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Health Administration (HADM) 379
Introduction to Epidemiology
(Revision 1)

Revision 1 closed, replaced by current version.

Delivery mode: Individualized study or grouped study

Credits: 3 - Applied Studies

Prerequisite: Professor approval and HADM 336.

Centre: Centre for State and Legal Studies

HADM 379 has a Challenge for Credit option.

Overview

This introductory course in epidemiology provides an analysis of the epidemiologic approach to problems of health and disease. The basis principles and methods of epidemiology are presented in three sections of this course. The sections are designed to provide the student with a basic understanding of epidemiologic methods and study design and the place of epidemiology in preventive and clinical medicine. This course is designed for students from a wide variety of backgrounds: health services, administrators, policymakers, practitioners, and clinicians.

Outline

HADM 379 is structured for independent study with interactive tutoring. The course comprises the following eleven units:

Unit 1: Introduction to Epidemiology and Dynamics of Disease Transmission

Unit 2: Measuring Disease Occurrence

Unit 3: Diagnostic Test Validity and Reliability

Unit 4:The Natural History of Disease

Unit 5: Assessing the Efficacy of Preventive and Therapeutic Measures

Unit 6: Cohort, Case-control, and Cross-sectional Studies

Unit 7: The Epidemiological Approach to Risk

Unit 8: The Epidemiological Approach to Causation

Unit 9: Evaluation of Health Services

Unit 10: Evaluation of Screening Programs

Unit 11: Epidemiology: Public Policy, Ethical and Professional Issues

Evaluation

To receive credit for HADM 379, you must achieve a course composite grade of at least “D” (50 percent), and a mark of at least 50 percent on each examination.

Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Mid-term Exam Exercise 3 Final Exam Total
10% 10% 30% 10% 40% 100%

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.

Course Materials

Textbooks

Gordis, L. (2004). Epidemiology (3rd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier.

Last, J. M. (Ed.). (2001). A dictionary of epidemiology (4th ed.). Toronto: Oxford University Press.

Other Materials

The course materials also include a study guide, student manual and a reading file.