PSYC 6300-001 Health and Human Behavior Spring 2012 Instructor: Angela Liegey Dougall, PhD Office Location: 523 Life Science Office Telephone Number: 817-272-0531 Email address: [email protected] Course Website: Please go to Blackboard at http://www.uta.edu/blackboard/ Office Hours: Tuesday & Thursday 10:30-11:30 AM and by appointment Time and Place of Class Meetings: LS420, Wednesday 1:30-4:20 PM Description of Course Content: PSYC6300- Health and Human Behavior 3 hours credit This course will cover current topics in health behavior research using an interactive, participatory format. The course provides a balanced presentation of the important issues in the field, as well as specific content topics that are especially relevant today to better understand health and illness. Student Learning Outcomes: - The student will be able to summarize the theory and research pertaining to health behaviors by reviewing and discussing the fundamental and more recent contributions to the science. The student will also be able to apply the basic tenets of health behavior research to common health issues including both acute conditions and chronic concerns. - The student will be able to synthesize research and facilitate discussion on a given health behavior that will broaden class understanding of relevant current research and applications. - The student will be able to apply the concepts that are covered in the class by developing a research protocol that incorporates the study of health behaviors and by writing, reviewing, and editing grant proposals. Required Textbooks and Other Course Materials: - Gerin, W., & Kapelewski, C. H. (2011). Writing the NIH grant proposal: A step-by-step guide (2nd ed.).Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN: 978-1-4129-7516-2 - Reserved readings will be available in the Science Education and Career Center in LS106 or a link will be available on the Blackboard site for the course. Descriptions of major assignments and examinations: R01 grant application (100 points) (Due Date for Peer Review 4-04-12) (Due Date for Instructor Review 5-09-12)Each student will write an R01 grant application using the SF424 forms (Version B). You are required to complete a Research Plan and either the Human Subjects or Vertebrate Animals sections. Forms and formatting instructions can be found at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/index.htm . As part of the seminar, you will write an R01 independent investigator research grant application. Your proposal needs to include at least one health behavior. Your proposal should coincide with your current line of research. It should be a “next step” in your line of research. You are encouraged to base the proposal on an existing protocol to which you add or emphasize health behavior (e.g., thesis or dissertation proposal or another research project). The intention is NOT for you to start from scratch. You are encouraged to consult with your Research Mentor to develop the proposal idea. R01 grant application peer review (50 points) (Assignment of application 4-04-12) (Due date of peer review 4-18-12) Each student will review a classmate’s R01 application and provide constructive feedback on the application. Peer review will occur prior to an application being submitted to the instructor. Your peer review will be graded for its quality. The point of peer review is not to have your peers proofread or rewrite your application. Of course, some surface level editing can and will occur, but this is not the point of the peer review process. In fact, it is embarrassing to receive a review that includes the comment “The manuscript or application was so poorly written that I was unable to adequately review the manuscript or application for scientific merit”. Applications with egregious grammatical and typographical errors will be returned to the author for immediate correction. Applications that are so poorly written that it is difficult to follow the logic outlined in them will be returned to the author for immediate correction as well. Failure to correct such problems within 72 hours will result in the student who wrote the application being assigned a grade of 0 for the peer review process. Furthermore, the application assigned to the student will be assigned to another student for peer review. R01 grant application presentation (50 points) (Dates of Presentations 4-25-12 & 5-02-12) Each student will present a concise overview of his or her research plan to the class. The student presentation will include a 15 minute presentation and a 15 minute feedback session. Students will be graded on their overall ability to clearly present their research plan to the class.Student-led Discussion (50 points) (Due date of topic 01-25-12) (Date of Student led Discussion TBA; Due date of article selection is at least one week prior to Discussion date) Each student will select a health behavior from the tentative course schedule. Each student will select and provide the class with .pdf copies of 3-6 empirical research articles that present research on the behavior. These research articles may use either human or lower order animals. Students are responsible for assigning readings that touch on each of the following: - Initiation, maintenance, and relapse - Interventions - Health effects - Target populations Note that some articles may cover several of these topics and others only one. Choose articles so that the entire breadth is represented. The student will lead class discussion on the selected articles. All students in the class are expected to have read the assigned articles. All students in the class are expected to contribute to the discussion of the content of the articles. The students leading class discussion over the selected articles are NOT being asked to present or teach the contents of the articles to the class. Rather, students are being asked to lead discussion on the contents of the articles. The discussion leader is the “expert” on the area and may need to read or discuss supplemental material to prepare for the class discussion. Students leading discussion will be graded on their coverage of the topic, quality of the readings, preparedness, and ability to engage their classmates in discussing the selected articles. As part of leading class discussion, the discussion leader might find it useful to provide their fellow classmates with a brief handout