HTHC 515 | INTRO TO HEALTH COMMUNICATION | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Because of the increasing degree of health consciousness in our society, individuals not only interact more frequently with health care providers, but health care organizations play more active roles in their surrounding communities. In addition, health care cultures are changing. Health care organizations play active social and political roles when responding to national health issues or crises. Hence, it is important that we, as consumers of health care, understand the communication challenges that are inherent within health care organizations, and how those can impact the effectiveness of our communication as a participant in health care contexts.
Status as a College of Communication Graduate Student or Health Informatics Student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class
HTHC 516 | RESEARCH METHODS FOR HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONERS | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course focuses on health care methodologies relevant to health care administration, including a cross-section of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies; designing questionnaires and surveys; the analysis and presentation of survey data; interviewing strategies; and the analysis and presentation of qualitative data. Students will also be provided with skilled technical writing assignments geared toward providing an understanding of how to most effectively present data within the contexts of reports, visuals for meeting or memoranda.
Status as a College of Communication Graduate Student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
HTHC 517 | COMMUNICATION, HEALTH DISPARITIES, AND CULTURE | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recognizes the role of communication in addressing health disparities. Health literacy (the process of obtaining, processing and understanding basic health information), for example, differs widely across cultural and other demographic identity markers. This course examines the role of communication in health literacy, health disparities, and cultural differences in approaches to health. (Previously HTHC 517 Health Care Literacy).
Status as a College of Communication Graduate Student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
HTHC 519 | ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION FOR HEALTH CARE ADMINISTRATORS | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Health care practitioners must acquire management consulting skills necessary to identify areas in need of change within health care organizations. Problem identification, data collection, intervention and implementation phases of assessment and intervention are taught from the perspective of the health care organization. The course probes common management problems in health care, internal working relationship challenges as well as organizational structure issues that arise.
Status as a College of Communication Graduate Student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
HTHC 520 | HEALTH CARE CAMPAIGNS AND COMMUNITY ACTION | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course will focus on the use of communication strategies to inform and influence individual and community decisions regarding health in the following contexts: the multidimensional nature of health communication; understanding empirical research in health communication; behavioral theories in health communication; rhetorical theories in health communication; legal and ethical concerns in health communication; the communication of risk and uncertainty; and the design of health campaigns.
Status as a College of Communication Graduate Student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
HTHC 521 | HEALTH AND FAMILY COMMUNICATION | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
The course, Family and Health Communication, addresses health-related issues that families may experience, while situating them within a theoretical context. Using theories such as Family Systems Theory and Communication Privacy Management Theory, this course will take a Lifespan Approach to better understand family health issues. Some of the topics that will be covered in this course may include care giving responsibilities, long-term disease, disability, addiction, psychological disruption, sexual health, and end of life issues as affects the family system. Cultural and social norms, in addition to public and health policies are also addressed, as they provide insight into the larger scope of understanding family and health communication, as ultimately, the health of family members impact the functioning of the family system.
Status as a College of Communication Graduate Student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
HTHC 523 | TOPICS IN HEALTH COMMUNICATION | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Topics will include: Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Health Care Issues, Patient Advocacy, Communication and Constraint, Multicultural Communication in Health Care Contexts and Advance Care Planning. For a detailed course description, click the course link and view the Class Notes in the Enrollment Information tab.
Status as a College of Communication Graduate Student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
HTHC 524 | HEALTH CARE TEAMS & LEADERSHIP | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Modern organizations are increasingly interested in shifting their organizational structures towards the goal of creating self-managed work teams. Much of the health care delivery system is already structured formally or informally around the team concept, whether these be surgery teams, consulting office staff, or other health and wellness delivery personnel. Therefore, those pursuing a career in health care greatly benefits from knowledge and experience with two interdependent aspects of group dynamics: decision-making under conditions of uncertainty, and the philosophy and practice of developing groups into self-managed teams. This course will combine a lecture/discussion with a teamwork intensive action learning component towards the goal of making the student competent to either create or optimize the results of self-managed work teams in their own organization (if called upon to do so), or to understand and thrive in this work mode without stress.
Status as a College of Communication Graduate Student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
HTHC 525 | NARRATIVES IN HEALTH CARE | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Focusing on the performance and narrative paradigms of communication studies, the course will survey uses of performance and narrative methods to consider health communication relationships. Narrative and narrative performance are sites of health communication issues for marginalized populations, difficult conversations, and alternate means of reporting. For example, narrative and narrative performance are increasingly being used as part of medical curriculum, as a means to train health care professionals to understand the experiences of their patients, encourage deep listening, and foster different professional-patient relations. For cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other patients, performance becomes a means of speaking into mainstream and dominant discourses of health and to actively shape discourses from their own subjectivities. This increases the visibility of health care experiences in their gendered, sexualized, and racialized dimensions. Finally, narrative and narrative performance offers an additional means of visibility in catalyzing change in public, legislative, scholarly and relational arenas.
Status as a College of Communication Graduate Student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
HTHC 526 | SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF HEALTH AND ILLNESS | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Beginning with foundational theories and principles of social construction, the course examines cases illustrating socially-constructed features of healthcare. We discuss (a) medicine as a gendered and hierarchical institution, (2) specialized languages used to describe/construct specific illnesses (e.g. anorexia and obesity, addiction, depression, HIV/AIDS), and (3) how constructed realities become internalized through primary and secondary socialization within the family, through media, and through encounters with the health care system.
Status as a College of Communication Graduate Student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
HTHC 592 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Students will be guided in the development of a special project that furthers their collaboration with an instructor and produces a report that demonstrates their mastery of critical content and competencies. The independent study option is intended for students who have demonstrated a mastery of course content, who would benefit from a sustained, focused collaboration with a relevant faculty member.
Status as a Graduate Health Communication student and Director consent is a prerequisite for this class.
HTHC 599 | RESEARCH THESIS | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Enroll in 599 during the term you plan to defend your thesis or complete your final project. This is a graded, 4-credit hour course. Tuition is charged. You must have a scheduled defense/completion date to be approved for this class. Your thesis/project advisor needs to communicate this date to the Graduate Studies Director for your program, before you are allowed to enroll. Loan deferment is allowed to those registered for this class.
Status as a Graduate Health Communication student and Director consent is a prerequisite for this class.
HTHC 601 | ACTIVE DEGREE COMPLETION | 0 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This is a 0-credit hour course that is available to students who are working actively toward the completion of a thesis or project. Enrollment in this course is limited to the two quarters prior to the defense of the thesis/project and requires thesis/project advisor and graduate director approval and proof of work each quarter. Enrollment in this course allows access to the library and other campus facilities. This course carries half-time enrollment status and eligibility for loan deferment and student loans. This course is graded as pass/fail. (0 credit hours)
Graduate HTHCM students
HTHC 602 | CANDIDACY CONTINUATION | 0 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This is a 0-credit hour course that requires permission from the graduate director. Students can enroll in this course if they are finishing a course in which they received an incomplete (IN) and are not registered for any other regular credit-bearing courses in the quarter they plan to finish the incomplete. Enrollment in this course is limited to the two quarters following the quarter of the original incomplete (IN) grade. Enrollment in this course allows access to the library and other campus facilities. This course does not carry any enrollment status. Students enrolled in this course are not eligible for loan deferment or student loans. This course is not graded. (0 credit hours)
Graduate HTHCM students