Program Overview
This XSeries Program has been designed to influence, empower and educate a wider population to improve the health and healthcare of people with intellectual disability.
Worldwide, 60+ million people with intellectual disability experience poor health, die prematurely and receive inadequate healthcare. You will gain an understanding of the barriers and enablers for people with intellectual disability, their families, and their healthcare providers.
In our courses, you will learn about best practice in the field of intellectual disability healthcare and gain knowledge to improve health outcomes for this disadvantaged group.
What you will learn
- What is the experience of people with intellectual disability around the world, what barriers do they face, and how do they overcome these?
- What are their healthcare needs and how can good health be promoted?
- What health conditions do they commonly experience and how can these be assessed and managed?
- What influence do other factors such as ageing and epilepsy have on their health?
- What mental health issues do they have and how can these be recognised and managed?
- What are some of the ethical and legal issues that are of particular relevance to them?
Program class list
1Through My Eyes - Intellectual Disability Healthcare around the World
Course Details
2Well and Able - Improving the Physical Health of People with Intellectual Disability
Course Details
3Able-Minded - Mental Health and People with Intellectual Disability
Course Details
Meet your instructors

Miriam Taylor

Nicholas Lennox
About This Course:
What is Resilience? Resilience is often perceived as an abstract term that varies in meaning for people from different fields and backgrounds. Nevertheless, it has been a “buzzword” in the discussion around crises and disasters in recent decades.
In this course, we will introduce structure into this confusion and provide clearer definitions for the intangible multidisciplinary and sometimes ambiguous term resilience.
Subsequently, this understanding will serve to improve the learners’ ability to manage crisis situations, as well as to help them plan and focus interventions and protective measures in the field of emergency preparedness and response.
At the individual level, this course will provide learners with personal tools and resources for better coping in various stressful situations.
Resilience is a capacity of society, with implications for day-to-day life as well as in crisis situations. The familiarity with the concept and its’ broad aspects, is an asset to any individual in the pragmatic applied sense, beyond the academic attainment.
This course will introduce the concept of resilience and its relevance in various arenas and times.
We will portray the impact of the disaster on individuals, families, communities, organizations, infrastructure and the interfaces between them.
We will introduce the role of media and social media in the emergency management lifecycle
You will learn how to measure resilience, how to use this assessment to guide you in building response plans for emergency situations.
What You’ll Learn:
- What is resilience
- What is the role of resilience in disaster situations
- How can one improve resilience
- Introduction to Coping
- The BASIC PH model of coping
- Continuities
- Grief and bereavement
- The effects of emergencies and disasters on individuals
- Who is vulnerable – at-risk populations
- Helping the helpers
- Factors of Community Resilience
- The role of media during disasters
- Effective media communication during emergencies
- CERTs – Community Emergency Response Teams
Meet Your Instructors:

Limor Aharonson-Daniel

Mooli Lahad

Ruvie Rogel

Dmitry Leykin

Michal Linder Zarankin
Course Overview
Addiction is such a common problem today that people experiencing alcohol, nicotine or other drug problems present in many different healthcare settings. The challenge of linking people experiencing addiction to the right response is a serious one, and much depends on understanding addiction and recognising the role that we all play in the pathway to recovery.
This course is intended to help you meet this challenge by increasing your understanding of the biology of addiction and the available treatment options in the different stages of the recovery journey.
Key questions we will look at in this course include:
- When do we call “excessive use” addiction?
- Why is it so difficult to change addictive behaviour?
- Who can play a role to get people on the track to recovery?
- How do you respond to people with mild to moderate problems?
- How can you assess and increase motivation to change?
- What sort of interventions can support a person experiencing severe addiction?
- What is my role as a professional, either within or outside of addiction care?
- How can I identify the best of the many options available?
- What are hurdles to get the right support to manage addiction around the world?
What You’ll Learn
- Framework for pathways to recovery
- How to identify people at risk of addiction
- Applied understanding of intervention and treatment options
Prerequisites
A background in healthcare may be helpful prior to taking this course, but there are no formal prerequisites.
Meet Your Instructors

Femke Buisman-Pijlman

Linda Gowing

Robert Ali

Abdallah Salem
Course Overview
“If history is our guide, we can assume that the battle between the intellect and will of the human species and the extraordinary adaptability of microbes will be never-ending.” (1)
Despite all the remarkable technological breakthroughs that we have made over the past few decades, the threat from infectious diseases has significantly accelerated. In this course, we will learn why this is the case by looking at the fundamental scientific principles underlying epidemics and the public health actions behind their prevention and control in the 21st century.
This is the first (orgins of novel pathogens) of the four courses, covers these topics:
- Epidemics: Past, Present and Future
- Discussion on Ebola and Zika Outbreak, and Supplementary Module on Next Generation Informatics for Global Health
- Ecology, Evolution and Emergence of Infectious Diseases
- Medical Detective: Bug Hunting in Epidemics
What You’ll Learn
- Historic transitions and emergence of epidemic infections
- Factors leading to infectious disease emergence and re-emergence
- Regions with higher risk and estimated economic costs of emerging infectious disease
- Ecology, evolution and emergence of infectious diseases such as Zika, Ebola, H5N1, H7N9, H1N1 and Swine Influenza
- Discovery, proof of association and causation, and control (case review on SARS)
Meet Your Instructors

Gabriel M. Leung

Kwok-Yung Yuen

Joseph Wu

Mark Jit
About This Course:
Injuries, such as motor vehicle crash, youth violence, and suicide, are the leading cause of child and adolescent death. However, almost all of these injuries can be prevented through the widespread application of evidence-based practices and policies.
Public health experts, nurses, physicians, social workers, teachers, child care providers, and parents all play a vital role in pediatric injury prevention. Despite its impact, very little training on injury prevention science currently exists.
This course lays a broad foundation for pediatric injury prevention and will increase your understanding of this major public health issue through powerful, concise, up-to-date lectures, interviews, and demonstrations from a multidisciplinary panel of nationally-recognized injury prevention experts.
This course is designed for multiple fields and levels of training, including healthcare, kinesiology, public policy, social work, pharmacy, dentistry, and psychology. The course is also appropriate for educators, coaches, child care providers, and parents.
As a learner, you will have the ability to select all modules or individual topics that interest you most. Comprised of 8 modules, this course may be taken from the comfort of your home or office, and you can learn at your own pace.
Physician/Nurse CME
The University of Michigan Medical School is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The University of Michigan Medical School designates this enduring material for a maximum of 25.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Please click this link for more information on FREE CME credits.
If you have any questions about the CME process, please email UMInjuryCenter@umich.edu.
What You’ll Learn:
- Key concepts for successful injury prevention in children and teens, including Advocacy at both the local and national levels
- Intentional injury prevention including Bullying, Dating Violence, Sexual Violence, Firearm Injury, and Suicide Prevention
- Transportation Safety, including child safety seats and teen driving
- Sports Concussion
- The Opioid Epidemic and Adolescent Substance Use
Meet Your Instructor:

University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center
About This Course:
This course will empower non-prescribing providers to directly impact the ongoing opioid crisis in the United States through increased knowledge and tools that will transform practice and policies. The course will inform you about the opioid epidemic and provide information and research about evidence-based strategies that are focused on prevention, intervention, education, or policy.
This open learning course is designed primarily for non-prescribing healthcare, behavioral health, dental and social services professionals, as well as graduate-level students in these fields. Other individuals may also benefit from this course such as educators and physicians. Continuing Education (CE) for licensure is available upon successful completion of course content.
As a learner, you have the ability to select any or all of the modules and topics that interest you. You can complete the course in a linear or non-linear structure according to your preferred viewing order. This course is taught by experts in the field of opioid prevention, intervention, treatment, and policy. Through lectures, panels and interviews, knowledge checks and quizzes, and additional readings and activities, you can explore topics that are most relevant to your work or practice.
The course was developed by three University of Michigan programs, including the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI), Michigan-Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network (Michigan OPEN) and the CDC-funded University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center.
The University of Michigan Medical School designates this enduring material for a maximum of 15 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. The University of Michigan Medical School is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
This activity contributes to the CME component of the American Board of Anesthesiology’s redesigned Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology™ (MOCA®) program, known as MOCA 2.0®. Please consult the ABA website, www.theABA.org, for a list of all MOCA 2.0 requirements.
If you would like to earn CME/MOCA credit for participating in this course, please review the information here prior to beginning the activity.
This course is approved by the Michigan Social Work Continuing Education Collaborative-Approval #101619-02 for 15 CE hours. The Collaborative is the approving body for the Michigan Board of Social Work.
What You’ll Learn:
- Explain the factors that contributed to the current opioid crisis.
- Understand the pathophysiology of pain and its treatment, including what opioids are and how they work.
- Understand how to reduce unintended use and misuse of opioids using various strategies, including prescribing guidelines, surveillance, safe disposal of unused opioids, and intervention messaging.
- Identify what strategies and tools you can employ to impact the safe use of opioids across clinical care settings and with a variety of populations.
- Describe best practices for assessing and treating opioid use disorder (OUD) and explain the evidence that informs these best practices.
- Understand different aspects of public policy that can impact the opioid epidemic.
Meet Your Instructor:

Karen Farris
About this course
Master the fundamental components of advanced literature searching in the health sciences.
Informationist Mark MacEachern and a team of fellow health sciences informationists at the University of Michigan designed this course for anyone responsible for constructing literature searches as part of their research. This course will specifically help professionals and researchers in the health sciences improve the overall quality and reporting of their literature searches.
After completing the course, you will better understand the importance of literature searches in health sciences work, the components of effective searches, and best practices to sufficiently report the search process. All learners who rely heavily on past research in their project work – regardless of their experience or current competence – will benefit from this practical learning experience.
What you’ll learn
- The components of advanced searches
- How to identify the types of projects dependent on advanced searching
- How to construct advanced searches
- Ways to uncover search-related biases that impact projects
- Procedures for citation management
- Best practices for reporting search strategies
Meet your instructors

Mark MacEachern

Jean Song

Tyler Nix

Judith Smith
About this course
Are you a mental health provider who wants to more effectively work with the increasing spiritual and religious diversity in your clients? Do you know how to help clients who encounter spiritual and religious distress? Or how to harness clients’ spiritual resources to support positive therapeutic outcomes? If so, this course is for you!
Spiritual Competency Training in Mental Health is a program designed to train mental health providers in basic spiritual and religious competencies. Taught by instructors who are experts in the field of religion/spirituality and mental health, this course will equip providers with greater confidence and competence helping clients with religious and spiritual issues. The program focuses on core spiritual competencies (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) that underlie effective mental health care and are common to mental health disciplines and therapeutic orientations. Basic competency in spiritual and religious issues in mental health is an ethical requirement for most professional boards and associations related to mental health clinical practice. Yet, few of us received this training in our graduate programs. This program bridges the current training gap.
The program consists of eight modules and takes about six to eight hours to complete. The modules consist of engaging learning activities, such as watching brief videos, reading text screens, listening to audio clips, and completing short reflection questions and knowledge check questions.
Mental health professionals (MD, PhD, Master’s level, and trainees) of all disciplines are welcome to participate. Therapists who complete the program will be eligible for 6 CE credits.
What you’ll learn
- How to integrate spirituality and religion into clinical practice
- Common stereotypes about religion/spirituality (RS)
- The diversity of RS expressions (e.g., spiritual/religious beliefs, practices, and experiences)
- Why it is important to address RS in treatment
- The importance of the therapist’s own RS attitudes, beliefs, and practices
- How to assess RS in clinical practice
- How to help clients access RS resources
- How to respond to RS problems that arise in treatment.
Prerequisites
Completed or currently enrolled in a professional graduate program for mental health (e.g., Master’s, PhD, MD, or trainee).
Frequently asked questions
Question:
Does this program qualify for continuing education (CE) credits?
Answer:
Yes! Upon completion of this program, you will be eligible for 6 CE credits. This program is co-sponsored by the Maryland Psychological Association and the Maryland Psychological Association Foundation. The Maryland Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Maryland Psychological Association maintains responsibility for this program and its content. It is the participant’s responsibility to check with their professional licensing board to see if these CE credits are applicable in his or her jurisdiction.
Who can take this course?
Unfortunately, learners from one or more of the following countries or regions will not be able to register for this course: Iran, Cuba and the Crimea region of Ukraine. While edX has sought licenses from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to offer our courses to learners in these countries and regions, the licenses we have received are not broad enough to allow us to offer this course in all locations. EdX truly regrets that U.S. sanctions prevent us from offering all of our courses to everyone, no matter where they live.
Meet your instructors

Michelle Pearce

Kenneth Pargament
Learner testimonials
About This Course:
Despite medical and technological advances, half of the world’s population lacks access to essential health services, and over 8.9 million preventable deaths occur every year. There is an acute global shortage of health workers, a gap that will grow to 18 million by 2030. Studies show that training high-performing community health workers can help close these gaps and save more than 3 million lives annually.
In the past few decades, many community health worker programs across the world have demonstrated their ability to save lives — including in the hardest-to-reach areas. Yet despite this progress, lessons on how to successfully scale these programs as part of national primary health systems are not widely shared.
This course introduces learners to the core concepts of community health worker programs, and explores what is needed to build and strengthen large-scale programs in order to improve access to high-quality health services. The curriculum highlights the key components of designing community health systems, addresses common management challenges, and showcases lessons learned from a range of contributors — from community-level practitioners to government leaders and other global health experts. Through case studies of exemplar countries (including Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and Liberia), participants will learn from leaders across the globe how to advocate for, build, and optimize community health worker programs.
This course was created by health systems leaders for health systems leaders. Whether you work in a Ministry of Health, lead or support a community health worker program, mobilize resources and advocate for increased investment in community health, or you are simply interested in knowing what it takes to deliver quality care through community health worker programs, learners will have the opportunity to advance their knowledge and skills to implement critical change. This course can be taken individually, but learners are also encouraged to convene their colleagues from within or across organizations to share insights and further enhance the learning experience.
What You’ll Learn:
- Core concepts in community health as part of primary health systems
- Key components in the design and optimization of community health worker programs as exemplified through country case studies
- How to advocate for community health worker programs with key stakeholders
- The evidence demonstrating the impact and returns of community health workers
- How to build coalitions to support government-led programs
- How to break down silos and reduce duplicative efforts in the wider community health ecosystem
- The common issues that arise in implementing community health worker programs at scale
Meet The Instructor:

Rajesh Ramesh Panjabi
Frequently Asked Questions:
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Program Overview
Current medical services in the healthcare system aren’t designed to maintain good health and the services intended to improve health often fail miserably. The rise in chronic disease and healthcare spending is a looming global crisis.
Lifestyle Medicine involves the use of evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic approaches, to prevent, treat, and, oftentimes, reverse the lifestyle-related, chronic disease that’s all too prevalent. This type of healthcare approach provides quality improvements for the future of healthcare.
In this professional series, Dr. Amanda McKinney, an American College of Lifestyle Medicine fellow, explores Lifestyle Medicine’s principles and how to use them in treating many common chronic diseases. Licensed medical practitioners, can refresh or add to their existing knowledge of Lifestyle Medicine.
What you will learn
- Lifestyle Medicine Core Competencies
- The root causes of chronic diseases
- Specific lifestyle based treatment protocols
- The skills needed to help patients make difficult lifestyle and behavior changes to treat chronic diseases of lifestyle
Program Class List
1Lifestyle Medicine Fundamentals
Course Details
2Lifestyle Medicine Treatments of Chronic Disease – Part 1
Course Details
3Lifestyle Medicine Treatments of Chronic Disease – Part 2
Course Details
4Applying Health Coaching in Patient Care
Course Details
Meet your instructors

Kelsey Pruss
