Mental and behavioral health affect all members of society and all aspects of life. It is estimated that 1 in 4 adults in the US suffer from a mental or behavioral disorder in a given year, and mental and neurological disorders reflect many of the top causes of disability worldwide. Unfortunately, suicide is among the leading causes of death for adolescents and emerging adults in the US. Further, physical health challenges can lead to mental health challenges, and vice versa. Thus, it is critical that approaches to public health are informed by public mental health. This course will cover questions of prevalence, specific communities affected, causal frameworks, prevention and treatment intervention strategies, and services and policy considerations, through a public health frame with emphasis on a life course perspective and health equity.

The purpose of this seminar is to a) enhance students' skills in critical analysis and evaluation of public mental health research; b) advance students' foundational knowledge of current mental health problems and potential solutions using a multi-disciplinary approach; c) improve students' presentation and group facilitation skills; and d) provide a forum for interaction between students, faculty and professionals with interest and expertise in public mental health. This course is the core course for the Certificate in Mental Health. Offered each spring, any current first year student enrolled in the MPH or MSPH program at RSPH that plans to pursue the Certificate in Mental Health must enroll in BSHE 592/HPM 592. Participating certificate students will be identified based on their enrollment in this course.

Introduces students to the concept of violence as a public health problem and focuses on the epidemiology, surveillance, and prevention of interpersonal and self-directed violence.

Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to define mindfulness, describe its benefits for physical mental health, critically evaluate related literature, and perform mindfulness exercises.

Students critically explore what prevention and promotion mean for mental and behavioral disorders and mental health across the life course and at different levels of the social ecological model (from the individual to policies). Students also evaluate different approaches for preventing mental and behavioral disorders, across the three stages of prevention, and for promoting mental health.

This course in injury prevention and control is designed to introduce public health students to basic concepts of injury prevention and control, to the statistics, surveillance and epidemiology of various types of injury, and to the public health approach to controlling or eliminating injuries using concepts of engineering, enforcement, and education (policy, environmental modification and behavior modification). This class features content experts from CDC and other local agencies as well as student-generated case studies.

Pre-requisites: EPI 504 or EPI 530. Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of disease. Psychosocial Epidemiology is growing subfield of Epidemiology that examines how psychological and social factors influence physical health and disease in human populations. Because the field of Psychosocial Epidemiology is heavily influenced by observational data, the concepts of confounding, mediation and effect modification

will be emphasized throughout the course. Class sessions will consist of presentations by the professor; interactive discussions about key topics, assigned readings and in-class assignments; viewing and discussion of educational DVDs; and student presentations.

This course provides an overview of mental health services and policy by exploring the complex and dynamic relationship between general health, mental health, and public health in the United States. Students taking the class will learn how to apply a systems perspective to understanding both mental health and general health care delivery in the United States.