Master of Health Studies (MHST) 631

Overview

MHST 631 Health Promotion I: Planning provides learners with an introduction to population health and health promotion concepts. Learners will acquire the conceptual tools needed to critique and analyze health promotion initiatives within the broader context (social, economic, environmental, political) in which they occur. Learners will develop a strong foundation for planning by incorporating health promotion concepts and models, and current research and practice relating to the field of health promotion. We will gain a broad perspective of the health promotion landscape in Canada by exploring the Ottawa Charter and the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Canadian Best Practices Portal. Taking a case study approach, learners will critically examine the strengths and limitations of various perspectives and practices, as they operate at the individual, community, and organizational levels, and in relation to the broader context. Special attention will be given to how theory, models and framework operate in the digital landscape in an increasingly connected world (i.e., Digital 3.0). Learners will apply this knowledge towards the initiation of their capstone project by examining health promotion within their discipline, identifying determinants, stakeholders, data, and context, and begin to examine the literature to construct a research question and objectives leading to the continuation of capstone project work in MHST 632 Health Promotion II: Situational Assessment and Priority Setting (opening in Fall 2022 session). This course can also be taken without taking MHST 632 or MHST 633 (opening in Winter 2023). The three courses will eventually comprise a Health Promotion focus area that you can add to your graduate degree.

Outline

• Unit 1: Health and health promotion
• Unit 2: Evidence-based health promotion
• Unit 3: Health promotion models and evaluation frameworks
• Unit 4: The Ottawa Charter
• Unit 5: Informed practices in health promotion
• Unit 6: Critical components in health promotion: Populations, community, stakeholders
• Unit 7: Diversity, equity, and inclusion in health promotion

Learning outcomes

NURS 631 is designed to help learners be able to:

1. Critically apply health promotion concepts, principles, theories/models/frameworks, and research to analyze health issues and inform action.
2. Critically evaluate published research and health promotion interventions across a variety of contexts and populations.
3. Illustrate how the determinants of health influence the health and well-being of specific groups.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of health promotion within your respective discipline by developing objectives for an identified and targeted population.
5. Address equity, diversity and inclusion when examining health issues and when planning action.
6. Communicate information tailored to diverse audiences and apply appropriate communication methods/techniques for action, including an ePortfolio.

Evaluation

To receive credit for MHST 631, you will complete five assessments, and achieve an overall course grade of C- (60 percent) or better. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:

Materials

All learning resources are available online. You are presented with a variety of online, multi-media learning resources including peer reviewed articles from the AU library, e-textbooks, videos, and movies. Many of these are open educational resources (OER). The course topic is well suited to utilizing online resources that provide access to emerging research reports and real-time interviews and newscasts that discuss trends as they are developing. You are invited to share learning resources you discover related to course content with others in the class and through your ePortfolio. Locating additional online resources will be necessary and will assist you in achieving the course learning outcomes and your own learning goals, as well as helping us develop as a learning community.

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