Health Education

3124 W. S. White Building                       
(810) 762-3172
Fax: (810) 762-3003
http://www.umflint.edu/pubhealth/health-education-and-behavior-minor

Faculty Advisors Lisa Lapeyrouse, Ph.D., Shan Parker, Ph.D., M.P.H., Rie Suzuki, Ph.D.

With a career in health education and behavior, you help to improve public health by empowering people to manage chronic illness and disabilities through behavior change and educational outreach in pursuit of an equitable, healthy future for all.

Health education and behavior focuses on understanding the prevention of illness and the promotion and maintenance of optimal health. Health educators focus on helping groups of people, from family units to large urban communities, by developing educational campaigns and programs to promote healthy habits and environments such as initiatives on:

• nutrition or community fitness
• creating curriculum for training community health workers, educating young people to recognize and avoid the risky behavior of unprotected sex, alcohol and drug abuse
• designing health promotion programs for smoking cessation initiatives, water and sanitation projects, and occupational safety courses
• developing programs for prescription adherence in the elderly population
• researching self-care practices and behavioral barriers to care to better understand a community’s participation with the health care system

Program Mission and Assessment

The mission of the Health Education Program is to promote the health and well-being of the community by preparing community-oriented health educators with expertise in theory based practice, to contribute to the knowledge base of health education, and to serve as a resource to the community.

Programs

• Health Education and Behavior Minor