Medicine & Health School of Population Health

Epidemiology (PHCM2001)

This course introduces students to epidemiological principles & methods such as basic tools for measuring illness and risk factors in the population, interpreting and assessing the quality of scientific health evidence by critiquing a range of study designs and reporting on epidemiological research.

Class timetable
Handbook

Epidemiology is a foundation discipline in public health. It is the study of who, where, what, why, and how of illness and disability in human populations: who is affected and most susceptible, where is it occurring, what are the causes, why is it occurring, and how is it spreading? Once we know this information, we can use the data gathered to plan and evaluate the effectiveness of strategies to prevent illness and disability from occurring in the first instance or to manage the symptoms when it has already developed.

This is a core course in the Bachelor of International Public Health (3880) comprising 6 units of credit towards the total required for completion of the study program.
Mode of study

Fully online

Key contacts

Dr Minh Cuong Duong
Course Convenor
+61 (2) 9385 1185
minh.duong@unsw.edu.au

Who should do this course?

Students of the Bachelor of International Public Health (3880) should take this course.

Course outcomes

This course introduces you to epidemiological principles and methods. The aims of the course are to enable you to:

  • Apply an epidemiological approach to the study of disease and other health-related outcomes.
  • Interpret and assess the quality of evidence of a range of study designs.
  • To report on epidemiological research.

On successfully completing this course you will be able to:

  • Calculate and interpret measures of disease occurrence and understand the difference between incidence and prevalence.
  • Calculate measures of association between exposures and disease and understand appropriate use of odds ratios, relative risks and other measures, as well as measures of public health impact.
  • Demonstrate understanding methods for standardisation of rates.
  • Demonstrate understanding of the applications of and the difference between observational and interventional epidemiology.
  • Describe appropriate study designs to assess population health status, determinants of health and health system utilisation, and measures of the efficacy of interventions in health.
  • Assess and evaluate the impact of study errors/bias on the validity of a study.

Learning & teaching

This course has been designed to support you in gaining the fundamental knowledge and skills for applying epidemiology within a public health practice role. This course uses learning activities and assessment tasks that reflect the learning outcomes of the course and are drawn from real studies in order to support your learning of new concepts and the application of epidemiological techniques through practice, lectures, online discussions and scheduled webinars.

The course is delivered fully online over a ten-week term. You are expected to spend approximately 10-15 hours a week preparing for and actively participating in this course and preparing for and completing assessments through UNSW Moodle.

Assessments

Assessment Task 1 - Quizzes 1 and 2
Weighting: 20% (10% each)
Length: 10 multiple choice questions each

Assessment Task 2 - Mid-term Assessment
Weighting: 25%
Length: Multiple-part short answer questions

Assessment Task 3 - Final Assessment
Weighting: 45%
Length: Multiple-part sections with different questions

Assessment Task 4 - Practice Question Completion
Weighting: 10%
Length: 10 weekly online practice tasks

Readings & resources 

The required textbook for this course is: Webb P, Bain C, Page A (2019) Essential epidemiology: an introduction for students and health professionals, 4th edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.