This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2016 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.

HSC2141 - Analysing patterns of health and disease

6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Undergraduate - Unit

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Faculty

Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Organisational Unit

Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine

Coordinator(s)

Ms Kelly Allen

Offered

Caulfield

First semester 2016 (Day)
Second semester 2016 (Day)

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 (1,500 words each) (35%)
Group presentation (Oral) (15%)
2 x In-class biostatistics tests (20%)
Exam (2 hours) (30%)

Hurdle: At least 80% attendance at tutorial/computer laboratory classes.

Workload requirements

3 contact hours plus 9 hours of private study per week.

Chief examiner(s)

Ms Kelly Allen

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Health science

Prerequisites

One of (HSC1061, HSC1100, PHH1061).

Prohibitions

BMS1042, PBH2001, PBH2002