SPH 200 - INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC HEALTH
UNIT 8 2025/2026 LATEST EDITION VERIFIED
QUESTIONS AND ACCURATE ANSWERS
what is public health? - ANS-the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting
health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private,
communities and individuals
- emphasizes the promotion of health and populations as a whole
Miasma Theory - ANS-belief that diseases such as cholera & Black Death were caused by noxious clouds
of "bad air"
describe the seven steps of assessment, planning, action, evaluation - ANS-1) Identify gaps that prevent
proper action through assesment
2) adapt to the local context
3) assess barriers to knowledge use
4)select, tailor, and implement interventions (use knowledge translation)
5) monitor knowledge use
6) evaluate outcomes
7)sustain knowledge use
Food and Drugs Act - ANS-lays foundation for distributing food and drugs safely
health - ANS-The combination of physical, mental/emotional, and social well-being (not just the absence
of disease)
,1978 WHO definition of health - ANS-level of health that permits people to lead socially and
economically productive lives
mortality based measures of health - ANS-a binary measurement of health that is often easy to attribute
what are two mortality based measures of health? - ANS-infant mortality rates
life expectancy at birth
- lower socioeconomic status & lower education resulted in an increase chance of death
Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) - ANS-A statistical measure combining in one number years lost to
premature mortality and years lived with disability. One DALY equals one lost year of healthy life.
average life expectancy - ANS-the number of years the average newborn in a particular population
group is likely to live
65 years in the US (11 yrs are lost to DALY)
biological risk factors - ANS-genetic endowment, aging
environmental risk factors - ANS-food, air, water, risk of infectious diseases
Psychosocial risk factors - ANS-poverty, stress, personality and culture
absolute wealth - ANS-Current market cash value of all of your assets
relative wealth - ANS-your wealth compared to others
Gini Coefficient - ANS-A measure of income inequality within a population, ranging from zero for
complete equality, to one if one person has all the income.
,Epidemiology - ANS-the study of distribution and determinants of disease in human populations
determinants of disease - ANS-are answered using WHO, WHEN, and WHERE questions
how do epidemiologists study human populations? - ANS-observational methods are used more
commonly than experimental methods (with the exception of intervention studies)
intervention studies - ANS-studies the efficacy of a drug or vaccine (like in clinical trials)
has a placebo (control) group & experimental group
is done with randomized double-blind trials
randomized double-blind trials - ANS-have participants randomly assigned to the group, neither the
patient nor investigator knows which group which patient is in
cohort studies - ANS-exposing a normal (relatively healthy) population to a risk factor, and studying
them for many years to see if exposure has an association with disease
- has no intervention, is just observational
relative risk - ANS-The Incidence Rate of a disease in a population exposed to a particular factor ÷ the
Incidence Rate of those not exposed
needs iof a cohort study - ANS-time, large population
Case-control study - ANS-A type of epidemiologic study where a group of individuals with the diseases,
referred to as cases, are compared to individuals without the disease, referred to as controls
- control for everything as much as possible except for the disease (ie age, gender etc)
are done RETROACTIVELY to determine their exposure to risk factor
, odds ratio - ANS-The likelihood of a disease among individuals exposed to a risk factor compared to
those who have not been exposed
part of CASE CONTROL STUDIES
sample size error - ANS-The observed association may be due to chance.(one individual could skew the
data)
cause & effect may not be obvious
the timeframe between exposure + outcome might be long
confounding variable - ANS-a factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect in
an experiment
selection bias - ANS-An error in which the sample is not representative of the population being studied,
so that some opinions are over- or underrepresented (ie those who are most satisfied/ disatisfied tend
to answer)
most prevalent in case control studies
- can also be seen in cohort studies where there's a higher risk of participant drop out
recall bias - ANS-Systematic error due to differences in accuracy or completeness of recall to the
memory of past events or experiences.
reporting bias - ANS-A synonym for recall bias is very common in case-control studies where the control
and study group report differently even if their exposure to the risk factor is the same
disease prevalence - ANS-It is the number of all cases of a disease (both old and new) identified in a
specific population at a given time.
UNIT 8 2025/2026 LATEST EDITION VERIFIED
QUESTIONS AND ACCURATE ANSWERS
what is public health? - ANS-the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting
health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private,
communities and individuals
- emphasizes the promotion of health and populations as a whole
Miasma Theory - ANS-belief that diseases such as cholera & Black Death were caused by noxious clouds
of "bad air"
describe the seven steps of assessment, planning, action, evaluation - ANS-1) Identify gaps that prevent
proper action through assesment
2) adapt to the local context
3) assess barriers to knowledge use
4)select, tailor, and implement interventions (use knowledge translation)
5) monitor knowledge use
6) evaluate outcomes
7)sustain knowledge use
Food and Drugs Act - ANS-lays foundation for distributing food and drugs safely
health - ANS-The combination of physical, mental/emotional, and social well-being (not just the absence
of disease)
,1978 WHO definition of health - ANS-level of health that permits people to lead socially and
economically productive lives
mortality based measures of health - ANS-a binary measurement of health that is often easy to attribute
what are two mortality based measures of health? - ANS-infant mortality rates
life expectancy at birth
- lower socioeconomic status & lower education resulted in an increase chance of death
Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) - ANS-A statistical measure combining in one number years lost to
premature mortality and years lived with disability. One DALY equals one lost year of healthy life.
average life expectancy - ANS-the number of years the average newborn in a particular population
group is likely to live
65 years in the US (11 yrs are lost to DALY)
biological risk factors - ANS-genetic endowment, aging
environmental risk factors - ANS-food, air, water, risk of infectious diseases
Psychosocial risk factors - ANS-poverty, stress, personality and culture
absolute wealth - ANS-Current market cash value of all of your assets
relative wealth - ANS-your wealth compared to others
Gini Coefficient - ANS-A measure of income inequality within a population, ranging from zero for
complete equality, to one if one person has all the income.
,Epidemiology - ANS-the study of distribution and determinants of disease in human populations
determinants of disease - ANS-are answered using WHO, WHEN, and WHERE questions
how do epidemiologists study human populations? - ANS-observational methods are used more
commonly than experimental methods (with the exception of intervention studies)
intervention studies - ANS-studies the efficacy of a drug or vaccine (like in clinical trials)
has a placebo (control) group & experimental group
is done with randomized double-blind trials
randomized double-blind trials - ANS-have participants randomly assigned to the group, neither the
patient nor investigator knows which group which patient is in
cohort studies - ANS-exposing a normal (relatively healthy) population to a risk factor, and studying
them for many years to see if exposure has an association with disease
- has no intervention, is just observational
relative risk - ANS-The Incidence Rate of a disease in a population exposed to a particular factor ÷ the
Incidence Rate of those not exposed
needs iof a cohort study - ANS-time, large population
Case-control study - ANS-A type of epidemiologic study where a group of individuals with the diseases,
referred to as cases, are compared to individuals without the disease, referred to as controls
- control for everything as much as possible except for the disease (ie age, gender etc)
are done RETROACTIVELY to determine their exposure to risk factor
, odds ratio - ANS-The likelihood of a disease among individuals exposed to a risk factor compared to
those who have not been exposed
part of CASE CONTROL STUDIES
sample size error - ANS-The observed association may be due to chance.(one individual could skew the
data)
cause & effect may not be obvious
the timeframe between exposure + outcome might be long
confounding variable - ANS-a factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect in
an experiment
selection bias - ANS-An error in which the sample is not representative of the population being studied,
so that some opinions are over- or underrepresented (ie those who are most satisfied/ disatisfied tend
to answer)
most prevalent in case control studies
- can also be seen in cohort studies where there's a higher risk of participant drop out
recall bias - ANS-Systematic error due to differences in accuracy or completeness of recall to the
memory of past events or experiences.
reporting bias - ANS-A synonym for recall bias is very common in case-control studies where the control
and study group report differently even if their exposure to the risk factor is the same
disease prevalence - ANS-It is the number of all cases of a disease (both old and new) identified in a
specific population at a given time.
