Online, part-time

Public Health MSc

This module outlines the development of public health and the underlying principles informing its practice. It explores the relationship with healthcare systems, and continuing concerns about health inequalities and access to health care at local, national, and global levels.

It examines the underpinning theories, disciplines, and ethical frameworks that inform the practice of public health involving multiple agencies and stakeholders. You’ll also discuss source of healthcare information and critical appraisal for ensuring an evidence-based approach to a fast-evolving public health landscape.

The pandemic taught us the importance of reliable statistics in terms of numbers affected, vaccinated, and recovered from disease. Sources of data, information, and knowledge in relation to health will be discussed on this module, together with how statistics can summarise and communicate data.

You’ll be introduced to the disciplines of both epidemiology and statistics. The module examines how these disciplines inform our understanding of population health and affect epidemiological research designs and analysis.

This module provides a solid understanding of the key concepts, models and principles of health protection, a key domain of public health. With reference to a range of communicable diseases in low- and high-income countries, you’ll examine issues around the transmission of disease, surveillance and risk assessment, and outbreak management.

A range of strategies informing prevention and control including screening, immunisation and health acquired infections will be explored.

Health improvement is a core function of public health. This module covers the range of tools, resources and methods informing health improvement strategies with a closer look at concerns around health inequalities.

It adopts a life course approach and draws on examples of non-communicable diseases and their impact on health and well-being at various life stages.

The concept of evidenced based practice is firmly embedded within the public health and healthcare landscape, yet not all evidence is good or equal. You’ll be introduced to key concepts in research theory, design, and process and critically examine their application to a public health problem at either a local, national, or global context.

Implementation science and evaluation theories and frameworks, including quality in health care, will be discussed to enable the development of robust and context relevant public health interventions.

In this module, you’ll further explore qualitative and quantitative research methods, and specific study designs aligned with each methodology including methods of data collection and analysis.

The module aims to deepen your knowledge and understanding of the entire research process, how and why multiple methods are used together, and the skill around different methods of analysis.

You’ll explore the complex landscape of public health management, now often interdisciplinary and multi-agency. The module provides an overview of the key issues in the leadership and management of organisations.

It considers key classic and contemporary theoretical frameworks concerning leadership, management, and organisational behaviour in public health.

Health inequalities remain a central concern for global public health. The sociological approaches used to inform our understanding of these are among the subjects covered in this module.

You’ll also discuss the notion of health and illness and, more specifically, the issues around chronic illness, aging, and disability. The changing role of biomedicine, professionals, patients, and the public will also be examined.

The decisions that people make about health, treatment decisions, and health promotion and illness prevention can affect public health in complex ways. This includes the decisions made by patients, the public, and healthcare professionals alike.

This module introduces key theories and concepts of health psychology and behaviour change. It examines how researchers and practitioners can use health psychology theory and principles to design, conduct and evaluate interventions. Case studies will be used to demonstrate how they have improved well-known public health problems, such as smoking, alcohol and substance abuse, diet and physical activity.

The aim of this module is to show how an understanding of economics can help explain the successes and failures of both markets and governments in healthcare.

It considers how key principles of economics, including the laws and determinants of demand and supply, can help improve the efficiency of health care provision. Additionally, it explores their role in enhancing equity in public health within a national and global context.

There are persisting inequalities in health outcomes between countries in the Global North and the Global South. Global Health is an interdisciplinary field that analyses the causes and consequences of these disparities, as well as ways of addressing them.

In this module, you’ll be introduced to the causes and drivers of global health inequalities. You’ll learn about the roles of global health actors, including global governance institutions and humanitarian organisations, and investigate how complex global health emergencies exacerbate existing inequalities.

This module introduces students to public mental health, adopting a population approach that examines evidence-based interventions to prevent and improve mental health and wellbeing for all.

The global burden of mental illness will be examined and the interface with wider socio-cultural determinants that may mediate and mitigate risk factors across the life course. You’ll examine the impact on health inequalities and explore its status within the global burden of disease and implementation in practice.