Calendar

CLASS # TOPICS
1

Class Introduction

Course description, social determinants of health, rapid HIA client introduction.

2

Major Health Challenges from a Public Health Perspective

Synopsis of mortality and morbidity domestically and abroad; contrasting perspectives on health and disease.

3

Rapid HIA, Training

Guest lecturer: Barry Keppard, MAPC

4

Health Disparities

Measurement, definition, monitoring and tracking; inequity versus inequality; arguments for and against a focus on narrowing gaps in health status.

5

Socioeconomic Status

Income: What aspects of health can buy money? Material factors, relative position, psychosocial factors, stress, bandwidth, risk aversion. Employment: Job demand and control, job insecurity, occupational health and safety, prestige. Education: Contemporaneous and life course effects, links to other social factors.

6 HIA: Assessment Introduction
7

Discrimination, Race / Ethnicity

Scientific and social views on race, Latino health paradox, immigration and assimilation, discrimination, unequal returns on investment.

8 Criminal Justice System
9

Neighborhoods: Built and Natural Environment

Guest lecturer: Peter James, Harvard School of Public Health

Air quality, water, green space, home-based hazards, heat, extreme weather/storms, climate change. Sprawl, food environment, neighborhood amenities, safety, identity and attachment.

10

Neighborhoods: Social Environment

What is a “neighborhood effect?” Community change, displacement, social capital.

11

Embodiment

Physiological effects of stress, immune function, life course perspective, intergenerational transmission.

12

Policy and Policymaking

Guest lecturer: Lauren Smith, FSG (former Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Public Health)

Costs and benefits of bringing a health lens to non-health policies; planning and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

13 Pathway presentations
14

HIA: Applications

Reviewing examples of HIAs, HIA process, scoping working session.

15

HIA: Screening and Scoping

Guest lecturer: Barry Keppard, MAPC

Picking a policy, program, budget, plan for assessment; prioritizing health risks and health outcomes to examine.

16 HIA Assessment Workshop: Record Expungement
17 HIA Assessment Workshop: Just Cause for Eviction
18

HIA: Designing Recommendations

Using evidence effectively.

HIA Critique Due

19

Working Session

Informal class presentations, time to workshop in teams.

20

HIA: Successes and Failures

HIA pitfalls and triumphs, with examples.

21

State of the Practice

Guest lecturer: Bethany Rogerson, Health Impact Project

The breadth, scope, and growth of HIA practice. Comparison to other impact assessment.

22

Alternatives to HIA

Guest lecturer: Barry Keppard, MAPC

Health in all policies, health lens analysis, other tools.

23

HIA: Communications

Framing, organizing, advocacy.

24 Final HIA presentations with clients
25 Final HIA presentations with clients (Cont.)
26

Future of HIA

Where do we go from here? Will HIA continue to spread? Should it?

Course Info

As Taught In
Spring 2016
Level
Learning Resource Types
Lecture Notes
Presentation Assignments
Written Assignments