MSc Occupational Hygiene / Course details

This course unit provides an introduction to health policy, including approaches to understanding policy making and the policy process, implementation, analysis, and evaluation. The unit is of relevance to a range of professions within health and care services, the wider public services, and those interested in public policy at the local, national and international scales. This includes those within the NHS/health care services, local authorities, the voluntary sector, non-government agencies, policy think-tanks, and consultancies in the health policy world. The overarching significance of policy to public health means that this course complements a range of existing course units, including ‘Health Services Management’ and ‘Implementation Sciences.’ It is unique in its exploration of approaches to evaluating policy and offering students an opportunity to design an outline for their own policy evaluation. This unit is relevant internationally, using both core case studies and inviting examples of health policies from students’ own contexts, to apply and consider concepts from the course in relation to different contexts.  

This is an interactive online course. Students must work through, and reflect on, the online course material independently. Students are also encouraged to engage with the Blackboard discussion boards to ask questions, give feedback to one another, and check their understanding of key concepts and methods introduced during the course unit. 

• To gain a critical understanding of key concepts for analysing and evaluating health policy.
• To be able to apply public policy concepts to ‘real world’ case studies of health policy, including examples from the students’ own context or professional experiences.

• What is policy? Theoretical ideas shaping the nature of policy and policy making; what constitutes policy and how it is made; conceptual frameworks with which other aspects of ‘policy making’ can be understood, including its implementation and evaluation.
• Policy context: The meaning of the term ‘context’ in relation to policy; demographic, economic, social and political contexts of policy; influence of international, national and regional/local contexts on policy.
• How and why policy is made: Models used to make sense of making policy; ‘stages’ model of the policy process; policy ‘streams’ and ‘windows’; policy cycles; and factors influencing the policy agenda.
• Policy transfer: Differing ways in which policy is transferred; how policy may be transferred; conditions which help or hinder policy transfer.  
• Policy implementation models and frameworks: Models and frameworks used for implementing health policy.
• Synthesised implementation models and barriers to implementing policy: Synthesised models of implementation and  potential barriers to implementation of health policies.
• Evaluation approaches: Definitions of evaluation; why evaluation might be undertaken; main types of evaluation.
• Evaluation design: Philosophical approaches to evaluation and the practical issues that arise in performing evaluation; designing a policy evaluation, understanding the complexities and issues involved.
• Why policy interventions work or fail: Complexity of policymaking and policy analysis; judgements of ‘success’ or ‘failure’ depend upon underlying assumptions about how society works and of human behaviour; critically evaluating policy interventions. 

This course unit has a high degree of self-directed learning including exercises and assignments which involve active reflection, reading, peer-led discussions, and applying concepts to ‘real world’ examples of health policy. This includes engaging with core case studies of health policies introduced during the course unit and being encouraged to reflect on and discuss examples from the students’ own context and professional experiences. Each week, the teaching team will record a video call ‘topic conversation’ where they discuss the content of the previous week’s topic, apply it to further real world experiences, and reflect on the ideas covered.  

Formative feedback during the unit is given in a variety of ways. This includes written feedback to students that submit a short essay for the mid-term formative feedback opportunity. This essay can then be used to support the final summative assignment. The optional discussion board activities, and forums, provide an opportunity to test learning, ask questions, and receive peer and tutor comments.  

All students will be provided with written feedback in relation to the final summative assignment.

There will be regular interaction with the tutors through scheduled webinars (which will be recorded and made available) and through the online 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.

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.

Students will be provided with personalised feedback for their final summative assignment (2,500-3,000 words) within 20 working days for final submission. 

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

Buse K, Mays N, and Walt G. (2012) Making Health Policy (Understanding Public Health), 2nd Edition. Open University Press. ISBN-10:0335246346. 

Please make note of the following further detail regarding scheduled activity hours for this unit: 

If you have any questions about the content of this unit, please contact the course unit lead Dr Jonathan Hammond via email at jonathan.hammond@manchester.ac.uk. If you have any other queries, please contact the PGT programme administrators via email at shs.programmes@manchester.ac.uk.