HBHE 663 W17 (John Piette)

HBHE 663

Brief Interventions

The overall goal of HBHE 663 is to give students the skills and experience they need to participate in decision-making about adding/continuing behavioral services as part of a community-based organization and to be able to make those decisions based on evidence for what does and does not work for promoting behavior change.

The course has two aims: First, it gives students an understanding of how brief interventions are used to impact health behaviors in a range of important areas, including the promotion of dietary changes, addressing substance abuse, and helping people quit smoking. Through that process, students learn about the challenges to behavior change as well as the major behavioral approaches (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy and collaborative goal setting) used in helping patients set behavioral goals and attain them. Second, students gain skills in finding, interpreting, and applying scientific evidence in public health program development and decision-making.  We discuss where evidence can be found and critique specific randomized trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Students learn how to identify the key information in each type of report, as well as their methodologic limitations. We also review and discuss guidelines for delivering brief interventions from national and internationally recognized experts such as the US Preventive Services Task Force and apply those recommendations in the context of real world service delivery. The course uses a mix of lectures, group projects, and individual projects. Students play an active role in finding evidence, critiquing studies, and thinking through its strength and weakness in the context of behavioral service delivery.