5 credits

This course provides to students an overview of communication and social marketing strategies as they relate to public health, highlighting theoretical concepts that are commonly used in health communications and research. Topics include using communication theory, social marketing techniques, promoting health literacy, developing community partnerships, and creating culturally sensitive and appropriate promotional materials. Students focus on developing, implementing, and evaluating an abbreviated Public Health Communication Campaign by applying basic social marketing principles, such as the use of social media techniques, to identify and advance public health interests and address public health problems. Through their Public Health Communication Campaign, which is this course's Scholar Practitioner Project, students examine how they can use marketing and communication practices to translate health research into social action and behavioral change.