Introduction

In order to improve the health of populations, the rationale for the discipline of Public Health prevention is key. This course is designed to explore some of the theories and applications of prevention with a population focus.

The course is designed to help you: 

1. Outline the population approach to prevention.
2. Define and describe the theme of Health Promotion.
3. Understand that social and cultural determinants are important in disease causation and prevention.
4. Understand how policy settings are crucial to the implementation of disease prevention.
5. Understand how to apply a simple evaluation framework to any project or intervention, know how to identify and develop indicators that allow you to demonstrate the results of the project, and be able to identify “successes” and “lessons learned” for future projects.

This course is an Open Online Course (OOC) that was developed by Professor Richard Heller. It has been adopted from Peoples-uni and was further developed by NextGenU.org (NGU). 

 There are five (5) modules to complete, which include:

Module 1: The Population Approach to Prevention
Module 2: Health Promotion
Module 3: Social Determinants of Health
Module 4: Policy Implications of Prevention
Module 5: Evaluation

Approximate time for completion of this course is 4 hours at an average reading rate of 144 words/minute.

Engaging with this course

• To register for this course, complete the registration form. Begin the course with Module 1. For each lesson, read the description. 
• Each lesson comprises introductory remarks. You can click on the collections of resources in each module. 
• There is a forum on each module for reflection, and you will be able to add a new topic or respond to a previous one. You may want to share your learning from this and other readings, comment on the topics from your own experience, comment on others' posts, or provide feedback on how we can improve the content and/or presentation.
• There is a final quiz to assess your understanding of some important concepts. Click on the hyperlinks to take you to these items in each topic.

To PASS and Obtain a Certificate 

You may browse this course for free to learn for your personal enrichment. There are no requirements.

To obtain a certificate, a learner must successfully complete:

• All reading requirements
• All discussion forums
• The final exam with a minimum of 80% and a maximum of 3 attempts.
• The self and course evaluation forms

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This Module outlines the population approach to prevention. An understanding of this approach is key to many preventive programmes in the field of Public Health. By the end of the Module, you should be able to appreciate the importance of taking a population approach to prevention.

This Module defines and describes the theme of Health Promotion. By the end of the Module, you should be able to understand the principles of Health Promotion and the part it may play in disease prevention.

In this Module, we will take a brief look at the social and cultural determinants of health. By the end of the Module, you should be able to understand that social and cultural determinants are important in disease causation and prevention.

In this Module, we will take a brief look at the policy implications of prevention. By the end of the Module, you should be able to understand how policy settings are crucial to the implementation of disease prevention.

As with any intervention, prevention programmes need to be evaluated. This Module aims to provide an introduction to the issue of evaluation. Irrespective of your profession and where you work, it is essential that you continuously evaluate whatever you do. In some aspects, evaluation is not optional and indeed, may be a mandatory requirement. At the end of the Module, you should be able to understand how to apply a simple evaluation framework to any project or intervention, know how to develop indicators that allow you to demonstrate the results of the project, and be able to identify 'succeses' and 'lessons learned' for future projects.

Click here to start the Final Examination.