PM1NPH: Nutrition and Public Health

Module code: PM1NPH

Module provider: Pharmacy; School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy

Credits: 20

Level: Level 1 (Certificate)

When you'll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Dr Amelia Hollywood, email: a.hollywood@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 21 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

In this module you will learn about the basics of nutrition. You will learn about food and diet and how nutrition impacts on health. Wider concepts relating to lifestyle, health and disease will also be studied, and you will develop ideas on how to promote healthy living choices for patients and the public.

This module aims to provide students with the basics of nutritional science. Students will learn about food and diet and how nutrition impacts on health. Wider concepts relating to lifestyle, health and disease will also be studied, and students will develop ideas on how to promote healthy living choices for patients and the public.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Discuss the components of food and their impact on nutrition and describe what is considered to be a healthy diet for people at different ages
2. Discuss how lifestyle choices impact health and define the term “health promotion”
3. Explain what is meant by the term “health literacy”, how it relates to health promotion and how to support its development
4. Know about the main components of food and how the body uses them and recognise differences in nutritional needs of different population groups and ages
5. Describe the roles of members of the healthcare team and other agencies (e.g. governmental organisations, charities, etc.) in health promotion
6. Apply behaviour change theory to encourage a healthy lifestyle that is tailored to a specified audience and takes account of relevant local and national guidelines/policies

Module content

Introduction to nutrition

What is in food? – components of food and how body uses them including carbohydrates, lipids, proteins

• Digestive system and metabolism
• Healthy diet – nutrients, energy and calories
• Nutritional requirements for children, adults and the elderly
• Nutritional assessments

Diseases associated with poor lifestyle

• Nutrition and health - Health impact of undernutrition and obesity
• Non-nutritional lifestyle choices and health – smoking, exercise
• Conditions introduced will be malnutrition, heart disease including atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity, liver disease, COPD, cancer and osteoporosis.

Introduction to Public Health

• The role of the healthcare team and other agencies in health promotion
• Health literacy
• Genetic, environmental and socio-demographic factors affecting health and health promotion
• Health promotion priorities and policy in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and the World Health Organisation
• Assessing local and national needs in relation to health promotion

Communicating to promote Public Health

• Evaluating how public health related messages are conveyed by the media
• Apply behaviour change theory to health promotion for an assigned condition/lifestyle choice

Students will develop the following transferable skills:

1. Written and verbal communication skills and their awareness of the communication needs of different groups of people
2. IT skills, including information retrieval through on-line computer searches
3. Gain an awareness of the impact of cultural and societal differences on lifestyle and health

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

This module is taught using lectures, flipped-classroom methods, workshops and problem-based learning classes.

Study hours

At least 30 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Formative feedback will be provided during workshops

Reassessment

Additional costs