups and make a final presentation in Week 10 of the course. This is a summative project worth 50% of the grade. See guidelines for student group project.

Weekly Topic Focus, Readings, and Written Assignments:

See schedule at the end of the syllabus.

Assessment and Grading Policy:

The final grade for this course will be determined by the weighted scores of each assessment below. Each assessment will be scored using a 100 point value and weighted. Refer to the guidelines for each learning activity for criteria for evaluation.

Class Attendance and Participation (10%)
Assessment # 1: Health Data Translation (20%)
Assessment # 2: Take Home Exam (20%)
Group Community Research Project (50%)

The numerical to letter grade system is as follows:

Grade   % earned
A+       97-100
A         93-96
A-        90-92
B+        87-89
B          83-86
B-        80-82
C+        77-79
C          73-76
C-        70-72
D+       67-69
D         63-66
F          below 63

Other grades without quality points may be given for special situations; consult the Drexel undergraduate catalog for these grades. If the student warrants an incomplete (I) grade, it is the student's responsibility to make sure he/she meets the College, University, and Instructor criteria and deadlines for requesting this grade and ensuring the change of grade in a timely manner.

Disability Statement:
Student with disabilities requesting accommodations and services at Drexel University need to present a current accommodation verification letter (AVL) to faculty before accommodations can be made. AVL's are issued by the Office of Disability Resources (ODR). For additional information, contact ODR at www.drexel.edu/ods, 3201 Arch St., Street, Suite 210, Philadelphia, PA 19104, 215.895.1401 (V), or 215.895.2299 (TTY).
Faculty Profiles:

See faculty profiles on the respective Colleges' webpages.

Student's Responsibilities:

Academic Honesty and Integrity:

Drexel University is committed to a learning environment that embraces honesty. Faculty, students, and administrators share responsibility for maintaining this environment of academic honesty and integrity, accepting responsibility for all actions, personal and academic. Each member of our community is expected to read, understand, and uphold the values identified and described for academic integrity. An explanation of what constitutes academic dishonesty can be found on the Provost's website at:
http://www.drexel.edu/provost/policies/academic_dishonesty.asp
An explanation of the sanctions given for academic dishonesty can be found in your Student Handbook and on the website of the Office of Conduct and Community Standards at
http://www.drexel.edu/studentlife/judicial/honesty.html

Student's Responsibilities:

Drop/Add/Withdrawal Policy:
Once you are registered in this course, it is your responsibility to attend the course, drop the course, or withdraw from the course. Dropping and withdrawing are distinct actions that affect your course enrollment status. In either case, a form from the Registrar's Office, with signatures, is required to change course enrollment status. There are billing, financial aid, and academic record affects for changes to your enrollment status in this course; therefore, you must attend to the proper procedure when dropping or withdrawing from a course. Please refer to the University's drop/add/withdrawal policies and timelines on the Registrar's website or contact your academic advisor.

Financial Obligations:

Students who do not satisfy financial obligations to the University and have been placed on financial hold are not entitled to a grade by the instructor.

The student acknowledges receipt of this syllabus and the information herein contained by continuing to attend this course. The instructors reserve the right to make changes to this syllabus if circumstances warrant such change. All major changes will be provided to the students in writing.

See schedule of weekly topic focus, readings, and written assignment deadlines chart below. Given that the Symposium relies on several invited guests, this weekly plan my change slightly. Please keep in contact with your faculty leader to make sure you are current with topics under discussion and the readings for each week.

Social Determinants of Health
UNIV 241 Winter 2012—Thursday Evenings 6:30 pm to 9:20 p.m.
Stephen Gambescia, Yvonne Michael, & Alisa Morss Clyne

MAJOR COURSE CONTENT, READINGS and ASSIGNMENTS
(Dates are for the Thursday evening class meeting. Readings are to be completed prior to the class. Readings are posted to The Great Works Symposium website at http://www.drexel.edu/greatworks/). Students are to periodically revisit two important resources for this course: 1) Healthy People 2020's section on Social Determinants as a Leading Health Indicator at http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/LHI/socialDeterminants.aspx and 2) Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes—2011 by the American Diabetes Association at http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/34/Supplement_1/S11.full

Session One-- 12 January

Course overview, expectations, review of syllabus, and faculty perspective.
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Defining Social Determinates of Health
Katherine Clegg Smith, PhD, Associate Professor
Department of Health, Behavior and Society
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Readings/Assignments

Faculty Perspective - Michael

Faculty Perspective - Gambescia

Social Determinants Powerpoint

Rio Political Declaration on Social Determinants of Health

Social conditions as fundamental causes of disease

Session Two—19 January

The etiology, identification, and treatment of diabetes. Barbara Simon, MD, Division Chief, Endocrinology, Drexel University College of Medicine.
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Living with Diabetes (Panel Discussion)
Bill King—Managing diabetes for the long run
Diabetes Educator TBD

Readings/Assignments
Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes—2011 by the American Diabetes Association

Diabetes Care January 2011 vol. 34 no. Supplement 1 S11-S61

Session Three—26 January

The role of social and behavioral sciences in improving the health of the people
John Allegrante, PhD, Senior Professor of Health Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
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Students select working groups; meet with faculty section leader

Readings/Assignments
Applied social and behavioral science to address complex problems;

Healthy People: A 2020 Vision for the Social Determinants Approach;

Healthy People 1980-2020 : Raising the Ante Decennially or Just the Name From Public Health Education; to Health Promotion to Social Determinants?

Session Four—2 February

Environmental influences on obesity and type 2 diabetes
Amy Auchincloss, PhD, MPH, Asst. Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drexel University School of Public Health
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Students meet with faculty section leader in working groups

Readings/Assignments
Katz MH. Quality of residential neighborhood: a modifiable risk factor for type 2 diabetes? Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(18):1653-1654.

Auchincloss AH, Roux AVD, Mujahid MS, Shen MW, Bertoni AG, Carnethon MR. Neighborhood Resources for Physical Activity and Healthy Foods and Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2009;169(18):1698-1704.

French SA, Story M, Jeffery RW. Environmental influences on eating and physical activity. Annual Review of Public Health. 2001;22:309-335.

First Written Assignment Due to Faculty Mentor Sunday 6:00 pm.

Session Five—9 February

Health Communication and Social Marketing
Doug Evans Professor and Director of the Public Health Communication and Marketing Program, The George Washington School of Public Health and Health Services.
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Students choose one of three workshops (health com/social marketing; tbd, and tbd)

Readings/Assignments
Social marketing articles collected by Weinreich Communications at http://www.social-marketing.com/library.html

Articles by Dr. Doug Evans.

Session Six—16 February

Habits of Industry: The worksite, health and safety. Igor Burstyn, PhD, Associate Professor Drexel University School of Public Health
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Students meet with faculty section leader in working groups

Readings/Assignments
'A job you feel good about is therapeutic' by Erin Anderssen

Research Methods in Occupational Epidemiology, Chapter One.

Session Seven—23 February

Why don't we do "what's good for us"?
Brain Wave video and commentary by Alisa Morss Clyne, PhD. Assistant Professor Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Drexel University
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Students meet with faculty section leader in working groups

Readings/Assignments
Excerpts from Compass of Pleasure by David Linden. Chapter 1: Mashing the pleasure button; Chapter 3: Feed me; and Chapter 6: Virtuous pleasures.

Session Eight—1 March

Education: the great equalizer or divider?
Christina Paxson, Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.
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Students meet with faculty section leader in working groups

Readings/Assignments
Cutler, D.M. & Lleras-Muney, A. Education and Health: Evaluating Theories and Evidence. National Bureau of Economic Research

Second Assessment due Sunday 6:00 pm.

Session Nine—8 March

Students work on presentations

Session Ten—15 March

Final Project Presentations