As their culminating experience, all Health Systems and Population Health MPH students, regardless of their concentration, are required to write a thesis or complete a capstone project.
In 2024: 57% of our MPH students (across all three concentrations) completed a capstone and 43% completed a thesis.
- Generalist: 52% completed a capstone
- HSP: 78% completed a capstone
- SBS: 60% completed a thesis
Thesis
A master’s thesis is original research presented in a scholarly format that generates new knowledge carried out using rigorous methods appropriate to the research questions, while also applying concepts and methods from one or more branches of science relevant to public health.
The thesis demonstrates the student’s comprehensive knowledge of the substantive area of the study and their chosen research methods. The thesis is the culminating work of the master’s program, and an opportunity to integrate and apply content, concepts, methods, and analysis.
Thesis Examples
- Understanding How Pre-retirement Health Insurance Status Impacts Health and Assets of the US Retiree Population
- Intersections of Music and Health: Analyzing Music’s Effects on Overall Well-Being and Its Distribution in Seattle Public Schools
- A Scoping Review of Policies and Programs Supporting Youth Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination in a Post-COVID-19 US Landscape
- Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Acute Care Utilization in Washington State Medicaid: A Retrospective Cohort Study
- Patterns of Mental Health Service Utilization Among Latina Immigrants
HSPop MPH student thesis titles, along with Health Services Ph.D. student dissertation titles, are available in the UW Library Research Archives.
Capstone
A capstone project is a scholarly project usually conducted for, or on behalf of, an organization, constituency, or community.
The capstone project allows students to expand and apply their analytical, policy, and leadership skills by exploring a question of policy importance. The capstone might take the form of an evaluation of the implementation of a piece of legislation or public program, the synthesis of existing data to inform the development of a policy agenda, the collection of new information that changes our understanding of a policy problem, or an analysis of the options available to address a specific policy question.
Capstone Project Examples
2024
Select capstone title examples. This does not include all capstones from this year.
- Evaluating the Collaborative on Extreme Heat Events: Products for Sustaining and Expanding the Collaborative
- Multi-State Managed Medicaid Market Entry Analysis for Contracting Behavioral Health Providers
- Comparative Analysis of State Approaches to Prior Authorization
- Culturally Specific Retailer Participation in SNAP Produce Match – Understanding Facilitators and Barriers
- Enhancing Equity and Effectiveness: Gathering Caregiver Feedback in Dependency Courts
- Understanding Policy Solutions for Equitable Resource Allocation between Criminal Justice and Health/Human Services in King County
- Washington State Complex Discharge Pilot Project Evaluation Metrics Data Proposal
Previous
- One Omada: Giving Voice to a Company’s Changing Product Offerings
- The 2020 Washington State Health Equity for Immigrants Report
- Washington Food System Policy Gap Analysis During COVID-19
- Policy Influences on Racial Health Disparities in Washington State: Labor, Housing, Governance, and COVID-19
- Update and maintain a homeless deaths data set, incorporating meaningful information about homeless deaths in King County. Document the history of the Seattle Women in Black vigils and explore the role of public mourning in activism/organizing for public health issues.
- Behavioral Health Equity in King County’s Mental Illness and Drug Dependency (MIDD) Sales Tax Fund
- Using Texas Infertility Prevention Project (TIPP) data to inform sexual and reproductive health initiatives.
- A Virtual Workshop Training to Help Social Networks Engage with Older Adults to Move Safely
- The Impact of Medicaid Work Requirements of Tribal Health Systems and American Indian/Alaska Native Medicaid Beneficiaries
- Fire Department – REACH Partnership
- Community Health Board Coalition
- Implementation Plan of FINDconnect in School Based Health Centers
- Evaluation of medical dental integration strategy: A qualitative study
- Evaluating the emergency preparedness capabilities of CMS-participating hospice and home health organizations in western Washington
- County-based health coverage for undocumented adults; Recommendations on how to design health coverage that is accessible and trusted in King County, WA
- Policy assessment of global rotavirus vaccine
- Evaluating the quality of commentary and integrative health services
- Through the Eyes of Community/Cultural Mediators: A Qualitative Evaluation of the Community House Calls Program After Twenty Years
- Analysis of Death Records in Washington State Residents with Hepatitis C, Washington State, 2000-2016
- The Diamond Project: Cross Jurisdiction Quality Improvements in Immunization Work
- Department of Defense Transgender Policy: Exploring Barriers to Integration and Acceptance
- Exploring the feasibility of non-potable water reuse systems in Washington State: professional perspectives on need, safety, economic viability, and impact on existing water/sewer utilities
- Pilot Study for Longitudinal Tracking of Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics in the Gut and Immune System Development in an Infant Cohort