Program Design and Evaluation for Health Advocates Advanced Certificate

Sarah Lawrence College, renowned for its commitment to individualized education, creative exploration, and intellectual rigor, Sarah Lawrence offers a distinctive undergraduate experience where students actively shape their learning. At Sarah Lawrence College, the hallmark is the close mentorship and personalized education it provides. The university's emphasis on small seminar-style classes, one-on-one conferences with faculty, and the freedom to design your own course of study fosters an environment where students can pursue their passions and academic interests in depth. With a dedicated faculty of accomplished artists and scholars, Sarah Lawrence equips graduates with the critical thinking skills, creativity, and intellectual curiosity needed to excel in a rapidly changing world. Through its unwavering dedication to academic innovation, creative expression, and a commitment to the individual, Sarah Lawrence College prepares graduates to thrive in their careers while embracing a lifelong love of learning and the arts.

This certificate is designed for healthcare and other professionals, such as genetic counselors, nurses, social workers, community health workers, and community-based organization leaders, who are interested in expanding their understanding of and ability to guide others in navigating an increasingly complex healthcare system. In this certificate, students will learn research processes that support effective health advocacy, including the principles of literature review, instrument construction, and implementation, and issues specific to community-based work and needs assessment. They will learn about and engage in the process of ethical approval for research involving human participants. Students will be able to apply these research principles in community settings, gaining an in-depth understanding of context-driven, community-based participatory action research and the concept of co-production of knowledge. They will develop assessment and evaluation skills and understand the uses of qualitative and quantitative methodology while gaining practical experience and applying statistical principles. Students will also discuss and study key elements of program design and evaluation, the major theoretical and political orientations to evaluation research, and the practical, ethical, and methodological problems involved in applying research methods to understanding social change. At the end of this certificate, students will be able to conceptually and practically understand the contours of how to thoughtfully plan, develop, and evaluate an intervention aimed at a health advocacy issue.