Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the module students will understand disease rates and know how to compare rates across populations and over time; understand the concepts of association and causation; be able to determine an appropriate study design for a research question; understand bias, measurement and estimation of risk; be able to critically appraise the scientific literature; understand data; know the basics of descriptive and interferential statistics; understand the application of epidemiology and biostatistics to population health issues. Students will know how to interrogate the scientific literature to research public health issues and will understand the sociological basis of health and illness,
Indicative Module Content:
Populations and demographic trends; occurrence and distribution of disease; sources of data on health, disease and disability; determinants of disease including social determinants; observational and experimental study designs and sampling strategies; measurement, bias and estimation of risk from epidemiological studies. Students will learn the principles of biostatistics, understanding data and variables, descriptive statistics, presenting data, confidence intervals, statistical tests for two-group comparisons, correlation and linear regression. Public health and Sociology topics will cover the impact of socioeconomic factors, lifestyle and emerging threats on health and disease occurrence, the changing patterns of disease occurrence and the potential for prevention and intervention on a population basis.