Personal Professional Development (Public Health and Primary Care) / Course details

This course unit will be of interest to anyone who wishes to explore the concept of "you are what you eat". It will be relevant to health professionals, policymakers, managers and public health practitioners. The course will examine how good nutrition is not only important to individuals, but also for good population health. We will consider what is good nutrition and investigate the impacts of not eating well and the global obesity threat. How effective are nutritional policies in ensuring good health. Does a good diet make you clever? What are global nutritional policies that improve population health? 

Students choosing 'Nutrition and Public Health' will need to be available for the face to face/online teaching block from 25-27th June 2024. This will be delivered on campus at the University of Manchester as well as online. The teaching block will involve live webinars, presentations and a group presentation. 

This is an interactive on-line course. Students must work through the online course material. Students are encouraged to use the Blackboard discussion boards to ask questions and check their understanding of the course material. 

This unit aims to

• Provide an introduction to nutrition, including major nutrients for human (cabohydrates, fats, fibre, minerals, proteins, vitamins, and water), nutrition and food groups, dietary pattern and dietary index, and overall eating guideline, within the context of Public Health
• Develop students understanding of the relationship between malnutrition (both undernutrition and overnutrition) and health
• Develop students understanding of how public health interventions can improve nutrition (including the potential unintended consequences of this)
• Develop students understanding of how policies, societies, industries, individuals can contribute to public health nutritional issues.

Key themes

• What does nutrition include and what is good diet
• How nutrition can contribute to public health issues
• How policy, societies, industries, individuals can improve public health nutrition
• How to appraise evidence in public health nutrition critically
   

This unit will include text provided by the tutors, online videos/podcasts/recorded lectures plus required and additional reading of articles and relevant literature. It will include reflective study tasks, and topic-based discussions hosted on Blackboard. It also involves attending a three day face to face/online component.

Material provided will be diverse in nature, peer-reviewed publications will be highlighted (and accessed through the University library). Media articles and videos will also be included to demonstrate the implications and impacts of nutrition in health.

Topic specific intended learning outcomes outlined for each week of the course will supplement the intended learning outcomes set out in section 3.

This is a mandatory course unit for students studying on the on-campus programme, or an optional course unit for students on the web-based learning programme. There will be written materials by the tutors guiding students through the course, illustrated with photographs and figures to illustrate the rich topic areas. Much of the content will be presented through reading, including peer reviewed journals (accessible through the University library), and multimedia, including videos. Students will be directed to a variety of relevant literature each week, but also encouraged to research and explore and find their own sources.  

There will be regular interaction with the tutors through scheduled seminars (which will be recorded for those on the web-based option) and online through the discussion boards. Students will be encouraged to use self-reflection to think about the ideas discussed, and take part in discussion board activities. Students should work through the unit in a logical sequence. The individual course unit timetables will guide what should be done and when. Participation in the discussion boards is greatly encouraged, and can help enhance your learning experience and prepare you for your assessment.

For all students - The majority of the course will be delivered through the virtual learning platform, which will include required and additional reading, self-tests and discussion boards.  

Web-based students - There will be webinars that will be recorded to allow synchronous and asynchronous learning. Web-based students may join webinars live, but it is not mandatory. Recordings will be made of all face-to-face activities and will be made available.

For on campus students - All face-to-face activities are mandatory for all students. Attendance is monitored and an escalation policy is in place for non-attendance. The tutor-led sessions will be recorded and made available for all students as part of good pedagogic practice for accessibility, revision and consolidation. We also have weekly peer-led team study sessions where you will be asked to undertake tasks linked to the course unit materials using the discussion boards.

For all students - In line with guidance from the Office for Students and Quality Assurance Agency, the programme will be augmented by the Programme Director Seminar Series to deliver study skills, written English, academic writing, research skills, critical thinking and understanding arguments, careers and employability skills, revision/assessment/examination skills including time management. 

Final assignment (video presentation)

Students will be provided with personalised feedback for their final summative assignment within 20 working days.

Further opportunities for formative feedback (on non-assessed work) will also be provided during the course unit.

Books / Journals

Holford, P. & Lawson, S. (2009). 'Optimum Nutrition Made Easy', Nutrition & Food Science.

Ge, L., Sadeghirad, B., Ball, G. D. C., da Costa, B. R., Hitchcock, C. L., Svendrovski, A., Kiflen, R., Quadri, K., Kwon, H. Y., Karamouzian, M., Adams-Webber, T., Ahmed, W., Damanhoury, S., Zeraatkar, D., Nikolakopoulou, A., Tsuyuki, R. T., Tian, J., Yang, K., Guyatt, G. H. & Johnston, B. C. (2020). 'Comparison of dietary macronutrient patterns of 14 popular named dietary programmes for weight and cardiovascular risk factor reduction in adults: systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised trials', BMJ, 369, p. m696.

Downer, S., Berkowitz, S. A., Harlan, T. S., Olstad, D. L. & Mozaffarian, D. (2020). 'Food is medicine: actions to integrate food and nutrition into healthcare', Bmj, 369, p. m2482.

Ordovas, J. M., Ferguson, L. R., Tai, E. S. & Mathers, J. C. (2018). 'Personalised nutrition and health', Bmj, 361, p. bmj.k2173.

Websites

WHO health topic on Nutrition https://www.who.int/health-topics/nutrition

The eatwell guide https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/the-eatwell-guide/?tabname=food-and-diet

Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/resources/2020-2025-dietary-guidelines-online-materials

Series from the Lancet journals
The Double Burden of Malnutrition https://www.thelancet.com/series/double-burden-malnutrition
Maternal and Child Nutrition https://www.thelancet.com/series/maternal-and-child-nutrition
 

If you have any questions about the content of this unit, please contact one of the course unit leaders, Professor Arpana Verma (mph.director@manchester.ac.uk) or Cath Lewis (cath.lewis@manchester.ac.uk). If you have any other queries, please contact the PGT programme administrators via email on shs.programmes@manchester.ac.uk.