Health Equity Guide Online Course - Fall 2021

“Health equity” is an increasingly popular topic in public health conferences, events, and publications. This course is based on a guidebook developed by the Metro Denver Partnership for Health. The guidebook and this course are intended as tools for public health practitioners who are serious about walking their health equity talk but aren’t quite sure how to get started. It aims to prepare its users to close gaps in health status that result from systemic, avoidable, and unjust policies and practices that create barriers to opportunity for certain people. 

To engage effectively in health equity work, public health practitioners need to look inward at our own values and biases, and we need to equip ourselves and our colleagues to challenge and transform systems that disadvantage entire populations. To that end, this course has three main objectives:

1. Foster a common understanding of health equity so we can work together using common language and definitions.
2. Identify the shared values of health equity work and help readers identify where their own values fit in.
3. Establish a common understanding of how our country’s historical systems and policies continue to be a barrier to health equity, with a focused look at structural racism.

What to Expect

• This course will take 7 weeks to complete.
  • Online course materials
  • 6 Live Sessions
• Online course materials
  • You will have activities to do on your own between the live meetings.  
    • The activities will include things like watching videos and reading.
  • There will be a short assignment to complete each week to prepare you to participate in the live session. (Live sessions go quickly. Doing the activities and assignments helps you use the time well.)
• Live Sessions
  • A facilitator will lead guided discussions and activities related to the online content with you and your classmates.  
  • A topic expert will also be on hand to answer questions and engage in the discussion.
  • Live sessions give you the opportunity connect the concepts of evidence-based decision making to your daily work.
• Communication
  • You should receive 2 emails from us before the course begins. Please email us (registration.rmphtc@ucdenver.edu) if they do not show up in your inbox (please check your spam folder too).
    • Registration confirmation - immediately after registering
    • Course welcome and instructions - 2 weeks before first live session
• Technology
  • Live sessions
    • You must join the Live Learning Sessions by video (an external webcam or a built-in camera in your laptop, tablet, or smart phone).  Our staff can help you get set up if this is new for you.
  • Online course materials
    • You will be sent an invitation to the Learning Management System (Canvas) approximately 2 weeks before the first Live Learning Session. You will need to sign in, do some activities and make sure that you know how to connect to the Live Learning Session (Don’t worry about the technology! We have staff to help you. You’ll receive all the information you need once you log in.)

Participants who complete the online course work and participate in the live learning sessions will be able to:

1. Define "health equity."
2. Explain health equity to different audiences.
3. Explore their personal and professional values and explain why they are important to the practice of public health
4. Describe the connection between values and health equity, and discuss how the values underlying health equity play a key role in effective communication about health equity. 
5. Explain privilege and implicit bias.
6. Explore their own social identities and areas of bias.
7. Describe the legacy and impact of structural or institutional inequality.
8. Discuss real-life examples of how to address structural inequality in public health.

Click on the green "Register Now" button at the top left of this page. You will need to be logged in or will need to create an account prior to registering for this training. Creating an account will not automatically register you for this training. You will need to re-open this page and register. Please email registration.rmphtc@ucdenver.edu with registration questions.