MRes Primary Care (Web-based Learning) / Course details
Year of entry: 2021
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Course unit details:
Fundamentals of Epidemiology
| Unit code | POPH60991 |
|---|---|
| Credit rating | 15 |
| Unit level | FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree |
| Teaching period(s) | Semester 1 |
| Offered by | Division of Population Health, Health Services Research and Primary Care |
| Available as a free choice unit? | No |
Overview
Epidemiology is the core scientific skill for the practice of public health, and also been adopted by clinicians as the scientific basis on which evidence-based practice is built. This course is therefore relevant to current or future professionals involved with either conducting health-related research or interpreting the findings of research studies.
In this course students will learn about the history of the discipline of epidemiology, and its applications to public health. Students will be introduced to common types of observational study designs including; ecological studies, cross-sectional surveys, case-control studies, cohort studies and intervention studies. The course covers the appropriate methods of measuring and comparing risk in each type of study as well as the limitations of epidemiological studies and how to minimise systematic errors when conducting epidemiological studies.
This is an interactive online course. Students must work through the online course material. Students are expected to engage in weekly discussion boards with their peers and tutors.
10% of the total marks for this course will be awarded for participation in an assessed group discussion board activity during one week of the course.
Aims
The aim of this course is for students to acquire an understanding of basic epidemiological methods for the purpose of participating in the design of epidemiological studies and critically appraising the medical literature.
Learning outcomes
On completion of this unit successful students will:
- be familiar with key epidemiological studies
- know about different measures of risk, how to calculate them and how this relates to understanding disease causation
- be able to calculate incidence and prevalence rates of diseases within a population
- understand the methods used in ecological studies, cross-sectional surveys, case-control studies, cohort studies and intervention studies
- understand bias, confounding and effect modification
- be able to perform age standardisation
- know about the uses of routine data, screening and epidemiological surveillance
Syllabus
- Important epidemiological studies and the application of epidemiology to public health
- Measures of risk and understanding causation
- Measures of morbidity and mortality, including incidence and prevalence
- Descriptive studies
- Case-control studies
- Cohort studies
- Intervention studies
- Bias, confounding and effect modification in epidemiological studies
- Age standardisation
- Sample size, epidemiological surveillance and screening
Teaching and learning methods
Online distance learning with course materials provided via the virtual learning environment Blackboard. The course consists of 10 weekly topics with links to external web materials and reference to reading materials. There are also tasks that require students to participate in group discussions - these discussions will be conducted on the online discussion board and moderated by the course unit leader and teaching assistants. These tasks will include practice questions to embed student’s learning and provide examples of the type of question in the assignments. At the end of most topics there is also a self-test which provides a more in-depth test of students’ understanding of the course material and a further guide to the type of question that can be expected in the marked assignment. Automated feedback is provided for the self-tests.
Employability skills
- Analytical skills
- Students will develop analytical skills by learning about the strengths and limitations of common types of observational study designs such as ecological studies, cross-sectional surveys, case-control studies, cohort studies and intervention studies. They will learn how to critically appraise these studies in the medical literature.
- Research
- In this module students will develop research skills by learning how to choose the appropriate epidemiological study design to use to answer particular research questions. They will also learn how to analyse data collected in epidemiological studies and how to interpret epidemiological data.
Assessment methods
| Assessment task | Weighting within Unit (if relevant |
| Midterm assignment | 30% |
| Assessed discussion board | 10% |
| End of semester written assignment | 60% |
Feedback methods
Students will be provided with personalised feedback for their mid-term and final summative assignments, within 15 working days for mid-term assignments and 20 working days for final submission.
Further opportunities for formative feedback (on non-assessed work) will also be provided during a course unit in the discussion boards and the online material (self tests).
Study hours
| Independent study hours | |
|---|---|
| Independent study | 150 |
Teaching staff
| Staff member | Role |
|---|---|
| Tracey Farragher | Unit coordinator |
Additional notes
For further information please watch this video from our Course Unit Leader: https://video.manchester.ac.uk/faculties/edfa2331ca0cd9a14d717cb1d233466f/ac3f37ab-9597-48c6-aa9a-dbead18dd2ef
If you have any questions about the content of this unit, please contact the course unit leader, Tracey Farragher, via email on tracey.farragher@manchester.ac.uk. If you have any other queries, please contact the PGT programme administrators via email on mph.admin@manchester.ac.uk