SEMS 490 Health Promotion - Semester at Sea Website
Subject: Health Sciences
Professor C. Kevin Malotte - (Syllabus)
We know how to prevent or postpone many infectious and chronic diseases, but we are often ineffective at doing so. What factors are related to success in improving health? This course is intended to help students gain knowledge and skills about health and behavior in order to address environmental and behavioral risks that are thought to be associated with significant acute and chronic health conditions and overall quality of life. We will cover major theories of health behavior and health promotion and, drawing on examples from around the world, explore current health promotion/risk reduction techniques. Special topics include: environmental versus behavioral approaches to health promotion, key components of successful and unsuccessful health-promotion programs, and evaluation of health promotion programs and interpretation of reports about these programs. Methods of evaluation include three exams (50%), a journal that integrates course material with in-port observations (20%) a research paper (20%) and class participation (10%). Pre-requisites: Two semesters of college-level psychology, health science, sociology, and/or communications; or permission of instructor.