Unit rationale, description and aim
An understanding of the theory, core principles, and determinants of health is essential for training effective public health professionals. This unit explores how social, economic, and political forces have shaped the discipline of public health. Students will critically engage with the foundational values and ethical principles that underpin public health practice and explore how these inform contemporary approaches to health promotion, policy development and funding. All of these are important to practice, including service development and delivery. The unit also focuses on the complex and interrelated determinants of health including social, environmental, economic, and political determinants. Students will be introduced to evidence-based practice. They will develop the skills to critically appraise evidence related to health determinants and assess how community engagement and behaviour change are key to creating equitable and health-promoting societies. Through analysis of current public health challenges, students will explore the tensions, debates, and resource allocation dilemmas that influence public health priority setting and policy development. The aim of this unit is to introduce students to foundational concepts within public health, including health, disease and illness; determinants of health, and evidence-based practice.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Demonstrate advanced understanding of the critical...
Learning Outcome 01
Critically analyse research evidence for the impac...
Learning Outcome 02
Critically reflect on the use of evidence-based pr...
Learning Outcome 03
Critique the role of policy development, priority ...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
Definitions and history
- Defining health and disease
- History of public health
Public health values, principles and scope of practice
- Public health values and principles
- Principles of the Ethical Practice of Public Health
- Scope of public health practice
Determinants of health
- Biological
- Behavioural
- Environmental
- Commercial
Evidence for public health priority setting and policy development
- Evidence-based public health research
- Evidence-based resources
- Using evidence for public health:
- Priority setting
- Policy development
- Contemporary public health challenges
Community engagement and behaviour change for improving population health
- Theoretical frameworks
- Cultural competency
- Community engagement
- Culturally and linguistically diverse communities
Assessment strategy and rationale
Assessment in this unit will comprise three assessment tasks combining written and oral activities. The assessment strategy allows students to progressively develop their knowledge and skills by first understanding the key milestones and the emergence of public health as a discipline, followed by principles of public health practice, determinants of health and then applying this knowledge to a more comprehensive understanding of the theory of behaviour change and community engagement in determining population health.
The first assessment task requires students to write a short report on an aspect of public health such as definitions, key achievements and figures in the history of public health or public health values, principles and scope of practice.
The second assessment task requires students to create and deliver an interactive oral presentation on the determinants of health using knowledge of community engagement and behaviour change for improving population health. This will be an individual assessment task that will be delivered in real time and face-to-face, with the opportunity for the audience to ask questions (i.e., interactive).
The third assessment task consolidates the learning of the previous two assignments, requiring students to write a report in which they critique key debates for a determinant of health.
To pass the unit, students must demonstrate achievement of every unit learning outcome and obtain a minimum mark of 50% in this unit.
Overview of assessments
Assessment 1: Written assessment - open Write a ...
Assessment 1: Written assessment - open
Write a short report on an aspect of public health such as definitions, milestones, public health values, or principles and scope of practice. (800 words)
20%
Assessment 2: Interactive oral presentation Cre...
Assessment 2: Interactive oral presentation
Create and deliver an interactive oral presentation on a public health intervention drawing on evidence-based practice. (15 mins)
40%
Written report - Write a report critiquing key de...
Written report -Write a report critiquing key debates for a determinant of health.
(1,500 words)
40%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
Teaching and learning strategies addressing basic concepts and frameworks will involve lectures, tutorials, and small group discussions. Specialised topics will rely on videos, discussions with experts in various settings, use of case studies and LMS or asynchronous content.
The design of this unit is based on the constructivist approach, which supports active learning that encourages students to engage in a range of learning activities to facilitate the construction of new knowledge. Constructive alignment is achieved between learning outcomes, content and assessment tasks.