GIRARD SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
WINSTON SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND SOCIAL POLICY
SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCES
SCHOOL OF NURSING AND HEALTH SCIENCES
With flexible options, you can complete your Master of Science in Health Promotion and Management in as little as nine months or take as much time as you need.
The 32-credit M.S. in Health Promotion and Management is comprised of eight courses, field-based experience and a capstone project. An interdisciplinary program, it includes coursework in both the School of Nursing and Health Sciences and Merrimack’s Girard School of Business.
The program is designed to give you a foundation in theory and research, as well as provide an emphasis on practical applications. The required capstone project culminates in a written report, PowerPoint presentation or other tangible product that exhibits your knowledge and augments your professional portfolio.
This course provides students with an overview of the major chronic diseases that are highly preventable and manageable through lifestyle and behavioral changes. Using the United States Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotions Healthy People 2020 Framework, students will gain an understanding of the distribution, etiology, costs, prevention and management of these chronic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, cancer and mental health disorders. Students will also become familiar with concepts of health disparities and their role in the distribution and prevention of chronic disease. In addition, theoretical foundations for health behavior change and disease prevention program design will be introduced. In the latter half of the course, students will work in small groups to apply course content by researching and presenting information on evidence-based approaches to prevention of a specific chronic disease, within the context of their graduate concentration area.
In this course, students will learn to systematically assess and analyze the health promotion needs of a specified target population at the individual, community and organizational levels. Students will learn to develop a holistic, theoretically-based and culturally appropriate comprehensive program to address identified health needs of a population, and create thorough program implementation plans and systematic methods to evaluate the effectiveness of the health promotion program. Students will also gain an understanding of effective health communication strategies used in health promotion programs with an opportunity to practice these communication skills.
This course examines the application of marketing principles, provides students with an overview of concepts and strategies used in social marketing and public health information campaigns; emphasizes skills to create audience-oriented health intervention efforts, including formative research, audience segmentation, channel analysis and the application of behavioral theory.
The Capstone Project is the culminating academic endeavor of students who earn a degree from the School of Health Sciences Graduate Program at Merrimack College. The project provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate their independent ability to produce meaningful professional products that evaluate and/or address real-world issues or client needs within their field. The final Capstone product, consisting of a professional development plan and reflection paper, e-portfolio and professional presentation of that e-portfolio, should demonstrate the student’s ability to synthesize and apply the knowledge and skills acquired in his/her academic program to professional contexts within their field. This Capstone Project should affirm students’ ability to think critically and creatively, to solve practical problems, to make reasoned and ethical decisions, and to communicate effectively. The purpose of the Capstone course itself is two-fold: to provide structure and pacing for graduate students who are completing the Capstone Project, and to create a learning community in which students will share their capstone work with others to gain constructive feedback and to generate ideas about the best ways to approach project content and structure. The seminar format of this class means that students should come prepared to discuss their own work, as well as to carefully consider their peers’ work and offer insights relating to how projects can be improved.
Population health is the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group. Population health analytics has become in very high demand in the healthcare field, and it reaches many professional areas such as government, public health organizations, healthcare organizations and more. The Population Health Analytics course involves a broad understanding of many methods utilized to measure population health. Students will develop an analytic mindset and experience the different quantitative methods to reach advanced insights on various groups. This course will provide a deep understanding of what population health is and how various analytics methods create actionable insights that can not only help stakeholders identify all variables that affect population health, but also proactively predict the health of different population groups. In addition, students will learn effective methods to visualize data and present it to stakeholders. Students will be exposed to many different population health studies and will be able to apply analysis to population health data in order to achieve actionable information.
This course examines place-based community organizing and development from a social justice perspective. Through case studies, students learn about current issues and approaches to community change. The course emphasizes organizing in low-income communities and provides an assets-based approach. The course will address key issues such as housing, economic development, neighborhood revitalization, and sustainability, with a focus on the social and political aspects of development.
Optional Electives include but are not limited to:
Diversity, Equity and Social Justice
In this course, students explore the concepts of diversity and social justice as they pertain to individuals, families, and communities. Students reflect upon their own identities and how power and privilege have impacted their lives, including their behaviors, attitudes, biases, and prejudices. Students will become knowledgeable of biases based on race, ethnicity, culture, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, social and economic status, political ideology, and disability, and how these contribute to discrimination and oppression. Students learn about systemic oppression from historical, political, cultural, and economic perspectives and about the effects of dominant culture on marginalized and vulnerable groups. Students begin to consider their personal and professional responsibilities as allies and agents of social change and how diversity and social justice work is foundational to the field and discipline of community engagement. Opportunities to practice dialogue for consciousness-raising and the building of compassionate communities are provided.
School, Family, Community Partnership
This course considers the roles of schools in communities and explores methods and models for schools to engage families and communities to maximize student learning and development. Included in this course are issues such as schools as community centers, parent involvement, and interagency collaboration.
Health coaching is an aspect of health promotion in which practitioners help clients maintain or enhance their health and well-being by supporting the client through behavior change. The course focuses on advancing content knowledge and health coaching skills such as goal setting, motivational interviewing, cultural competence and effective communication. This course is appropriate for students majoring in health sciences, exercise sciences, public health, nutrition, and related majors who are interested in developing health coaching skills. This course is the prerequisite for HSC4350 Health Coaching: Application and Practice. Students who complete HSC2500 Health behavior and promotion and the two health coaching courses will receive the Merrimack College Health Coaching Certificate.
This course is part of a series of three graduate level courses that graduate students in the Health Promotion and Management program can complete to receive the Merrimack College Health Coaching Certificate. Below we will list additional learning outcomes and requirements for graduate students. This course supports the development of health coaching skills that will advance students health promotion knowledge and skills, preparing them to be competitive in their career path. Health coaching is an aspect of health promotion in which practitioners help clients maintain or enhance their health and well-being by supporting the client through behavior change. The course focuses on advancing content knowledge and health coaching-related skills such as goal setting, motivational interviewing, cultural competence and effective communication. This course is appropriate for students majoring in health sciences, exercise sciences, public health, nutrition and related majors who are interested in developing health coaching skills.
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Samantha Fagundes ‘24 hopes to one day become a Disney Imagineer through the park’s internship program.
