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The Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) is one of four departments in the School of Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
UCSF Department of
Social and Behavioral Sciences
3333 California St., #LHts-455
San Francisco, CA
94143-0612
Telephone: (415) 476-3047
Fax: 415/476-6552
The Department offers two courses of study. One leads to the Ph.D. in Sociology, with major emphasis on the sociology of health, illness, medicine, and health care institutions. The second course of study is for nurses and leads to the M.S. or Ph.D. in Nursing with an emphasis in health policy.
For the Doctoral Program in Sociology, enrollment is open to students with a bachelor's or master's degree in sociology or a related field. Students proceed through a program of coursework, qualifying examinations and a dissertation.
The Program's substantive core is the sociology of health, illness and medicine. The five areas of specialty emphasis are: aging, chronic illness, and disability; health policy, economics, and institutions; gender and health; science, technology and medicine studies; and race, health disparities, and globalization. Additional substantive research areas include violence as a health issue, HIV/AIDS.
The theoretical training offered by the Doctoral Sociology Program focuses on classical, interactionist, poststructural and other contemporary perspectives. The Program has a dual orientation toward both qualitative and quantitative research methods. These orientations and areas of study reflect the current interests of sociology faculty and the health and science orientation of the campus.
The principal aim of the SBS Doctoral Program in Sociology is to educate students interested in professional careers as sociologists in both academic and applied contexts. Graduates contribute to the advancement of sociological knowledge with an emphasis on the study of problems in health broadly conceived, and the analysis of health policies. Coursework in the program is aimed at enabling students to:
UCSF Laurel Heights Building, 3333 California Street, San Francisco
The program consists of three phases: core curriculum and elective courses, qualifying exams, and dissertation research. During the first phase, all students are required to take courses in classical, interactionist/poststructural, and contemporary sociological theory; qualitative and quantitative research methods, including advanced statistics; and medical sociology, the social construction of health and illness, health policy and economics.
At the end of the first and second years of the program, students take preliminary examinations in sociological theory and medical sociology (alternating years). After passing these exams and receiving a satisfactory evaluation of their work and progress, students formally enter the qualifying examination phase of the program and begin work on a extended literature review of a particular area of interest. The student selects a committee to guide and evaluate this review (known as the third area paper), and when it is completed and approved, s/he advances to candidacy. The student then forms the dissertation committee, which guides the dissertation research and writing and presides over its oral defense, the final requirement for the Ph.D. degree.
The health policy program is a cross-disciplinary program that prepares students to assess the policy dimensions of issues in the clinical practice, teaching, and research environments within which they work and to translate nursing practice issues into policy issues.
For more details on the Ph.D. program in Health Policy for nurses, visit the health policy program web page.
Note: UCSF School of Nursing also offers other Doctoral (Ph.D.) Programs in Nursing.
The focus is on preparing students to identify, critically analyze and evaluate laws, regulations, and policies at the institutional, local, state, and national levels that impact their patients and the practice of nursing, and in developing knowledge of the history, structure, and process of health policymaking in the United States.
Public policies are the public actions that may be taken by policy makers at the federal, state and local levels. These actions can include budgetary changes, legislative changes, regulatory changes, and legal actions. Public policy work involves the process of public discourse and requires a variety of skills and knowledge. Before nurses can advocate for public policy changes, they need a clear understanding of the current policies and how the health care system operates, including the financial incentives that influence health organizations.
The curriculum is designed to provide academic preparation in health policy. It builds upon core doctoral programs including nursing theory, research methods, policy and economics, and cultural competency, and focuses on health policy and ethics as applied to policy and clinical arenas. Theory courses for the program focus on theories of the policy process, including theories from nursing, sociology, political science, and economics as they relate to nursing and health policy. The courses provide training in the policy making process not only in the U.S. but also in the international health care area.
Health policy is a multi-disciplinary area. The theory and experiences of nurses, sociologists, economists, political scientists, and health experts are all important. Our innovative program is housed in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the School of Nursing, and involves faculty from other departments in the School of Nursing and the School of Medicine as well as from several research institutes and centers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), utilizing a large multi-disciplinary faculty to develop a leading national program for the training of nurses in health policy. Such programs include the Institute for Health and Aging (School of Nursing), the Institute for Health Policy Studies (School of Medicine), the Center for Research and Innovation in Patient Care (School of Nursing), the Center for the Health Professions (School of Medicine), and the Center for Tobacco Research and Education (School of Medicine).
These programs and selected faculty serve to teach classes and to mentor students in research and provide residencies as part of their health policy training. These faculty, with large and successful research programs, also provide valuable research assistantships and employment for students during their educational programs.
The program prepares a strong cadre of nurse researchers who can step into positions in leading health policy in legislative organizations and regulatory and licensing bodies, contributing to and improving health policy making to benefit patients, the public and the nursing profession. Additionally, graduates are prepared to assume academic positions where they can initiate and contribute to health services and policy studies and teaching, providing leadership as health policy nurse specialists.
A Health Policy specialty program leading to the Master of Science degree is open to registered nurses through the School of Nursing. For details, see the Health Policy Specialty web page.
The research mission of the Department is 1) to advance knowledge through theory and research; 2) to design and evaluate the organization, financing, and delivery of health care; and 3) to examine one broad dynamics of health, healing, and the production of knowledge and its application in these domains. Departmental faculty are actively involved in a large number of research activities directly and indirectly related to the teaching program and the mission of the department.
SBS is affiliated with the UCSF Institute for Health & Aging, an organized research unit of the campus which conducts research in the following areas: health economics, substance abuse, disability, health and diverse populations, aging and long-term care, women's health, healthy and active aging, and other topic areas.
SBS is part of the UCSF Center for Health and Community, a group of health policy and social sciences departments and research units within the university sharing a common mission that includes advancing innovative partnerships, interdisciplinary programs and service to the community; providing students with the basic and applied aspects of social and behavioral sciences and health policy; and improving the quality of education for health professionals and researchers.
The origins and development of the department are described on the SBS History web page.
The Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) announces a search for
a tenure track faculty position.
The complete position description is available below:
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| Revised: Mar. 2009 | Contact: info@nursing.ucsf.edu · © Copyright 2009 University of California Regents, All Rights Reserved. |
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