COURSE NAME:
African American Health

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course will systemically examine the health problems and health care issues specific to African Americans. Diseases, such as sickle cell, diabetes, hypertension, end stage renal disease and HIV/AIDS, will be examined as they relate to the African American population. Additionally, this course will examine the delivery of health care to the African American community as impacted by health related historical events and the current economic influences.

METHOD OF INSTRUCTION:
This course will be taught primarily through the use of lecture followed by classroom discussion. Additionally, students will be assigned projects and papers to further facilitate the understanding, relationship, and critical thinking associated with the concepts presented in class.

PRE/CO-REQUISITES:
None

COURSE RATIONALE:
This course satisfies the university core Cultural Elective requirement.

COURSE GOALS AND INTENDED OUTCOME:
At the end of this class, the student will be able to:

1. Describe the health care system as it is organized in the United States today.
2. List the determinants of health and analyze the social, ethnic and political factors contributing to those determinants.
3. Discuss the political and economic factors that currently exist that predict changes in the funding, health care needs, and structure of the health care system in the United States.
4. Describe the process by which systematic paternalism and racism has influenced access and utilization of health care by African Americans.
5. Examine the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the current quality care issues for African Americans.
6. For each of the diseases discussed, describe the symptoms, cause, treatment, prognosis, and implications for African Americans.
7. Describe the various models of community health care being utilized in the United States to provide access to undeserved African Americans.

REQUIRED TEXT & MATERIALS:
Textbook:      Laviest, T. A. (Ed) (2002) Race, Ethnicity and Health, Jossey-Bass: San Francisco.

COURSE OUTLINE:

Unit I: Overview of the Health Care System in the United States
1. Brief History of Health Care
2. Changes in Health Care Cost
3. Changes in Health Care Funding
4. Determinants of Health
5. Future of Health Care Needs

Unit II: African American Health Care in the United States
1. Systematic Paternalism and Racism
2. Tuskegee Syphilis Study
3. Quality Care Issues

Unit II: Disease Affecting the African American Community
1. Hypertension
2. Diabetes
3. Cancer
4. Anemia
5. STDs
6. HIV/AIDS

Unit IV: Models of Health Care in the African American Community

GRADING STANDARDS:

Evaluation
The final grade will be determined as follows:
Assignments	40%
Projects	60%

Grading Scale:
	A : 100 - 94	A- : 93 - 90
B+ : 89 - 87	B : 86 - 83	B- : 82 - 80
C+ : 79 - 77	C : 76 - 73	C- : 72 - 70
D+ : 69 - 67	D : 66 - 63	D- : 62 - 60
	F : 59 - 0

1. Assignments are due on the date given on the assignment. In the case of illness, the assignment is due on the day of return to class.
2. Projects will be assigned to provide experience not available in the classroom setting, to apply concepts presented in class and to practice writing and thinking skills. The assignments are due on the due date, however, a grace period of 1 week is allowed. The grace period expires at the end of the class period one week after the paper is due. If the project is later than 1 week after the due date, a grade of “0” will be assigned. There IS NO exception given for late papers.
3. If a project is submitted via email, the following criteria must be applied:
   1. The paper must be submitted as a Word or RTF document.
   2. It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that the correct document is attached.
   3. It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that the document is received by the due date. A confirmation email will be sent by the instructor on receipt of the successful email.

ATTENDANCE:
The University Policy states that “at the discretion of the instructor, a student whose absences exceed 20% of scheduled class meetings for the semester may receive a grade of “F” for the course”. See the Student handbook(pdf) for the complete university attendance policy . This policy will be utilized for this class, therefore, any student missing more than 9 classes, either excused or unexcused, will receive a failing grade for the course. The names of students, who have not attended class during the first three weeks of class, will be forwarded to the registrar for deletion from the class roster. Students are expected to attend all classes and promptness is appreciated. Failure to attend class and failure to be on time will impact on the ability to understand the material and on the receipt of necessary information. It is the responsibility of the student to obtain any materials missed during an absence from class.

CELLULAR PHONES/PAGING DEVICES:
These devices must be turned off or silenced during class AND must be placed off of the desk and stored.

COURSE SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS:

Writing/Scientific Reasoning/Critical Thinking: Students will be assigned writing tasks that will provide practice in writing clear and understandable communications. Additionally, the writing will require that the student critically assess the situations presented and apply reasoning to situational context.