Undergraduate - UnitHSC2141 - Analysing patterns of health and disease

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

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Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational Unit	Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine
Offered	Caulfield First semester 2014 (Day) South Africa First semester 2014 (Day) Caulfield Second semester 2014 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Danielle Horyniak (Caulfield), Assoc Prof Peter Nyasulu (South Africa)

Synopsis

This unit provides an introduction to epidemiological and statistical concepts necessary for understanding patterns of health and disease in populations. It extends the overview provided in HSC1061, reviewing how health and disease are measured, and how patterns of health and disease in populations are investigated. Students are introduced to different study designs, analysing and interpreting health data and the concepts of bias and confounding. Case studies include local, national and global examples of epidemiological research.

Outcomes

On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:

Critically analyse the strengths and weaknesses of different epidemiological study designs
Critically appraise the popular and biomedical literature on population health
Identify fundamental ethical considerations that underpin health research
Identify the importance of statistical methods in the design, analysis and presentation of the results of research studies in health and biomedicine, and in reports of health related matters in general
Explain basic statistical methods and when to apply them
Interpret statistical results presented in the biomedical literature and other media, and convey the interpretation in simple language.
Identify different approaches to the nature of 'evidence' in public health and the implications of such approaches for the measurement of health and well-being of

Indigenous and other population groups.

Assessment

2 x Written assignments (1500 words each) (35%)
Group presentation (oral) (15%)
2 x In-class biostatistics tests (20%)
Exam (2 hours) (30%)
Hurdle requirement: At least 80% attendance at tutorial/computer laboratory classes