What is Health? Public Health? Population Health?

In this module, you will consider how we define health. We will consider how health is defined using a medical model, a sociocultural model, and a psychological model. We will examine health as a multidimensional concept and learn how to measure health at the population level.

Reading 1: Barr Chapter 2 (pg. 13-38)

The following videos define population health and public health. After watching them you will understand the indicators of population health and have an idea of how we manage public health in the United States.

Video 1: Crash Course Population Health (10 minutes)

https://youtu.be/D9SWRByzDSoLinks to an external site.

Video 2: What is Public Health? APHA (4 minutes)

https://youtu.be/ig2cnOLFBR4?t=201Links to an external site.

There are two textbooks required for this class:

Health Disparities in the United States: Social Class, Race, Ethnicity, and the Social Determinants of Health. By Donald Barr 3rd edition.

An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take it Back by Elisabeth Rosenthal

I prefer that you use the 3rd edition of the Barr book because it has more updated statistics, but if supply chain issues or affordability issues are in play, please feel free to use the 2nd edition for the entire semester. The extra readings and videos will complement the book and make sure we are all up to date on the content.

Guiding Questions:

How is health defined?

Who is healthy?

What is population health? Public health?

How do you know that a population is healthy?