Course description

Social epidemiology is the branch of epidemiology concerned with the way that social structures, institutions and relationships influence health. It focuses on the social forces that contribute to the distribution of disease, including the analysis of well-known exposures (e.g. pollution, lifestyle) and how they emerge and are sustained through social factors. This course will introduce Social Epidemiology, including theories and methods widely used in the field. It offers an overview of mechanisms in which social factors influence health, frameworks in social epidemiology, and how to measure social factors and identify health inequalities. Last, but not least, the course aims to link methods in social epidemiology and demography through the study of population health considering social factors at multiple levels, from the micro to the macro levels.

Content

• What is social epidemiology? and what are social determinants of health? A brief introduction to the definition of social epidemiology and its scope.
• Design and analysis tools in social epidemiology: measuring poverty, discrimination, socioeconomic status among others.
• Methods to study social determinants of health and related inequalities: quantitative and mixed-methods.

Target audience

The course will be useful to Master students, pre-doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers and anyone interested in social epidemiology and population health.

Required training or equipment

It is expected that students have some basic knowledge in Statistical Methods.

Students must bring their own laptop and inform the course lecturer the statistical program they use if any: SPSS, Stata, R. If students are not familiar with any statistical program please let the lecturer know when registering for the course.