Curriculum

The Health Policy PhD program integrates intellectual resources for education, research, and policy service across McMaster University. The educational experience features:

  • Quality supervision and mentorship by internationally distinguished faculty members, with active programs in health policy research and engagement with policy making and evaluation;
  • Diverse, interdisciplinary students who share a common focus on health policy, with plenty of opportunities for interaction, mutual learning, and network building; and,
  • A special intellectual home in the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis (CHEPA), which provides seminars, workshops, student funding support, and many other resources for collaboration and learning.

Requirements for the completion of the degree include:

  • Advanced coursework in the theoretical frameworks and empirical methods in three interdisciplinary areas: Social Organization, Political Studies, and Health Economics;
  • Comprehensive examination to ensure mastery of key concepts, content, and methods in health policy after coursework is completed; and,
  • A dissertation that constitutes a new contribution to knowledge, based on the student’s original research. Students have an opportunity to draw on faculty supervisors’ funded research projects as well as special data resources at McMaster University.
  • Students and prospective applicants should consult the Graduate Calendar for a complete description of regulations concerning the PhD degree, degree requirements, and graduate studies at McMaster University.

Coursework

Coursework is normally completed during the first and second years of full-time study. Between 5-12 half courses are required. Courses are chosen from the list of recommended courses for each curriculum area.

Required courses include:

  • 3 terms (half-courses) of the Doctoral Seminar in Health Policy;
  • 2-3 specialty field courses in a single field (health economics, political studies, or social organization);
  • 0-2 breadth field courses outside the student’s specialty field, one in each of the two fields other than the chosen specialty; and,
  • 0-4 methodology courses, including both quantitative and qualitative or mixed methods.

Students without prior graduate training in a given area are required to take the maximum number of required courses for that area. Students who have completed relevant graduate courses prior to admission may have selected course requirements waived at the time of admission to the Health Policy PhD program. A minimum of 5 half-courses (3 doctoral seminar courses, 2 specialty field courses) may not be waived and must be taken while the student is enrolled in the Health Policy PhD program.

Doctoral Seminar — 3 terms required

  • HLTH POL 711 / Doctoral Seminar in Health Policy

Breadth Fields – 0-2 half courses required

Health Economics Breadth Courses

  • * HRM 787 / Principles of Health Economics
  • * ECON/HRM 788 / Health Economics

Social Organization Breadth Courses

  • * SOCIOL 719 / Sociology of Health and Health Care
  • * SW 710 / Health and Medical Care
  • * HAS 703 / Health & Aging in a Global and International Context
  • * HAS 704 / Systems, Services and Polilcy
  • * HAS 705 / Socio-Cultural Aspects of Health and Aging
  • * HIST 759 / Public Health and Medicine in Nineteenth Century Canada and the United States
  • * HRM 729 / The Canadian Health Care System in Comparative Perspective

Political Studies Breadth Courses

  • * HRM 738 / Health Policy Analysis
  • * HLTH AGE 704 / Systems, Services and Policy

Specialty Fields — 2-3 half courses in 1 of the following 3 fields required

Health Economics

  • * ECON/HRM 788 / Health Economics (required for Health Economics specialty field, unless waived)
  • * ECON 727 / Microeconomic Theory for Public Policy (required for Health Economics specialty field, unless waived)
  • * ECON/HRM 791 / Topics in Advanced Health Economics
  • * ECON 793 / Health Economic Policy
  • * HRM 737 / Economic Analysis for the Evaluation of Health Services
  • * HLTH POL 750 / Special Topics in Health Policy
  • * HLTH POL 798 / Independent Study in Health Policy

Political Studies

  • * HRM 738 / Health Policy Analysis (required for Political Studies field, unless waived)
  • * POLSCI 783 / Comparative Public Policy
  • * POLSCI 785 / Public Sector Management
  • * POLSCI 702 / Social Policy Transformations
  • * POLSCI 740 / Theories of Comparative Politics
  • * POLSCI 746 / Comparative Health Politics
  • * HLTH POL 750 / Special Topics in Health Policy
  • * HLTH POL 798 / Independent Study in Health Policy

Social Organization

  • * SOCIOL 719 / Sociology of Health and Health Care (required for Social Organization specialty field, unless waived)
  • * SOCIOL 705 / Sociology of Organizations
  • * SOCIOL 718 / Sociology of Occupations
  • * SOCIOL 714 / Political Sociology
  • * POLSCI 786 / Organizational Theory and the Public Sector
  • * ANTHRO 709 / Medical Anthropology
  • * ANTHRO 717 / Readings in the Anthropology of Health
  • * GLOBAL 701 / Topics In Globalization Studies: Global Social Policy
  • * GLOBAL 720/ANTHRO 720 / Topics in Political Culture
  • * HAS 703 / Health & Aging in a Global and International Context
  • * HAS 704 / Systems, Services and Polilcy
  • * HAS 705 / Socio-Cultural Aspects of Health and Aging
  • * HIST 759 / History of Public Health and Medicine
  • * HLTH POL 750 / Special Topics in Health Policy
  • * HLTH POL 798 / Independent Study in Health Policy

Research Methods — 0-4 half courses required

Quantitative Methods

  • * ECON 761 / Econometrics I (required for Health Economics specialty field, unless waived)
  • * ECON 762 / Econometrics II
  • * ECON 795 / Analysis of Health Data
  • * ECON 770 / Advanced Analysis of Survey Data
  • * HRM 727 / Theory and Practice of Measurement
  • * HRM 751 / Observational and Analytical Research Methods
  • * HRM 762 / Evaluation of Health Care and Health Care Programs
  • * HRM 723 / Regression Analysis
  • * HRM 731 / Advanced Linear Models for Health Data
  • * HRM 740 / Advanced Decision Analysis in Health Technology Assessment
  • * HRM 737 / Economic Analysis for the Evaluation of Health Services
  • * POLSCI 784 / Statistical Analysis for Public Policy
  • * SOCIOL 740 / Statistical Methods for Social Research
  • * SOCIOL 761 / Topics in Statistical Methods for Social Research

Qualitative Methods

  • * HRM 745 / Qualitative Research Methods
  • * HRM 758 / Qualitative Analytic Methods
  • * SOCIOL 743 / Historical Methods
  • * SOCIOL 742 / Qualitative Methods
  • * SOCIOL 744 / Computer Applications in Qualitative Data Analysis
  • * HRM 705 / Independent Study in Health Research Methodology

Other Methods

  • * HRM 700 / Philosophy of Science for Health Research
  • * POLSCI 796 / Research Design and Methods
  • * HRM 770 / Mixed Methods Research Design for Health Services and Policy Research
  • * HRM 705 / Independent Study in Health Research Methodology
  • * HLTH POL 750 / Special Topics in Health Policy
  • * HLTH POL 798 / Independent Study in Health Policy

Supervision

Each student will be assigned a provisional faculty supervisor upon admission to the program. A final faculty supervisor and three member supervisory committee will be appointed within 6 months of the student's enrollment in the program. At least two (of three) supervisory committee members must be core faculty members of the Health Policy PhD Program. The faculty supervisor and supervisory committee provide guidance and monitor the student's progress. The supervisory committee is expected to meet with the student at least annually to assess the student's progress, and to file a written progress report with the Program.

Specialty Fields

Health Economics: The economics field addresses the economic analysis of health policies and health systems, as well as the economic analysis of responses to health policies. Topics may include, for example, health resource allocation, configuration of health human resources, economic evaluation of policy options, public and private financing of health care, societal investments in health production, etc. The dominant disciplinary perspective is that of microeconomics, but insight into economic behaviour may also be provided by perspectives such as business, psychology, and others.

Political Studies: The political studies field emphasizes the political aspects of health policy including the influences by political institutions, actors, values, and ideas operating within state and global jurisdictions. Topics of interest, for example, may include the role of historical institutional arrangements in shaping health governance reforms, the impact of global trade agreements on domestic home care and pharmaceutical policy, the role of the public, stakeholders, and prevailing values on policy agendas, etc. Political science is the dominant disciplinary perspective, with related areas including, for example, public policy analysis and administration, comparative public policy, law, political theory and philosophy.

Social Organization: The social organization field includes social science perspectives on the institutions, organizations, culture, and society that form the social fabric of health systems (both for health creation and health care). Topics of interest for example include the generation and use of information, professional roles and behaviour, impacts of technology, political economies of health production, etc. Disciplinary perspectives include sociology, anthropology, business administration or management, and political science.

Comprehensive Examination

Comprehensive examinations are completed during the first and second years of full time study, as the relevant coursework requirements are completed. Students complete three required comprehensive examinations in the following areas:

  • Two breadth fields outside the student’s specialty area (social organization, political studies, and health economics);
  • One chosen specialty area (social organization, political studies, or health economics); and,
  • Research methods (qualitative and quantitative empirical approaches).

Dissertation

All Health Policy PhD students are required to research, write, and successfully defend a doctoral dissertation, which constitutes an original contribution to knowledge in the field of health policy. The dissertation is developed and completed under the guidance of the student’s primary supervisor and a dissertation supervision committee consisting of at least two additional faculty members.

By the beginning of the third year of full time study, the doctoral dissertation proposal is formally presented and defended before a committee. Doctoral dissertation research is normally completed during the third and fourth years of full time study, with the completion, approval, and defense of the dissertation by the end of the fourth year (Thesis Forms).

Important: The information on this website is frequently updated and may change at any time. Please consult the McMaster Graduate Calendar for policies during the current academic year. Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact the Health Policy PhD Program directly for up to date information.