Syllabus

Graduate Programs in Public Health

GPH 734 Obesity Epidemic from a Public Health Perspective — Spring B

Credits - 3

Description

This course will review the socio-ecological model and systems science, and discuss how we, as individuals, interact with our social, cultural and political environments to make decisions surrounding our weight-related behaviors. Students will be graded on individual assignments and discussion board posts. The course will be structured according to the socio-ecological model, focusing on variations, influences, and interactions between the individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and policy levels.

Materials

Crawford, David. Obesity Epidemiology: From Aetiology to Public Health. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.  (The 2010 edition of this text must be purchased; older editions contain outdated information.)

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

 

Course Outcomes

In this course, you will learn how:

  • To evaluate how weight-related behaviors are influenced by a variety of social, environmental, and organizational factors.
  • To apply tenets from the socio-ecological model and systems science to inform problem identification, etiology, and suggested solutions in the area of weight-related behavior for a specific target population.
  • To read, interpret and use different types of evidence–including peer-reviewed journals, policy briefs, and national guidelines–to determine how they relate to weight-related behaviors.
  • To translate research into a policy brief to convince a public health supervisor to address a public health issue for a specific target population.

Assignments

Discussion Board: Each week you will be asked to respond to a prompt, and foster discussion by responding to at least one response by a classmate.This is intended to help you think more critically about the readings and lectures. Your initial response should be approximately 250 words.  

Please post your initial post by Sunday at 11:59 pm. Your response should be posted by Wednesday at 11:59 pm. 

Reflection Papers: For the first six weeks you will be asked to complete a two-page (approx. 350 – 500 words) Reflection Paper. These short assignments are intended to help you test ideas, gather research, and build the skills necessary to complete the Policy Brief.

Policy Brief: The Policy Brief is the final project for the course. It is a ten-page document intended to be a synthesis of the knowledge gained and research completed throughout the course. It also offers you a chance to master a type of writing you will encounter often in the field of public health.

Grading Policy

Your grade in this course will be determined by the following criteria:

Grade Breakdown

Discussion Board40% (5% each week)
Reflection Paper30% (5% each week)
Final Paper30%
Total100%

Grade Scale

Grade Points Grade Point Average (GPA)
A 94 – 100% 4.00
A- 90 – 93% 3.75
B+ 87 – 89% 3.50
B 84 – 86% 3.00
B- 80 – 83% 2.75
C+ 77 – 79% 2.50
C 74 – 76% 2.00
C- 70 – 73% 1.75
D 64 – 69% 1.00
F 00 – 63% 0.00

Schedule

Course Weeks

Week 1: March 2nd – March 9th

Week 2: March 9th – March 16th

Week 3: March 16th – March 23rd

Week 4: March 23rd – March 30th

Week 5: March 30th – April 6th

Week 6: April 6th – April 13th

Week 7: April 13th – April 20th

Week 8: April 20th – April 24th

 

Week 1: Overview / Research Methods in Measuring Weight Status and Energy Balance (3/2 – 3/9)

Learning Outcomes:

In this module, you will learn how to:

  • Identify the implications of obesity for children and adults.
  • Identify and explain at least three ways to measure weight status
  • Identify some of the issues associated with one or more weight status measurements to evaluate methodology
  • Identify and critique measurement issues for energy balance

Lectures:

  • Introduction to GPH 734
  • Week One Lecture

Readings:

Required

Recommended

Assignments:

Introduction

Discussion Post and Response

Week One Reflection Paper

 

Week 2: Determinants of Weight (3/9 – 3/16)

Learning Outcomes:

In this module, you will learn how to:

  • Explain what role nutrition and physical activity plays in weight status,
  • Examine external influences, including individuals and culture, to understand how they affect weight-related behavior.
  • Evaluate and explain how marginalized populations are more susceptible to the social influencers of weight-related behavior.

Lectures:

Readings:

Required

Recommended

Assignments:

Discussion Post and Response

Week Two Reflection Paper

 

Week 3: Policy and Regulation (3/16 – 3/23)

Learning Outcomes:

In this module, you will learn how to:

  • Describe the connection between poverty and nutrition and physical activity behaviors to understand the relationship between each.
  • Define the “nutrition transition.”
  • Outline the U.S. Food system and how it influences weight status to determine the effect of policy and regulation on weight*
  • Describe and evaluate the current U.S. regulation of supplements to understand federal policies and regulations.*
  • Describe the impact of physical education policies to evaluate their effect on  youth physical activity behaviors.

Lectures:

Week Three Lecture

Tina Pettingill, MPH: Obesity Policy Information and Planning

Readings:

Required

  • Crawford text, chapter 10
  • Teaching the Food System. Please read the following sections (background reading and slides):

                      Ingredients of the Food System
                      History of Food
                      Hunger and Food Security

Recommended

Assignments:

Discussion Post and Response

Week Three Reflection Paper

 

Week 4: Environmental Factors Influencing Physical Activity and Dietary Intake (3/23 – 3/30)

Learning Outcomes:

In this module, you will learn how to:

  • Evaluate the role of marketing on dietary intake to understand how environmental factors influence diet and physical activity.
  • Define food deserts and identify what social and economic factors contribute to their creation to evaluate how nutrition environment influences nutrition behaviors.
  • Detail the role of the built environment on physical activity behaviors.

Lectures:

Week Four Lecture

Readings:

Required

  • Crawford text, Chapter 9.
  • Teaching the Food System. Please read the following sections (background reading and slides):

                         Diet and Influences on Food Choice
                         Food Marketing and Labeling

Recommended

Assignments:

Discussion Post and Response

Week Four Reflection Paper

Optional Policy Brief Rough Draft

 

Week 5: Sociology of Weight-Related Behaviors (3/30 – 4/6)

Learning Outcomes:

In this module, you will learn how to:

  • Explain how social influences, including individuals and culture, affect weight-related behaviors to identify potential sites of intervention.

Lectures:

Week Five Lecture

Alison Tovar, PhD, MPH: Environmental influences on diet: Role of parents | Slides

Advice for the Final Assignment

Readings:

Required

Recommended

Assignments:

Discussion Post and Response

Week Five Reflection Paper

 

Week 6: Effects of Poverty on Obesity (4/6 – 4/13)

Learning Outcomes:

In this module, you will learn how to:

  • Detail how food insecurity adversely affects weight status to determine how poverty affects obesity.
  • Identify and describe the three major food assistance programs in the U.S.: SNAP, WIC & NSLP, including their history, design and recipient eligibility, to evaluate whether state and federal food programs influence obesity prevalence.*
  • Explain the impact of poverty on physical activity behaviors.

Lectures:

  • Week Six Lecture
  • Kate Sweeney, MS, RD: WIC Presentation | Slides 

Readings:

Required

Recommended

Assignments:

Discussion Post and Response

Week Six Reflection Paper

 

Week 7: Obesity Stigma (4/13 – 4/20)

Learning Outcomes:

In this module, you will learn how to:

  • Detail the ways that obese individuals experience weight-based stigma to assess the mental health and social implications of obesity.
  • Identify how public health campaigns may inadvertently contribute to obesity stigma within the general population to identify potential challenges with developing messages promoting weight-related behaviors.

Lectures:

Week Seven Lecture

Advice for the Final Assignment

Readings:

Required

Assignments:

Discussion Post and Response

Obesity Policy Brief Final Assignment

 

Week 8: Final Discussion and Wrap-Up (4/20 – 4/24)

Learning Outcomes:

In this module, you will learn how to:

  • Apply what was learned through the course materials, assignments, and lessons to the development of a policy brief.

Lectures:

Week Eight Concluding Thoughts

Readings:

No assigned required readings this week.

Recommended

  • Crawford text, chapters 11-14 and 16-23

Assignments:

Discussion Post and Response

Student Resources

Online Student Support

Your Student Support Specialist is a resource for you. Please don't hesitate to contact them for assistance, including, but not limited to course planning, current problems or issues in a course, technology concerns, or personal emergencies.

Questions? Visit the Student Support Public Health page

UNE Libraries:

UNE Student Academic Success Center

UNE's Student Academic Success Center (SASC) offers a range of free online services to support your academic achievement. Writing support, ESOL support, study strategy and learning style consultations, as well as downloadable resources, are available to all matriculating students. The SASC also offers tutoring for GPH 712 Epidemiology, GPH 716 Biostatistics, GPH 717 Applied Epidemiology, GPH 718 Biostatistics II, and GPH 719 Research Methods. To make an appointment for any of these services, go to une.tutortrac.com. For more information and to view and download writing and studying resources, please visit:

Information Technology Services (ITS)

  • ITS Contact: Toll Free Help Desk 24 hours/7 days per week at 1-877-518-4673

Accommodations

Any student who would like to request, or ask any questions regarding, academic adjustments or accommodations must contact the Student Access Center at (207) 221-4438 or pcstudentaccess@une.edu. Student Access Center staff will evaluate the student's documentation and determine eligibility of accommodation(s) through the Student Access Center registration procedure.

Policies

AMA Writing Style Statement

The American Medical Association Manual (AMA) of Style, 11th edition is the required writing format for this course. Additional support for academic writing and AMA format is provided throughout the coursework as well as at the UNE Portal for Online Students.

Online resources: AMA Style Guide

Turnitin Originality Check and Plagiarism Detection Tool

The College of Professional Studies uses Turnitin to help deter plagiarism and to foster the proper attribution of sources. Turnitin provides comparative reports for submitted assignments that reflect similarities in other written works. This can include, but is not limited to, previously submitted assignments, internet articles, research journals, and academic databases.

Make sure to cite your sources appropriately as well as use your own words in synthesizing information from published literature. Webinars and workshops, included early in your coursework, will help guide best practices in APA citation and academic writing.

You can learn more about Turnitin in the Turnitin Student quick start guide.

Technology Requirements

Please review the technical requirements for UNE Online Graduate Programs: Technical Requirements

Course Evaluation Policy

Course surveys are one of the most important tools that University of New England uses for evaluating the quality of your education, and for providing meaningful feedback to instructors on their teaching. In order to assure that the feedback is both comprehensive and precise, we need to receive it from each student for each course. Evaluation access is distributed via UNE email at the beginning of the last week of the course.

Late Policy

Students are responsible for submitting work by the date indicated in Brightspace.

Quizzes and Tests: Quizzes and tests must be completed by the due date. They will not be accepted after the due date.

Assignments: Unless otherwise specified, assignments will be accepted up to 3 days late; however, there is a 10% grade reduction (from the total points) for the late submission. After three days the assignment will not be accepted.

Discussion posts: If the initial post is submitted late, but still within the discussion board week, there will be a 10% grade reduction from the total discussion grade (e.g., a 3 point discussion will be reduced by 0.3 points). Any posts submitted after the end of the Discussion Board week will not be graded.

Please make every effort ahead of time to contact your instructor and your student support specialist if you are not able to meet an assignment deadline. Arrangements for extenuating circumstances may be considered by faculty.

Student Handbook Online - Policies and Procedures

The policies contained within this document apply to all students in the College of Graduate and Professional Studies. It is each student's responsibility to know the contents of this handbook.

Student Handbook

UNE Course Withdrawal

Please contact your student support specialist if you are considering dropping or withdrawing from a course. The last day to drop for 100% tuition refund is the 2nd day of the course. Financial Aid charges may still apply. Students using Financial Aid should contact the Financial Aid Office prior to withdrawing from a course.

Academic Integrity

The University of New England values academic integrity in all aspects of the educational experience. Academic dishonesty in any form undermines this standard and devalues the original contributions of others. It is the responsibility of all members of the University community to actively uphold the integrity of the academy; failure to act, for any reason, is not acceptable. For information about plagiarism and academic misconduct, please visit https://www.une.edu/studentlife/plagiarism.

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to the following:

  1. Cheating, copying, or the offering or receiving of unauthorized assistance or information.
  2. Fabrication or falsification of data, results, or sources for papers or reports.
  3. Action which destroys or alters the work of another student.
  4. Multiple submissions of the same paper or report for assignments in more than one course without permission of each instructor.
  5. Plagiarism, the appropriation of records, research, materials, ideas, or the language of other persons or writers and the submission of them as one's own.

Charges of academic dishonesty will be reviewed by the Program Director. Penalties for students found responsible for violations may depend upon the seriousness and circumstances of the violation, the degree of premeditation involved, and/or the student’s previous record of violations.  Appeal of a decision may be made to the Dean whose decision will be final.  Student appeals will take place through the grievance process outlined in the student handbook.

Attendance Policy

Online students are required to submit a graded assignment/discussion prior to Sunday evening at 11:59 pm ET of the first week of the term. If a student does not submit a posting to the graded assignment/discussion prior to Sunday evening at 11:59 pm ET, the student will be automatically dropped from the course for non-participation. Review the full attendance policy.

Late Policy

Assignments: Late assignments will be accepted up to 3 days late; however, there is a 10% grade reduction (from the total points) for the late submission. After three days the assignment will not be accepted.

Discussion posts: If the initial post is submitted late, but still within the discussion board week, there will be a 10% grade reduction from the total discussion grade (e.g., a 3 point discussion will be reduced by 0.3 points). Any posts submitted after the end of the Discussion Board week will not be graded.

Please make every effort ahead of time to contact your instructor and your student support specialist if you are not able to meet an assignment deadline. Arrangements for extenuating circumstances may be considered by faculty.

Student Handbook Online - Policies and Procedures

The policies contained within this document apply to all students in the College of Graduate and Professional Studies. It is each student's responsibility to know the contents of this handbook.

UNE Online Student Handbook

UNE Course Withdrawal

Please contact your student support specialist if you are considering dropping or withdrawing from a course. The last day to drop for 100% tuition refund is the 2nd day of the course. Financial Aid charges may still apply. Students using Financial Aid should contact the Financial Aid Office prior to withdrawing from a course.

Academic Integrity

The University of New England values academic integrity in all aspects of the educational experience. Academic dishonesty in any form undermines this standard and devalues the original contributions of others. It is the responsibility of all members of the University community to actively uphold the integrity of the academy; failure to act, for any reason, is not acceptable. For information about plagiarism and academic misconduct, please visit UNE Plagiarism Policies.

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to the following:

  1. Cheating, copying, or the offering or receiving of unauthorized assistance or information.
  2. Fabrication or falsification of data, results, or sources for papers or reports.
  3. Action which destroys or alters the work of another student.
  4. Multiple submissions of the same paper or report for assignments in more than one course without permission of each instructor.
  5. Plagiarism, the appropriation of records, research, materials, ideas, or the language of other persons or writers and the submission of them as one's own.

Charges of academic dishonesty will be reviewed by the Program Director. Penalties for students found responsible for violations may depend upon the seriousness and circumstances of the violation, the degree of premeditation involved, and/or the student’s previous record of violations.  Appeal of a decision may be made to the Dean whose decision will be final.  Student appeals will take place through the grievance process outlined in the student handbook.