Skip to Main Content

HSCI 3300: Public and Community Health

Overview of public health and community health issues; discussion of public health and community health in the context of the health system and its major components; exploration of key public (national, Texas-based, and local diseases) health concerns.

Purpose of this Guide

The information in these pages will help you:

  • find information about public and community health in library databases
  • find articles in scholarly journals about public and community health
  • find reference sources to define and explain concepts
  • find population health data and statistics
  • contact librarians for research assistance

Supplemental Course Materials

What is Public Health?

Public health promotes and protects the health of people and the communities where they live. learn, work, and play, according to the American Public Health Association. While a doctor treats people who are sick, public health workers try to prevent people from becoming sick or injured in the first place. They also promote wellness by encouraging healthy behaviors.

What is Community Health?

Community health is "concerned with making it easier for people to make healthy choices where they live, work, and play. That requires moving health care beyond the doctor's office or clinic, focusing in particular on reaching people who are most at risk and redressing problems of health and socioeconomic inequities."

Bechara Choucair. Precision Community Health : Four Innovations for Well-Being. Island Press; 2020. Accessed August 17, 2023. https://search-ebscohost-com.databases.wtamu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,cookie,url,uid&db=e000xna&AN=2959503&site=ehost-live&scope=site