Doctor of Philosophy (in Health Education and Health Promotion)

The PhD program in health education/promotion provides students with instruction and research experience to become practitioners and scientists in health education and health promotion. The program also combines the resources of academic units from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB – School of Public Health, Department of Health Behavior), and the University of Alabama (UA – College of Human Environmental Sciences, Department of Health Science), in addition to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB – School of Education, Department of Human Studies) and utilizes the research expertise common to schools of public health along with the didactic, professional emphasis found in colleges of education.  The specific objectives of the program are to enable the students to:

• Develop the skills to effectively plan, implement, and evaluate health education/promotion intervention programs;
• Develop theoretical knowledge from related social and behavior sciences;
• Develop the knowledge and skills to become independent researchers, demonstrated by completion of a dissertation; and
• Complete a substantive research experience integrating the first three objectives.

The PhD program requires completion of a minimum of 67 hours of graduate credit, satisfactory performance on comprehensive exams, and completion of a doctoral dissertation.

Coursework		Credit Hours
Health Education/Promotion Core Courses		12
HB 730	Health Communications Research	3
HB 750	Advanced Theoretical & Scientific Basis of Health Education & Promotion	3
HB 760	Planning & Administration of Health Education & Promotion	3
HB 770	Doctoral Studies Seminar	3
Advanced Research and Statistical Methods Courses		16
BST611 *	Intermediate Statistical Analysis I	3
	(OR)
EPR 609 **	Statistical Methods and Research in Education	3
BST 612	Intermediate Statistical Analysis II	3
	(OR)
EPI 710	Computer Applications and Advanced Statistical Methods	3
BST 619	Data Collection Management	3
	(OR)
SOC 701	Data Management and Analysis	3
EPI 610	Principles of Epidemiologic Research	4
EPI 610L	Principles of Epidemiologic Research - Lab	0
HB 740	Advanced Health Program Evaluation	3
Evaluation/ Research Methods/Statistics Electives		6
Social and Behavioral Sciences Electives		9
Directed Research		12
HB 798	Doctoral Directed Research	12
Dissertation Research		12
HB 799	Doctoral Dissertation Research	12
		Total  67

* BST 611 is the prerequisite for BST 612
** EPR 609 is the prerequisite for EPR 710

Specific courses needed for completion of the advanced research and statistical methods requirement may vary and require approval by the student's academic advisor.  Specific courses for the social science concentration are selected by the student and his/her academic advisor.  Students may transfer a minimum of 12 credits from comparable graduate courses completed previously if those courses were not used to complete another degree, are graduate level, and a grade of at least a B.

Research Internship

A research internship is required.  The internship gives students an opportunity to engage in a meaningful research experience by working with ongoing faculty research projects.  The internship may be carried out in any one of  the three academic units contributing to the PhD program or with approved research projects in other academic units at UA or UAB, or with the CDC, NIH, or other governmental or private agencies.

Comprehensive Exam

Doctoral students are required to take comprehensive examinations before proposing a dissertation.  At a minimum, the exams cover the scientific and theoretical basis of health education and health promotion, the design and evaluation of health promotion programs and research methods in health promotion.  Prior to taking the comprehensive exams, the student must have completed the Health Education/Promotion Core Courses.  Students will be eligible to take part one after completing a minimum of 30 hours of their required course work (including 12 hours of the core courses).

Doctoral Dissertation

The doctoral dissertation is designed to provide students with a comprehensive and original research experience, and it requires the completion of a minimum of 12 hours of dissertation credit.  Students complete credits for the dissertation after completing coursework and comprehensive exams, and being admitted to candidacy.

All PhD students must meet the graduation requirements of their department and the Graduate School.