Public Health Commons^™

Bios 6531 – Categorical Data Analysis, Haresh Rochani

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

This course introduces statistical methods for analyzing both univariate and multivariate categorical data and count in medical research and other health-related fields. The course will introduce how to distinguish among the different measurement scales, the commonly used statistical probability distribution and inference methods for categorical and count data. Emphasis will be placed on the application of the methodology and computational aspects rather than theory. The students will learn how to apply SAS procedures to data and interpret the results.

Bios 7544 – Data Management For Biostatistics, Jingjing Yin

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

This course emphasizes data management and software applications using the SAS (Statistical Analysis System) software package. It will introduce the student to SAS codes for: inputting and outputting data, creating temporary and permanent data sets, creating formatted and labeled SAS data sets, merging and connecting SAS data sets, creating output using the TABULATE and REPORT procedures, debugging a SAS program that includes the TABULATE, REPORT and SQL procedures, using character functions in SAS, using a random number generator, probability distributions, arrays, and date and time functions. Students will also write a simple and complex query using the SQL procedure; create, …

Bios 9130—Research Seminar In Biostatistics, Hani M. Samawi

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

This course is designed to provide the student with the current best practices in biostatistical consulting. Topics include: Identifying and constructing appropriate questions to ask clients regarding their consultation request, an overview of appropriate statistical methods and SAS software procedures to use for specific study designs and statistical analysis of collected data, directing a consultation appointment without faculty lead, conducting exploratory data analyses, conducting effective analyses based on appropriate statistical methods, conducting needed simulation (including Monte Carlo methods and Bootstrap methods) and providing oral and written communication of statistical findings. 3 credit houses

Bios 9135– Advanced Survival Analysis, Lili Yu

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

This course will be placed on the theory on survival data. Counting processes and martingale method will be introduced. Emphasis will be place on the applications of the theory on the methodologies for survival data, such as Kaplan-Meier estimate, log-rank test, Cox model, etc. The students will learn how to use R language to setup survival dataset and perform analysis.

Bios 9231: Bayesian Statistics I, Xinyan Zhang

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

This course provides the student with an introduction Bayesian analysis and compares Bayesian methods to that of frequentists. The course includes selection of prior distributions, computing posterior distributions, and conjugate models such as the Beta-Binomial, Normal-Normal, and Gamma-Poisson models. Bayesian inference using point and interval estimation, Bayesian hierarchical models, and exchangeability will be explored. Topics including Empirical Bayes versus a fully Bayes approach, Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods and model checking using Bayes factors and sensitivity analyses will be included. Prerequisite: A minimum grade of "B" in BIOS 9131, or permission from instructor.

Cohe 7232 A – Health Promotion Planning, Andrew Hansen

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

Introduces the student to the theory and application of planning and evaluation principles. Planning and evaluation skills will be developed that can be utilized in a variety of health-related settings. Familiarizes students with theories and models from the social and behavioral sciences and health education used in behavior change interventions. Emphasizes the planning and implementing of community health interventions at multiple ecological levels.

Chbe 9335 A – Global Health And Preparedness, Andrew Hansen

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

This course will focus on global public health and preparedness for domestic and global emergencies. Students will explore patterns of health and disease around the world, and compare them to public health issues in the United States. An ecological framework will be employed to illustrate the complex political, social, economic, and environmental determinants of global health inequity. Concepts from the social sciences, epidemiology, health systems, and policymaking will be incorporated. The course will emphasize issues related to humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters both globally and domestically, and the need to build public health infrastructure and preparedness to mitigate them.

Envh 7234 – Environmental Toxicology, Evans Afriyie-Gyawu

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

This course introduces students to concepts associated with the lethal and sub-lethal effects of environmental and occupational stressors on humans and other living organisms.

Hspm 7133 Section A: Public Health Policy & Ethics, Bill Mase

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

The course prepares learners to understand complex health and human service-related systems in order to inform effective practice-based ethical decision-making. The primary focus of the course relates to public health policy and practice. Major content areas include health policy institutions, the health policy process, ethical political considerations, social determinants of health, workforce, health care financing, medical technology, health care organizations, the public health system, primary care systems, and other health-related issues impacting the health of the public. Strategies of implementing change through policy making and the legislative process are covered.

Epid 8230 – Observational Study Design And Analysis, Kelly L. Sullivan

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

This course will focus on the design and conduct of observational research designs including cohort, case-control and cross-sectional approaches. This course will provide instruction related to issues specific to observational research approaches. Students will develop and present detailed study plans for each research approach.

Geph 7530 – Capstone In Public Health Leadership, Sara S. Plaspohl

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

This capstone course includes a study of selected issues in public health leadership. It is intended to expose students to the basic attributes of effective leaders, helping them apply leadership principles, theories, and skills to enhance personal and professional development in these areas. Educational methods may include open discussion, assigned readings, case studies, exercises, and presentations developed by both the professor and the students.

Hspm 7335: Healthcare Operations Management, Linda Kimsey

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

This course examines operational issues in health care management. Topics include systems analysis, continuous quality improvement and re-engineering, demand forecasting, facility location and design models, decision analysis techniques, linear programming, queuing and waiting models, inventory control models, and statistical quality control. The goal is to instill an understanding of the language, applications, and limitations of quantitative models with regard to decision-making and problem solving in health care organizations.

Hspm 7336: Supply Chain Management, Linda Kimsey

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

The healthcare supply chain is a vital core business component of the health organization with the mission of delivering the technological elements of the patient care process to the providers of care. From strategic sourcing and purchasing, acquisition, logistics, inventory management, to point of use applications, this course provides understanding, knowledge and evaluation models to operate and manage an organization’s enterprise resource planning and management system, specifically with regard to the supply chain system and the management of that system as evaluated from a strategic, operations management and financial perspective.

Phld 9231 – Health Informatics & Decision Making, Gulzar H. Shah

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

This course focuses on the fundamental concepts of managing information as an asset in public health and healthcare delivery contexts. Emphasis will be placed on converting data into information and converting information into decision support models.

Pubh 3130- Substance Use And Abuse (Net), Jamie S. Cromley

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

This course will explore legal and illegal drug use in modern society. Issues related to the social, cultural, political, economic impact of drug use will be addressed. The recurrent theme throughout the course will be on prevention. This will include discussions on the best ways to postpone the initiation of substance use and abuse among school aged persons as well as the cessation of use and treatment for abuse among adult populations. Substance use and its abuse effects ALL of us and does NOT discriminate on the basis of age, gender, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity or income.

Pubh 3232: Foundations Of Health Education And Promotion Practice, Joanne Chopak-Foss

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

This course examines current issues and topics underlying the field of health promotion and education practice including philosophical foundations of health promotion and education, ethical issues in health education and promotion, the Certified Health Education Specialist Competencies, organizations and associations in public health education and employment potential. Prerequisite(s): A minimum grade of "C" in PUBH 2131.

Assessment Of Malnutrition In Patients With Liver Cirrhosis Using Protein Calorie Malnutrition (Pcm) Score Verses Bio-Electrical Impedance Analysis (Bia), Om Parkash, Wasim Jafri, S. M. Munir, Romaina Iqbal

Section of Gastroenterology

Objective: Malnutrition is a common problem in patients with liver cirrhosis and tools for nutritional assessment are under debate. We conducted this study to assess prevalence of malnutrition in cirrhotic patients using PCM score and BIA. Additionally we compared BIA to PCM score for detecting malnutrition in this patient population.

Results: This was a cross sectional study conducted in two tertiary care hospitals of Karachi Pakistan on adults with liver cirrhosis. Malnutrition was assessed by PCM score using anthropometric measurements and biological specimens and (ii) Body cell mass was assessed using BIA. Malnutrition as estimated by the PCM score was …

Health Professional Treatment Practices For Pediatric Sickle Cell Disease In Nigeria, Natalie Wichelt

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Abstract

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is caused by a genetic defect that results in abnormal hemoglobin genes that can cause devastating health effects like chronic hemolytic anemia and vaso-occlusive crises. Additionally, sickle cell disease can cause defects in the immune system, leaving those with the disease highly susceptible to a variety of different infections. In the pediatric population specifically, the complications of sickle cell disease contribute significantly to the under-five mortality rate of Nigeria. In response to the Millennium Development Goals 4, 5 and 6, as well as with growing national concern over the challenges faced by sickle cell disease …

Perspectives, Challenges, And Oral Cancer Screening Practices Of Primary Care Providers At Nebraska Medicine, Nishitha Ponnamaneni

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Background

High mortality and morbidity associated with oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) are due to delayed diagnosis. Early detection of OPC is possible by incorporating oral cancer screening (OCS) in the annual screening examination protocol of primary care providers (PCPs). The study was aimed to understand the perspectives and barriers of PCPs in screening their patients for OPC.

Objectives

1) To understand challenges PCPs’ face in performing OCS, 2) To determine the factors that influence PCPs’ decision to complete OCS, and 3) To determine if PCPs who received education on OCS are more likely to perform the screening compared to PCPs who …

Equity Of Care Analysis At Chi Health Hospitals And Clinics In The Omaha Metro Area., Lindsey Cork

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

The goal of the project is to identify if health disparities exist between patient groups based on race, ethnicity, language, payer type, and location of residence who received healthcare services from CHI Health system in the Omaha Metro area during January 2017 – March 2018. The health outcomes of interest are HPV vaccination rates, diabetes control rates, breast cancer screening rates, colorectal cancer screening rates, and 30-day hospital readmissions. Patient data from six Omaha area clinics and five hospitals was analyze in this study.

Among the six CHI Health clinics in this study, Lakeside had the highest rates of A1c …

Collaboration Between University Centers For Excellence In Developmental Disabilities (Ucedds) And Independent Living Networks, Sarah Swanson

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

In every state and U.S. Territory, there is a University Center for Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), which is part of the state Developmental Disabilities network and an Independent Living (IL) Network, composed of Centers for Independent Living and Statewide Independent Living Councils. Each of these receive federal funding (and frequently state funding) to support people with disabilities and their families. However, each has different federal funding sources, different origins within federal legislation and different requirements. Through discussions with IL and UCEDD leadership it is clear that there are collaborations between the two, yet this is not widely recognized. This research proposal …

Protecting And Serving Yourself: The Mental Health Of Police Officers In Kaukauna, Wisconsin, Caina Weiner

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

The service learning hours performed at the Kaukauna Police Department served as a valuable learning experience to better understand an organization that is involved in public health. Although some may view this as non-traditional, the police department is quite involved in the community’s health. They work closely with public health officials and are also involved in certain public health programs, such as drug and alcohol programs. The health of a police officer must also be considered as a public health topic. A police officer is part of a vulnerable population of individuals that are “first responders.” These individuals are at …

Title X Family Planning Secondary Data Analysis Needs Assessment, Laura Triplett

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

The goal of the Title X Needs Assessment is to ‘Provide individuals the information and means to exercise personal choice in determining the number and spacing of their children', prevent unintended pregnancies, and reduce the number of abortions.’ Objectives include but are not limited to family involvement, abstinence and safer sex practice, intimate partner violence, human trafficking, contraceptive services, pregnancy testing and counseling, achieving pregnancy, basic infertility services, preconception health, STI/STD testing and treatment and HIV testing, Well Women/Men Exams; screening for breast cancer, cervical cancer, and testicular cancer in males. Sexual health education and reproductive life planning will be …

A Characterization Of The Medical-Legal Partnership (Mlp) Of Nebraska Medicine, Jordan Pieper

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

This research study was completed at Legal Aid of Nebraska’s Health, Education, and Law Project through the partnership it has formed working with Nebraska Medicine and Iowa Legal Aid. Traditionally, health and disease have always been viewed exclusively as "healthcare" issues. But with healthcare consistently growing towards holistic approaches to help patients, we now know there are deeper, structural conditions of society that can act as strong driving forces of a person's poor daily living conditions that can negatively impact health. The importance of a Medical-Legal Partnership is that it considers a patient's social determinants of health (SDHs). The goal …

Grief And Avoidant Death Attitudes Combine To Predict The Fading Affect Bias, Jeffrey A. Gibbons, Sherman A. Lee, Ashley M. A. Fehr, Kalli J. Wilson, Timothy R. Marshall

Psychology Faculty Publications

The fading affect bias (FAB) occurs when unpleasant affect fades faster than pleasant affect. To detect mechanisms that influence the FAB in the context of death, we measured neuroticism, depression, anxiety, negative religious coping, death attitudes, and complicated grief as potential predictors of FAB for unpleasant/death and pleasant events at 2 points in time. The FAB was robust across older and newer events, which supported the mobilization-minimization hypothesis. Unexpectedly, complicated grief positively predicted FAB, and death avoidant attitudes moderated this relation, such that the Initial Event Affect by Grief interaction was only significant at the highest 3 quintiles of death …

Non-Mumps Viral Parotitis During The 2014-2015 Influenza Season In The United States., Lina I. Elbadawi, Pamela Talley, Melissa A. Rolfes, Alexander J. Millman, Erik Reisdorf, Natalie A. Kramer, John R. Barnes, Lenee Blanton, Jaime Christensen, Stefanie Cole, Tonya Danz, John J. Dreisig, Rebecca Garten, Thomas Haupt, Beth M. Isaac, Mary Anne Jackson, Anna Kocharian, Daniel Leifer, Karen Martin, Lisa Mchugh, Rebecca J. Mcnall, Jennifer Palm, Kay W. Radford, Sara Robinson, Jennifer B. Rosen, Senthilkumar K. Sakthivel, Peter Shult, Anna K. Strain, George Turabelidze, Lori A. Webber, Meghan Pearce Weinberg, David E. Wentworth, Brett L. Whitaker, Lyn Finelli, Michael A. Jhung, Ruth Lynfield, Jeffrey P. Davis

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Background: During the 2014-2015 US influenza season, 320 cases of non-mumps parotitis (NMP) among residents of 21 states were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). We conducted an epidemiologic and laboratory investigation to determine viral etiologies and clinical features of NMP during this unusually large occurrence.

Methods: NMP was defined as acute parotitis or other salivary gland swelling of >2 days duration in a person with a mumps- negative laboratory result. Using a standardized questionnaire, we collected demographic and clinical information. Buccal samples were tested at the CDC for selected viruses, including mumps, influenza, human parainfluenza …

Influenza-Associated Parotitis During The 2014-2015 Influenza Season In The United States., Melissa A. Rolfes, Alexander J. Millman, Pamela Talley, Lina I. Elbadawi, Natalie A. Kramer, Joh R. Barnes, Lenee Blanton, Jeffrey P. Davis, Stefanie Cole, John J. Dreisig, Rebecca Garten, Thomas Haupt, Mary Anne Jackson, Anna Kocharian, Daniel Leifer, Ruth Lynfield, Karen Martin, Lisa Mchugh, Sara Robinson, George Turabelidze, Lori A. Webber, Meghan Pearce Weinberg, David E. Wentworth, Lyn Finelli, Michael A. Jhung

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Background: During the 2014-2015 influenza season in the United States, 256 cases of influenza-associated parotitis were reported from 27 states. We conducted a case-control study and laboratory investigation to further describe this rare clinical manifestation of influenza.

Methods: During February 2015-April 2015, we interviewed 50 cases (with parotitis) and 124 ill controls (without parotitis) with laboratory-confirmed influenza; participants resided in 11 states and were matched by age, state, hospital admission status, and specimen collection date. Influenza viruses were characterized using real-time polymerase chain reaction and next-generation sequencing. We compared cases and controls using conditional logistic regression. Specimens from additional reported …

Evaluating And Increasing Lead Poisoning Prevention Awareness In The Refugee Population Of Douglas County, Ne, Kara Albright

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Background: Lead poisoning is a major public health concern. It accounted for twelve percent of the global burden for intellectual disabilities, and two and a half percent of the global burden for heart disease and stroke, as well as nearly 500,000 deaths in 2015 (World Health Organization, 2018). While everyone is at risk of lead exposure, refugee and immigrant children are at an increased risk because they have increased access and use of products from outside the United States that have been shown to contain lead (Moser, R., and Brownback, S., 2012; and New York State Department of Health, …

An Approach To Identify A Minimum And Rational Proportion Of Caesarean Sections In Resource-Poor Settings: A Global Network Study, José M. Belizán, Nicole Minckas, Elizabeth M. Mcclure, Sarah Saleem, Janet L. Moore, Shivaprasad S. Goudar, Fabian Esamai, Archana Patel, Elwyn Chomba, Ana L. Garces

Community Health Sciences

Background: Caesarean section prevalence is increasing in Asia and Latin America while remaining low in most African regions. Caesarean section delivery is effective for saving maternal and infant lives when they are provided for medically-indicated reasons. On the basis of ecological studies, caesarean delivery prevalence between 9% and 19% has been associated with better maternal and perinatal outcomes, such as reduced maternal land fetal mortality. However, the specific prevalence of obstetric and medical complications that require caesarean section have not been established, especially in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We sought to provide information to inform the approach to …

Determinants Of Hydration In Children: The Role Of Physical Activity And Parental Dietary Habits, Hyun-Gyu Suh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

PURPOSE: The purpose of these studies was 1) to examine the factors that influence the water intake in children and 2) to identify the optimal time window to assess hydration status that would be equivalent to 24-hour urine sample in children. METHODS: Study 1: Data for 200 parents (age:3-13y, female:62%, BMI:28.4±7.0kg∙m-2) and 200 children (age:7.5±2.9y, female:44%, BMI:17.7±3.9kg∙m-2) were recruited. Subjects recorded their fluid and food consumption on the 2-day diary, and food data were analyzed by using the Nutrition Data System for Research (NDSR) program. Physical activity levels were assessed with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). All urine samples …