Graduate Courses Offered by the Department of BioBehavioral Health

BBH 501 : Biobehavioral Systems in Health and Development: Theory and Processes ( 3 )
Understanding the etiology of illness and the design of intervention strategies for promoting healthy development, preventing illness, and accomplishing remediation and rehabilitation require a multidisciplinary understanding of the theoretical basis of normal healthy human development and the complex biological processes that form the basis of health and development. This course (BB H 501) presents the theoretical framework of humans as complex dynamic systems, followed by modules on processes of cell biology and genetics as complex systems. The second course (BB H 503) continues with modules of the processes of neurobiology, endocrinology, immunology, and pharmacology followed by a section on integrative biology and health. The modules of biological processes are developed from the perspective of how the physiological aspects of the area of biology is relevant to behavioral development and on what aspect of this area of biology is linked to behavior. These processes are considered in the context of their role in the comprehensive theoretical models developed in the first section of the course. Similar integration with a primary emphasis on behavioral processes is offered in other courses that form the core graduate curriculum in Biobehavioral Health. Evaluation of the theories section will be by written exam, oral presentation, and seminar participation. Evaluation of the cell biology, genetics, and neurobiology components will be by written exam for each component. This initial required course in the biobehavioral health sequence is designed to provide a multidisciplinary framework of theory and knowledge of biobehavioral processes and their implications for health and illness on which other biobehavioral health courses can build. It is the first of a two-course sequence (BB H 501 and BB H 503). It will be required by all graduate majors in Biobehavioral Health. It will be available to students in other doctoral programs. It could be a part of a Biobehavioral Health minor for other students. This course will be offered every fall semester beginning with the first fall semester after approval and will enroll a maximum of twenty students.
Course available in: [Fall]
BBH 502/PSYCH 502 : Health: Biobehavioral Perspectives ( 3 )
Health and different kinds of illnesses or disabilities result from the interaction of biological, psychological, behavioral, and environmental factors. This seminar draws upon knowledge from behavior medicine, health psychology, and other fields to understand such multivariate interactions in the etiology of health and illness and illustrates those processes with different kinds of health issues.
Course available in: [Fall]
BBH 503 : Biobehavioral Systems in Health and Development: Processes and Integration ( 3 )
Understanding the etiology of illness and the design of intervention strategies for promoting healthy development, preventing illness, and accomplishing remediation and rehabilitation require a multidisciplinary understanding of the theoretical basis of normal healthy human development and the complex biological processes that form the basis of health and development. This course is the second course in a two-course sequence (BB H 501 and BB H 503) that is designed to provide first-year graduate students with a multidisciplinary understanding of the biobehavioral health perspective. This views humans as complex dynamic systems of integrated component processes that interact with the environment to influence development and health. The first course (BB H 501) presents the theoretical framework of humans as complex dynamic systems, followed by modules on processes of cell biology and genetics as complex systems. This course (BB H 503) continues with modules of the processes of neurobiology, endocrinology, immunology, and pharmacology followed by a section on integrative biology and health. The modules of biological processes are developed from the perspective of how the physiological aspects of the area of biology are relevant to behavioral development and what aspect of this area of biology is linked to behavior. Similar integration with a primary emphasis on behavioral processes is offered in other courses that form the core graduate curriculum. These processes are considered in the context of their role in the comprehensive theoretical models developed in the first section of the two-course sequence. Evaluation of each of the five modules will be by written exam. This required course in the biobehavioral health sequence is designed to provide a multidisciplinary framework of theory and knowledge of biobehavioral processes and their implications for health and illness on which other biobehavioral health courses can build. It is the second of a two-course sequence (BB H 501 and BB H 503). This course will be required by all graduate majors in Biobehavioral Health. It will be available to students in other doctoral programs. It could be a part of a Biobehavioral Health minor for other students. This course will be offered every spring semester beginning with the first spring semester after approval and will enroll a maximum of twenty students.
Course available in: [Spring]

BBH 504 : Biobehavioral Health Intervention Strategies ( 3 )
Effective Biobehavioral intervention strategies to promote healthy development, prevent illness, and facilitate recovery or rehabilitation from illness requires a multi method approach targeted towards the interaction of biological, behavioral, and environmental variables. This seminar reviews the characteristics of such an approach and examines the nature of and evidence about the effectiveness of specific methods in current use.
Course available in: [Spring]
BBH 505 : Biobehavioral Health Research Strategies ( 3 )
To advance the knowledge base underlying a Biobehavioral approach requires an interaction of theory development and empirically based research strategies and methods to the relevant issues. This seminar examines the philosophy of science and the array of research strategies and methods relevant to the study of Biobehavioral health issues.
Course available in: [Fall]
BBH 521 : Structural Equation Modeling ( 3 )
Review of reliability, factor analysis, and multiple regression; confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the LISREL program; identification, specification, and goodness of fit; multiple group CFA; latent variable regression and path models; SEM with missing data. The approach in this course is mainly conceptual and practical, with BBH and social science research examples.
Course available in: [Spring]