410.755.81
Designing Health Communication Programs for Social and Behavior Change
Location
Internet
Term
3rd Term
Department
Health, Behavior and Society
Credit(s)
4
Academic Year
2023 - 2024
Instruction Method
Asynchronous Online
Auditors Allowed
Yes, with instructor consent
Available to Undergraduate
Yes
Grading Restriction
Letter Grade or Pass/Fail
Course Instructor(s)
Contact Name
Frequency Schedule
Every Year
Resources
Prerequisite
Introduction to Online Learning.
We know that multiple factors, including individual behavior, community social norms, and institutional structures can greatly affect public health outcomes. How can we develop health communication programs that enable people to adopt and sustain healthy behaviors? How do we know we are addressing the right behavior? How can we be creative and still focus our messaging on evidence of what is most likely to drive behavior? How can we meaningfully engage the intended audience in the design and implementation of health communication programs? How do we monitor and evaluate health communication programs to see if they achieved success?
Provides students with the opportunity to design (on paper), a strategic health communication approach to persuade individuals to adopt healthier behaviors related to a social or behavioral public health challenge. Presents a multi-step strategic approach, called the P-Process, for designing, implementing, evaluating, and critiquing health communication programs that focus on social and behavior change. Walks students through the process, from audience selection to the design of a theory-informed persuasive communication materials and overall approach to the construction of monitoring and evaluation indicators.
Learning Objectives
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
- Develop a proposal for a social and behavior change program applying the five steps of the P-Process (Inquire, Design Strategy, Create and Test, Mobilize and Monitor, and Evaluate and Evolve)
- Critique social and behavior change communication programs and materials
- Apply behavior change and communication theories in the design and evaluation of a health communication intervention
Methods of Assessment
This course is evaluated as follows:
- 35% Assignments
- 20% Midterm
- 35% Final Project
- 10% Participation
Course must be taken for letter grade, not audit. This course is approved for the Health Communication Certificate sponsored by the Department of Health, Behavior & Society. To learn more about certificates offered by HBS, please email hbs_certificates@jhu.edu or visit https://e-catalogue.jhu.edu/public-health/certificates/.