Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Chair

Overview

Programs leading to degrees in health promotion, education, and behavior center around changing health practices. Health promotion, education, and behavior is an activist discipline and employs community development, organizational behavior and applied communications strategies to influence knowledge, attitudes, social support systems, patient/provider relationships, and the alteration of access and availability barriers to care in promoting positive health practices. Courses emphasizing principles of learning, motivation, behavior change, program planning and evaluation as applied to health promotion, education, and behavior constitute the basis of professional preparation. The department supports the idea that health promotion, education, and behavior subsume a set of activities which:

• influence individuals to adopt or maintain healthful practices through skill development, social support enhancement, and environmental and policy change
• foster teaching and communication skills in all those engaged in health education
• advocate changes in organizations and the environment which will facilitate healthful practices
• develop appropriate and effective health education programs aimed at promoting good health through change in behaviors at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, organizational, community and public policy levels
• enhance the health educator’s role as a model, advocate, and leader in public health
• evaluate health education programs to ensure they are meeting program goals and objectives (assess effectiveness)
• develop and disseminate new knowledge through systematic research and evaluation
• inform people about health, illness, disability, and ways in which they can protect and improve their health, including more efficient use of the health care delivery system.

The Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior offers the following degrees and certificates: Master of Public Health, Master of Science in Public Health, Master of Science (project and thesis options), Master of Arts in Teaching (in cooperation with the College of Education ), Dual Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health (in cooperation with the College of Social Work  ) (see Graduate Dual Degree Programs  ), Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Public Health, Certificate in Graduate Study in School Health Education, and the Certificate of Graduate Study in Health Communication (in cooperation with the School of Journalism and Mass Communications  and the School of Library and Information Science ).

Department Admission Requirements

See the department Web site for details: www.sph.sc.edu/futurestudents/index.htm. Admission requirements follow those of The Graduate School and include:

• a completed application
• official transcripts from all post-secondary schools and colleges previously attended, including non-degree courses taken
• evidence of academic performance at a B or better level on academic transcripts
• satisfactory GRE scores. While there is no minimum guideline for the master’s programs, the average GRE (combined verbal and quantitative) for incoming students is approximately 1000. For the M.S.P.H., a minimum verbal score of 500 is required. For the Master of Arts in Teaching, the Miller Analogies Test is also accepted. For the doctoral programs a minimum of 1000 (combined verbal and quantitative) is required.
• three letters of recommendation
• a letter of intent which describes professional goals and objectives. Master’s degree applicants should describe how the applicant became interested in the field of health promotion, education, and behavior. Doctoral applicants should describe research interests and professional goals.
• satisfactory score on the TOEFL or the IELTS Intl. Academic Course Type 2 exam for applicants whose native language is not English. The minimum acceptable score on the TOEFL is 230 (computer-based) or 570 (paper-based), but many programs have set higher requirements. The minimum acceptable overall band score on the IELTS Intl. Academic Course Type 2 exam is 6.5.
• current resume or curriculum vitae.

Certificate of Graduate Study in Health Communication, Certificate (Library and Information Science) 

Applicants to the Certificate of Graduate Study in Health Communication must have, at a minimum, a bachelor’s degree and meet the general requirements of The Graduate School. Applicants may request that significant professional experience be substituted for standardized test scores.

Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior