10 credits

The aim of the Health Promotion module is to enable students to acquire a comprehensive and critical understanding of the techniques applicable to develop and implement health promotion programmes.

Indicative content:          

• Ottawa charter for health promotion
• Communication for health promotion
• Planning and evaluating health promotion
• Needs assessment
• Tackling inequalities
• Empowerment and health behaviour change
• Health promoting health board
• Targeting and tailoring community interventions

15 credits

The aim of the Introduction to Clinical Statistics module is to introduce students to the terminology and concepts of basic statistics, and to enable application and interpretation of the results of statistical procedures, both descriptive and inferential.

Indicative topics:

• Definitions of qualitative and quantitative types of data; measures of central tendency, variability and frequency distribution from raw data.
• Introduction to normal distribution
• Use of sample data to make inferences about populations
• Differences between descriptive and inferential, and between parametric and non-parametric statistics, and the appropriate use of each.

15 credits

The aim of the Epidemiology module is to introduce students to the foundational principles of epidemiology, the major research designs used to collect data, and approaches to analysis and interpretation.

Indicative topics:

• Research study design, including case-control, cohort and ecological studies, RCTs and qualitative study designs. Sampling strategies and the concept of appropriate study size; bias and confounding.
• Measures of risk: odds ratio, relative risk, attributable risk, population attributable risk and population attributable risk percent.
• Concepts of causation; Bradford-Hill’s criteria for causality; genetic epidemiology.

20 credits

The aim of the Public Health module is to provide an introduction to the history, development and current importance of Public Health in our societies; to highlight major public health issues in a local, national and global context, and to identify techniques and strategies for addressing them.

Indicative topics:

• Measures of social deprivation, and their relationship to strategies for health improvement.
• Public health burden of lifestyle-related issues (e.g. smoking, obesity, substance abuse).
• Population based interventions (including screening, immunisation and health protection).
• Public health strategies for the improvement of health and prevention of disease in areas such as ageing, mental health, communicable disease, in the management of natural and man-made disasters and sustainable development.
• The effect of global economics and trade on poverty and health.

10 credits

The aim of the Behavioural and Social Science module is to support students’ understanding of theories, methodologies and techniques commonly used in behavioural and social science and their application to wider public health issues.

Indicative topics:

• Inequalities, marginalisation and social exclusion in health and disease.
• Definitions and concepts of chronic illness/long-term conditions and disability.
• Definitions of stressors, strain and stress.
• Key steps in the development of behaviour change interventions to reduce harm.
• Definitions of human factors and healthcare organisations as complex systems; Systems Thinking and its application to healthcare delivery.
• Key principles behind qualitative interviewing within the context of public health research.
• Definitions and key principles of ethnography; key methods that form part of an ethnographic approach.

15 credits

The Dental Public Health Module comprises of Dental Public Health, Behavioural Sciences for Dental Public Health and Oral Health Promotion. It aims to introduce students to the techniques applicable to the practice of Dental Public Health; critical evaluation of current practice and new methods; critical examination of behavioural sciences and oral health promotion as they related to public health policy and strategy.

Indicative topics:

• ·Evaluation of national and local oral health care policies, national health care systems.
• ·The principles of evidence-based dentistry.
• ·The determinants of oral health-directed and oral health-related behaviours.
• ·Introduction to behaviour change models and their application to health promotion.
• ·Planning and executing an evidence-based oral health strategy using WHO oral health and health policies for national country.
• ·Using appropriate methods to a devise an oral health strategy road map.

10 credits

The aim of the oral epidemiology module is to provide students with the critical understanding and systematic knowledge to acquire a full appreciation of oral health needs assessment, critical awareness and new insights in oral epidemiology and to use this knowledge and skills to plan, execute and interpret oral health surveys.

Indicative topics:

• Identification of the principles of oral epidemiology using oral health indices, inter and intra examiner reliability measures and oral health trend trajectories.
• Assessment indices used in oral health needs assessment and interpretation of oral health survey data. 
• Governance and ethics issues.
• Design of oral health survey and evaluation of value and limitations

5 credits

The aim of this module to enable students to undertake preparatory work for their dissertation.

Indicative content:

• Develop a research question which can be answered within the limits of a dissertation.
• Develop the protocol for the dissertation.
• Produce a Gantt chart detailing the progression of the dissertation from conception to submission.

60 credits

The Dissertation is a sixty-credit core module in which students develop and undertake an independent piece of research. It involves critical evaluation of current research and advanced scholarship in Dental Public Health. This allows students to gain an understanding of the ethical and professional challenges of research in Dental Public Health and to evidence approaches to deal with these within the submission.

Students will receive individual supervision and will work closely with their supervisor throughout the duration of the dissertation project. Formative feedback will be given through regular contact with the supervisor.

15 credits

The aim of the Statistics for Clinical Trials module is to support students in developing skills to understand statistical issues in clinical trials during the design and process of the trial, and to implement appropriately the analyses and reporting of results.

Indicative topics:

• Strengths and weaknesses of particular trial designs, randomisation methods, sample size calculation methods, clustering and dealing with missing data.
• The principles of missing data estimation and implementation, the importance of intention-to-treat analysis.
• Sample size and power for particular designs.

10 credits

The aim of the Research Methods module is to support the development of expertise in research design, culminating in the production of a grant application relevant to population health research.

Indicative topics:

• Use appropriate scientific literature to justify study design.
• The different stages of the research process, including sampling, identification and recruitment, consent and retention of subjects, and strategies used to increase response rates.
• Writing of a research protocol with a detailed study timetable.
• The need for, and the process of systematic review; the importance of strict methodology and quality control.
• The ethical principles governing research; the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and the key features of the Data Protection Act 1998, the Caldicott Principles and the Research Governance Framework; the role of the Research Ethics Committee; informed consent.