2024/25 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

MEDI0102 Health and Illness

30 creditsClass Size: 46

Module manager: Hilary Bekker
Email: H.L.Bekker@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2024/25

Pre-requisite qualifications

Gateway to Medicine Programme entry requirements

Module replaces

N/A

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

Health and Illness (MEDI0102) introduces concepts exploring a) psychological and social factors associated with the health and illness of individuals and populations, and b) health research methodologies including research designs, methods, and ethical considerations used to find evidence to support health service delivery and innovation. Through engagement with interactive lectures, seminars, and self-directed learning activities, students will build a general awareness of these concepts and factors by focusing on:Semester 1 – theories and models explaining health and illness behaviours across healthcare settings, providing an understanding of factors associated with people's engagement with healthcare. Students will explore psychological, sociological, and behavioural models to examine how individuals make decisions about their health, including factors affecting lifestyle changes, participation in screening and testing programs, psychological processes involved in coping and adjustment to illness. Students will be introduced to examples from a range of health contexts, and the role of health professionals in engaging patients through effective communication, education, and motivational strategies. This foundational knowledge is critical for developing a patient-centred approach to healthcare practice across diverse settings. Semester 2 – approaches to applied health research, and the role of research in generating evidence informing clinical practice and the experience of healthcare. Students will develop skills to approach health research designs and methods to consider when generating findings that underpin evidence-based healthcare. The broader context is fundamental to understanding the role of research and evidence in the everyday practice of medicine, service innovation, and experience of care.

Objectives

By the end of the module, students will be able to:
• Describe approaches explaining how individuals make sense of health, wellness, disease, and illness.
• Explain the psychological and social factors associated with health and illness.
• Apply knowledge of research methods to investigate an aspect of healthcare delivery or experience.

Learning outcomes
• To explain people’s beliefs about health and illness.
• To describe links between people’s beliefs, emotions, and behaviour in managing health and illness states.
• To explore differences in people’s understanding of illness.
• To describe components known to facilitate people’s understanding of (written) health information.
• To apply evidence of how people make sense of health and illness when making healthcare decisions.
• To develop an understanding of basic research skills applied to project work including quantitative and qualitative methods.

Skills outcomes
• To develop clinical reasoning skills.
• To integrate bio-psycho-social approaches when explaining health problems.
• To develop presentation skills which demonstrate use of effective verbal communication and critical thinking.
• To develop academic writing skills to enable dissemination of evidence generation methods, and synthesis of findings.

Syllabus

• Understanding of psychological and social theories and models that help people make sense of health behaviours.
• Understanding of illness behaviours through the common-sense model of illness.
• Understanding of differences in health literacy between individuals and the role of cultural, social and population factors.
• Awareness of the role of patient information within the NHS to support patient engagement with healthcare and services.
• Understanding of basic health research methodologies.
• Awareness of evidence-base medicine and understanding of research frameworks to generate evidence to inform clinical practice.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Interactive Lecture	20	3.00	60.00
Independent online learning hours			60.00
Private study hours			180.00
Total Contact hours			60.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			300.00

Private study

The interactive on-line learning activities are quizzes, preparation materials and activities with feedback provided when students engage with the resources; the self-directed learning has guidance on how to prepare for, and start work, to build up and complete the written assignments; the guided reading includes activities to consolidate teaching materials and learning, prepare for seminars, and develop academic and critical thinking skills to engage with learning.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Students will provide a short PowerPoint presentation of the rationale for their essay assignment mid-way through term 1 and research protocol assignment mid-way through term 2, for verbal feedback and guidance for working on the assignments.
Students are expected to engage actively within the lecture-seminar sessions to check their understanding, and reason with peers about key learning points. Attendance is monitored.
Students will work in groups during seminars, and participate in large-group discussions, to benefit from peer learning and other student experiences.
Students receive detailed feedback on their academic progress via comments on their essay and research protocol assignments.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	Students choose ONE essay from a list of three titles on topics covered during Semester 1, provided at the start of the academic year (2000 words total)	40.00
Research Proposal	Students develop a research protocol describing a study related to health and illness (2000 words total)	60.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

There is compensation between assessments. The marks from both assignments will be combined for a single, overall module mark. Note, a single resit assignment (100%) submitted as a first attempt is permissible in this programme with supporting evidence of mitigation or special circumstances. The weekly interactive independent learning activities are not assessed formatively. These activities are designed to support students learning and ability to engage in academic activity and prepare for discussions within seminar settings. The tasks are not part of a formal assessment and do not contribute to the overall module mark. Students must provide evidence of engaging with tasks designed to guide their private study when working on module assignments. Evidence from these assignment engagement tasks are submitted as appendix items at the end of each written assignment. These appendix items provide supplemental evidence of their problem solving and engagement with their learning.

Reading list

There is no reading list for this module

Last updated: 15/11/2024 15:42:16

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