The University of Toledo

Doctor of Philosphy in Health Education

The mission of the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Health Education program is to prepare doctoral degree graduates in advanced study and research in health education. The program prepares advanced students to contribute to the field of health education through teaching, research, and service. Although health and research courses are required, the program is individualized through selection of elective courses and a cognate to develop each student for leadership roles in academia, private health sector, or government agencies. This program was ranked #9 among health education doctoral programs nationally, followed by University of South Florida, Southern Illinois University, University of Florida, Oregon State University, University of Massachusetts, University of California Los Angeles, University of Oklahoma, University of Texas at Austin, University of Illinois, University of Utah, Loma Linda University, among others listed. (American Journal of Health Education, 31(2): 81-89, 2000) A quick overview of the Program can be found here. The Handbook for the PhD program and the dissertation requirements are also available.

There are seven areas or responsibilities that graduates of the Health Education Doctoral program are expected to have mastery. These are found on the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing's webpage. The doctoral students are expected to reach competencies and prepare for a portfolio to document their achievements in the indicated competencies. All doctoral students in the Health Education program are required to develop a portfolio to document the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competency in the following six domain areas:
1.    Assess Needs, Plan, Implement, and Evaluate Health Education Programs
2.    Teaching
3.    Research
4.    Grant Writing
5.    Service
6.    Advocate for Health and the Health Education Profession

The doctoral program at UT consists of 70 credit hours beyond the Masters degree. This is broken down as follows:

A. General Core Requirements (12 credit hours) 

HEAL 8800	Scientific Writing in Health	3cr
RESM 8120	Quantitative Methods II	3cr
RESM  8320	Research Design	3cr

One course from the following 

RESM 7330	Qualitative Research I	3cr
RESM 8130	Multivariate Statistics	3cr
RESM 8160	Nonparametric Statistics	3cr
RESM 8350	Survey Research Methods	3cr
HEAL 8700	Epidemiology	3cr

B. Major Courses (36 total credit hours between Required and Elective Courses)

Required Courses (24 credit hours)

HEAL  8000	Professional Issues in Health Education	2cr
HEAL  8360	Applied Survey Research in Health	2cr
HEAL  8200	Methods and Materials in Public Health	3cr
HEAL  8300	Community Health Organization	3cr
HEAL  8460	Health Promotion Programs	3cr
HEAL  8600	Health Behavior	3cr
HEAL  8640	Issues in Public Health	3cr
HEAL  8800	Evaluation of Health Programs	3cr
HEAL  8900	Grant Writing in Health	2cr

Elective Courses (12 credit hours) 

HEAL  7930	General Seminar in Health Education	1-3cr
HEAL  7940	School Health Internship	1-4cr
HEAL  8280	Health Communication	3cr
HEAL  8100	College Teaching of Health Education	2cr
HEAL  8420	Sports Nutrition	3cr
HEAL  8500	Issues in School Health	3cr
HEAL  8520	Public Health Nutrition	3cr
HEAL  8530	Drug Use and Misuse	3cr
HEAL  8540	Human Sexuality	3cr
HEAL  8720	Issues in Minority Health	3cr
HEAL  8930	Interdisciplinary Seminar in Health Education	3cr
HEAL  8940	Public Health Internship	1-4cr
HEAL  8990	Independent Study in Health Education	1-3cr
PUBH 7500	Reproductive Epidemiology	3cr
PUBH 8250	Nutritional Epidemiology	3cr
PUBH 8550	Chronic Disease Epidemiology	3cr
PUBH 8590	Epidemiology of Aging	3cr
PUBH 8750	Applied Biostatistics	3cr
PUBH 8820	Epidemiology Methods	3cr

Cognate Area Options (12 credit hours for Cognate Area) 

• Criminal Justice
• Educational Psychology
• Educational Technology
• Epidemiology
• Exercise Science
• Gerontology
• Health Policy
• Sociology
• Statistics and Research Design
• Other (with permission)

Doctoral Disseratation (10 credit hours) 

HEAL  8960

Doctoral Research Dissertation

1-12cr