Program Requirements:
Each student, in consultation with his/her faculty advisor, will develop a proposed course of study. The course of study must specify both a major Focus Area and minor area of study, courses to be taken, and proposed timeline for courses, practicum, comprehensive exams, and dissertation. The DrPH degree is designed to be completed within 4 years at full-time effort. There is a 7 year time limit.
The DrPH program requires 67 total credit hours distributed as follows:
12 hrs - Focus Area
- 3 hrs of CBH Advanced Seminar. This new course will address theory and practice at a level beyond that covered in CBH Master’s level courses. Students will acquire advanced skills in developing, testing, and applying health behavior theory to public health problems.
- 3 hrs of CBH Quantitative Methods. This new course will address experimental design and analysis techniques utilized in the social sciences, including , t-tests, ANOVA; MANOVA; multiple linear and logistic regression; scale development techniques, including factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha analysis; and assessment of measurement reliability and validity.
- 3 hrs of Qualitative Methods. Students will take HBSC 7051-3 at the downtown campus, or an equivalent course that explores methods for collecting and analyzing interview and text-based data and theoretical paradigms that underlie these methods.
- 3 hrs of Advanced Methods/Statistics. Students will select one additional course addressing advanced methods. Usually, this will be directly related to their dissertation research. Possible topics include but are not limited to: structural equation modeling, Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM), item-response theory, advanced factor analysis, advanced qualitative methods, and mixed-methods.
9 hrs - Selectives - Selectives will build the student’s specific area of expertise, leading to the qualifying exams and dissertation. Examples of areas of specialization for CBH include (but are not limited to) the following: health communications, maternal and child health, cancer prevention and control, physical activity, nutrition, aging, school health, and mental health. Coursework to fulfill the selectives requirement may be taken in the School of Public Health or another relevant school or department. Courses must be selected in consultation with the student’s advisor.
6 hrs – Minor - Public Health Electives – Elective courses in the selected minor area of study. The minor area must be in one of the five core areas of public health, excluding the major focus area. These include: biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health, community and behavioral health, and health systems, management and policy. These courses will be taken in the School of Public Health.
3 hrs - Leadership – A course on leadership development, taken in the School of Public Health or elsewhere with permission.
3 hrs - Management - A course on principles of management or organizational communications, taken in the School of Public health or elsewhere with permission.
3 hrs - Proposal Writing – The overall goal of this requirement is to develop skills in preparing high quality, successful, research or practice grant applications. Students will become familiar with different granting mechanisms (e.g., NIH, CDC, foundations) and develop grantsmanship skills, including the ability to formulate research and practice plans and write at a high level of quality. This is a closely mentored and intensive activity that is intended to lead directly to the submission of a grant application.
4 hrs - DrPH Seminar - 4, 1 credit hr semesters of the DrPH seminar. Students will be required to attend the bi-monthly seminar for the first 4 semesters of their tenure in the program. The DrPH seminar will cover topic areas across all five concentrations of public health (i.e. biostatistics, community and behavioral health, environmental health, epidemiology, and health services, management and policy) while addressing the core DrPH competencies related to advocacy, communication, community/cultural orientation, critical analyses, leadership, management and professionalism/ethics. The seminar will include a combination of guest speakers on relevant topics, directed reading and discussion, and student presentations of areas of interest and work-in-progress.
2 hrs - Directed Reading –In preparation for written and oral comprehensive exams, each student will prepare, in consultation with their examination committee, a directed reading list in the area of their dissertation research. This activity is intended to lead to the student becoming an expert in their specific area of research, including understanding of the historical development of the specific area, current research findings, and current practice in the area. Reading will address current epidemiological understanding of the area, methodological aspects of the area, theoretical underpinnings of behavior related to the area, and current practice in the area. For example, in the area of physical activity, upon completion of this activity, a student would be expected to have a thorough understanding of epidemiological evidence supporting or disputing a relationship between physical activity and disease onset and outcome, physiological mechanisms for the relationship between physical activity and health/disease status, theoretical approaches used in understanding determinants of physical activity behavior, methods for assessing levels of physical activity, and current practices in developing programs for increasing levels of physical activity. The written and oral comprehensive exams will take place upon completion of directed reading.
4 hrs – Practicum - All DrPH students must engage in a minimum of 240 hours of high level fieldwork. This will usually be completed with an agency outside of the School of Public Health (e.g., local health department, state health department, volunteer organization, etc.). The fieldwork experience should address most, if not all, of the core DrPH competencies (Advocacy, Communication, Community/Cultural Orientation, Critical Analysis, Leadership, Management, Professionalism & Ethics).
21 hrs - Dissertation – Following completion of the written qualifying exam (see below), students will complete 21 dissertation credits during which time they prepare and defend their dissertation proposal, complete their dissertation research, and complete and defend their written dissertation.
Exams/Dissertation
It is expected that formal coursework will take approximately 2 years to complete. As students complete required coursework and practicum hours, they will advance towards independent research for their dissertation. In this process, students will complete written and oral qualifying exams.
Written qualifying exam
The purpose of the written qualifying exam is to test the student’s broad knowledge and ability to integrate and apply this knowledge to problems in public health at an advanced level. The written qualifying exam will usually be completed after the fourth semester of coursework. Each student will formulate a Qualifying Exam Committee made of four members. Three members must hold primary faculty appointments in the Colorado School of Public Health. Two of these must have a primary appointment in the student’s Focus Area and one must have a primary appointment in the student’s minor public health area. The fourth member must be a public health practitioner, based at a non-university agency. The Qualifying Exam Committee will guide the student in the Directed Reading (see above), develop written examination questions, and evaluate exam responses. Typically, the exam will include 3-5 long essay questions that incorporate DrPH competencies (both general and Focus Area specific) and the areas covered in the student’s Directed Reading. Typically, the exam will be implemented as a several day (3-7) take-home experience. Responses are expected to be in-depth with citations and may be of publishable quality (such as a literature synthesis).
Oral qualifying exam
Following completion of the written qualifying exam, each student will form a 5-member dissertation committee to guide their dissertation research, including the development of the dissertation research proposal, oral examination on the proposed research, conduct of the research, and completion and defense of the dissertation. The committee must include 3 faculty members with a primary academic appointment in the School of Public Health, one faculty member from a department outside the school, and one member who is actively engaged in public health practice and whose primary affiliation is with a public health agency or organization.
The oral examination will include questions that focus on the student’s core and chosen specialty area, in addition to content of the written dissertation proposal. The examination will include a detailed review and discussion of the proposed dissertation research and subject.
Dissertation
The dissertation will be of an applied, problem-solving nature and must demonstrate the ability to conduct independent research that draws broadly from theory to explore a contemporary public health issue. The student is expected to examine, analyze, and suggest solutions to a problem in public health practice that has readily identifiable beneficiaries and constituents. The dissertation committee will work with the student to identify appropriate areas of investigation. The project will involve a written product that comprehensively addresses, generates, and/or interprets knowledge applicable to public health practice. The project will be similar in scope to a traditional PhD dissertation; however its focus will be directed towards innovation in public health practice and will not be exclusively research-based.
The written dissertation document may be one of several forms depending on the nature of the scholarly work, but should be of publishable quality and must demonstrate rigorous analytic strategies. It will typically take one of two forms: (1) a unified thesis, or (2) three publishable papers based on research bracketed by an introduction and conclusion. The dissertation will be defended publicly and must be approved by the dissertation committee before the degree of DrPH is conferred.
Timetable for completion
The DrPH degree is designed to be completed within 4 years at full-time effort. Upon entering the DrPH program, students will have 3 years to pass the written qualifying exam and should complete the dissertation and public defense of the dissertation within 7 years of entering the program.