IHC - Interdisciplinary Health Communication

Required for All Students
Psychological Processes Track
Integrated Communication Strategies Track

*Denotes a general course. Students are expected to produce a paper or project related to health communication.
**Students can take only one of these selected courses.

See sample course schedules.

Required for All Students

HBHE 825/JOMC 825: Seminar in Interdisciplinary Health Communication (3 credits) (Fall)
Interdisciplinary overview of communication theory and research and critical analysis of applications of theory to interventions using communication for health. Brown/Ribisl (This course meets 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays.)

HBHE 826/JOMC 826: Interdisciplinary Health Communication Colloquium (1 credit) (Fall/Spring)
Prerequisites: FOR IHC STUDENTS ONLY. To register for JOMC 826, contact Cindy Anderson, andersoc@email.unc.edu. Interactive student/faculty discussion on health communication research and practice. Brown/Ribisl (Thursdays, 2-3:30 p.m.)

Psychological Processes Track

HBHE 730**: Social and Behavioral Foundations of Health Education (3 credits) (Fall)
Prerequisites: FOR HBHE MAJORS. Selected social and behavioral science theories and concepts that apply to the analysis of health-related behavior and to the generation of intervention strategies. Three lecture hours per week, one seminar hour. Fisher

INLS 490: Consumer Health Information (3 credits) (Fall/Spring)
This course will examine the growing need for access to health information for the public in the context of federal and state policy initiatives such as Healthy People 2010. The World Health Organization defines health as a complete state of physical, mental and social well-being and not simply the absence of disease. The course will examine concepts of health and illness from various cultural and social perspectives as a basis for designing print and digital health information collections and services for diverse user groups. Through the major assignment, students will have an opportunity to focus on a particular health topic of interest. The course will challenge students to think creatively about how to improve health status at the individual, community and global levels though the provision of information services. Gollop/Marshall

INLS 500*: Human Information Interaction (3 credits) (Fall/Spring)
The behavioral and cognitive activities of those who interact with information, with emphasis on the role of information mediators. How information needs are recognized and resolved; use and dissemination of information. Barreau/Marchionini

INLS 715*: User Perspectives in Information Systems and Services (3 credits) (Fall)
Explores the roles of information in human activity. Resulting insights are directed toward design of user-oriented systems. Psychological, social, economic, political, task, and other situational perspectives are taken. Solomon/Wildemuth

INLS 718*: Human-Computer Interaction (3 credits) (Fall)
Prerequisites: INLS 718 or permission of the instructor. Research and development in design and evaluation of user interfaces that support information seeking. Major topics: interactivity, needs assessment, query and browser interactions, interactive design and maintenance, usability testing. Marchionini

JOMC 445*: Process and Effects of Mass Communication (3 credits) (Fall/Spring)
Mass communication as a social and psychological process, incorporating literature from communication, psychology, and other disciplines. Acquaints students with factors in message construction, dissemination, and reception by audiences. Kalyanaraman

JOMC 705: Theories of Mass Communication (3 credits) (Fall)
Students prepare analytical papers on theories of mass communication based upon extensive review of behavioral science literature. Required of PhD students and master's students in the mass communication sequence. Gibson

JOMC 890: Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction (3 credits) (Fall)
Examines the many nuances of human-computer interaction (HCI) from a psychological and user-oriented perspective. The course adopts an empirical approach to understanding the several ways in which people respond to computers, and the cognitive, affective, and behavioral effects that are manifested in human-computer interactions. Kalyanaraman

PSYC 504: Health Psychology (3 credits) (Fall/Spring)
Prerequisite (Gil): PSYC 245 or graduate standing. An in-depth coverage of theoretical issues and clinical manifestations of psychological responsescharacteristic of individuals with chronic physical disorders. Gil
Prerequisite (Loeb): PSYC 101. An in-depth coverage of the social, psychological, behavioral, and neuroendocrine factors which are involved with the state of well-being and diseases. Loeb

PSYC 566*: Attitude Change (3 credits)
Prerequisites: PSYC 210 and 260, or permission of the instructor. A detailed consideration of the theoretical issues in attitude and belief change. Green

PSYC 719: Seminar in Clinical Health Psychology (3 credits)
An in-depth treatment of research topics in behavioral and biological aspects of health psychology. Gil/Staff

PSYC 864: Attitudes Seminar (Fall or Spring)
This seminar is designed to be a consideration of classic and contemporary theories of attitudes and attitude change. Green

PUBH 690: Communication for Health-Related Decision Making (2 credits) (Spring)
How do people make decisions about their health? What's the best way to communicate the relevant information? In this survey course, our interdisciplinary team will provide the foundation and skills to understand and improve health-related decision making, primarily in medical contexts. Golin/Sheridan

Integrated Communication Strategies Track

HBHE 795: eHealth (3 credits) (Fall)
An overview of the positive and negative impacts of the Internet on public health. Covers research, evaluation sites, ethics, and use of theory that addresses key public health problems. Ribisl

HBHE 811/NUTR 805: Development of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Intervention (3 credits) (Fall)
Prerequisistes: HBHE and Nutrition STUDENTS ONLY. The goals of this seminar are to explore the problems and issues in using behavioral and social science theories, concepts, and empirical evidence to inform health promotion research and interventions. Tate

INLS 490: Consumer Health Information (3 credits) (Fall/Spring)
This course will examine the growing need for access to health information for the public in the context of federal and state policy initiatives such as Healthy People 2010. The World Health Organization defines health as a complete state of physical, mental and social well-being and not simply the absence of disease . The course will examine concepts of health and illness from various cultural and social perspectives as a basis for designing print and digital health information collections and services for diverse user groups. Through the major assignment, students will have an opportunity to focus on a particular health topic of interest. The course will challenge students to think creatively about how to improve health status at the individual, community and global levels though the provision of information services. Gollop/Marshall

INLS 572*: Web Development (3 credits) (Fall/Spring)
Prerequisite: INLS 461 or permission of instructor. Introduction to Internet history, architecture and applications, with a particular emphasis on the World Wide Web. Introduces design principles for creating usable and accessible Web sites and assists students with developing technical skills and competencies. Kelly

INLS 582*: Systems Analysis (3 credits) (Fall/Spring)
Introduction to the systems approach to the design and development of information systems. Methods and tools for the analysis and modeling of system functionality (e.g., structured analysis) and data represented in the system (e.g., object-oriented analysis) are studied. Haas/Wildemuth

INLS 705: Health Sciences and Information (3 credits) (Spring)
An examination of concepts of health and illness that may be used for designing health information collections and services. The course will challenge students to think of ways to improve provision of health information services at various levels. Gollop

INLS 718*: User Interface Design (3 credits) (Spring)
Prerequisite: INLS 582. Basic principles for designing the human interface to information systems, emphasizing computer-assisted systems. Major topics: users' conceptual models of systems, human information processing capabilities, styles of interfaces, evaluation methods. Wildemuth

JOMC 473*: Integrated Marketing Communications Campaign Planning (3 credits) (Fall)
The course objective is to help students understand how to work with real clients, how to analyze business problems and strategize marketing and marketing communication plans to effect solution, how to produce complete IMC programs, and how to measure results. Students in this course are typically challenged to engage in student advertising competition cases or work with volunteer clients - usually small businesses in the area - to bring the concepts of campaign planning to life. Lauterborn

JOMC 475*: Concepts of Marketing (3 credits) (Fall/Spring)
Designed for students anticipating careers in advertising, public relations, or related areas, this course teaches the vocabulary and basic concepts of marketing as it will be practiced, emphasizing the role of mass communication. Principles of social marketing will also be covered. Lauterborn/Hennink-Kaminski

JOMC 491*: Crisis Communication (3 credits) (Spring)
This course introduces students to the principles of effective crisis communication management and gives them opportunity to apply those principles with a community partner. The critical difference between a crisis-prone and crisis-prepared organization is effective crisis management. And the key to effective crisis management is effective communication. As a service-learning class, students will work with a community partner to research, design and deliver a comprehensive crisis communication plan. Delivery of this plan includes providing crisis communication training for the community partner. Prerequisites for JOMC majors are JOMC130, JOMC431 and JOMC 232. Graduate students should have taken JOMC 730. Instructor permission is required for non-JOMC majors. This course will count as a craft course for public relations students. Dougall

JOMC 560: Medical Journalism (3 credits) (Fall)
Prepares students to work as medical journalists for a variety of media, including print, broadcast, and the Internet. The course emphasizes writing skills and interpreting medical information for consumers. Linden

JOMC 561: Medical Reporting for the Electronic Media (3 credits) (Spring)
Teaches students how to conceive, script, report, produce and video edit medical stories for electronic media, especially television. Students work in teams to produce medical reports for Carolina Wekk, the student-produced television newscast. Linden

JOMC 562: Science Documentary Television (3 credits) (Fall)
Students learn skills needed to produce a science documentary for broadcast on television. Emphasis is placed on researching a topic, followed by field production, script writing and video editing. Linden

JOMC 730*: Public Relations Foundations (3 credits) (Fall)
Introduction to the growing field of public relations practice: its history, legal and ethical issues, types and areas of practice, and construction of public relations campaigns. Must be used as a basic competency class by master's students. This course cannot be counted toward a program of study for doctoral students. Dougall

JOMC 830*: Seminar in Public Relations (3 credits) (Fall)
Readings, discussions, and research in public relations. Topics covered include building PR theory, agenda building, ethics, crisis/risk communication, new technology, and special topics such as health communication, cultural awareness, social networking, and nonprofit issues. Boynton/Straughan

JOMC 847*: Seminar in Communication for Social Change (3 credits) (Spring)
Examines how grassroots and participatory strategies are being combined with communication technologies to promote social change in Third World settings of developed and developing nations. Vargas

NUTR 715**: Dietary Change Interventions (3 credits) (Spring)
Prerequisites: NUTR 680 or permission of the instructor. Focus on developing theory-based nutrition interventions at the population level. Addresses levels of interventions such as individual, social network, organizational (e.g., schools and work sites); methods of implementation (including social marketing and mass media); and principles of assessing change. Campbell