Course Coordinator:Florin Oprescu (foprescu@usc.edu.au) School:School of Health - Public Health
Online |
Online | You can do this course without coming onto campus. |
Please go to usc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being at all ages is important to building prosperous and sustainable societies. This foundation course provides specialised knowledge and skills needed to understand health behaviours and actions that can positively influence health and well-being across the lifespan. You will analyse and synthesise complex health information. You will explore, research and apply established behavioural health concepts and theories. You will interpret and communicate knowledge, solutions and ideas related to health promoting factors and behaviours.
Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
Online | |||
Online – 3 hours of structured asynchronous online learning activities and an optional 1 hour online Zoom drop in session | 4hrs | Week 1 | 13 times |
Defining and measuring health
Behavioural health key concepts and definitions
Factors and events influencing health across the lifespan
Promoting and protecting your own health and the health of those around you (stress management and other health-related behaviours)
Theories and models of behaviour change
Development of healthy behaviours and healthy lifestyles
Mind and body interactions
Promoting health and wellbeing for all across the lifespan
700 Level (Specialised)
12 units
Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Mapping Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | Professional Standard Mapping * International Union for Health Promotion and Education | |
1 | Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of key concepts, definitions and theories related to behavioural health. |
Knowledgeable Empowered |
A.1, B.3, 1.4, 5.4, 6.4, 7.2 |
2 | Source, evaluate and summarise relevant peer reviewed articles related to health and well-being priorities. | Empowered |
B.3, A.8, 4.1, 6.3, 6.4, 9.4 |
3 | Critically reflect on and apply health behaviour theories, knowledge and literature-based evidence to inform health promotion action. |
Knowledgeable Empowered |
B.3, 1.4, 5.4, 7.2, 7.5, 9.4 |
CODE | COMPETENCY |
International Union for Health Promotion and Education | |
A.1 | Health as a human right, which is central to human development |
B.3 | The determinants of health and their implications for health promotion action |
A.8 | Seeking the best available information and evidence needed to implement effective policies and programmes that influence health |
1.4 | Facilitate the development of personal skills that will maintain and improve health |
4.1 | Use effective communication skills including written, verbal, nonverbal, and listening skills |
5.4 | Incorporate new knowledge to improve practice and respond to emerging challenges in health promotion |
6.3 | Collect, review and appraise relevant data, information and literature to inform health promotion action |
6.4 | Identify the determinants of health which impact on health promotion action |
7.2 | Use current models and systematic approaches for planning health promotion action |
7.5 | Identify appropriate health promotion strategies to achieve agreed goals and objectives. |
9.4 | Use research and evidence-based strategies to inform practice |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Enrolled in any PGRD Program
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
A practice quiz will be available in week 2 of teaching for students to complete prior to the first assessment due in week 3 of teaching.
Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
All | 1 | Quiz/zes | Individual | 25% | Variable |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | Online Test (Quiz) |
All | 2 | Report | Individual | 40% | Up to 2000 words |
Week 11 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All | 3 | Artefact - Professional | Individual | 35% | Up to 1600 words |
Exam Period | Online Submission |
All - Assessment Task 1:Reading assignment | ||||||||||
Goal: | To demonstrate your knowledge of concepts, definitions and theories used in behavioural health. |
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Product: | Quiz/zes | |||||||||
Format: | Quiz. You will complete ten timed quizzes (one per teaching week/module) between weeks 3 and 12 of the semester. Each weekly quiz must be completed before the end of the corresponding teaching week (i.e. week 3 quiz must be completed before the end of week 3). The best five marks from all ten quizzes will be used to calculate your Task 1 grade. Further details will be made available on Canvas. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Problem solving, Information literacy |
All - Assessment Task 2:Scientific journal articles report | |||||||||||||||||||
Goal: | To demonstrate your skills in sourcing, evaluating and summarising bodies of knowledge, theory, and research. |
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Product: | Report | ||||||||||||||||||
Format: | Written document. You will search for and select relevant and recent (published in the last four years) full-text original research articles on a given health topic. You will evaluate and summarise the articles in a Word document. Evaluations and summaries must illustrate the quality and relevance of articles selected for inclusion in the assessment. Based on the evidence available in the articles selected you will propose a set of at least three evidence-based practice-oriented recommendations that will be of interest for other health professionals. Further details will be made available on Canvas. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Information literacy |
All - Assessment Task 3:Professional artefact | |||||||||||||||||||
Goal: | To apply health behaviour theories, knowledge and literature-based evidence to inform health promotion action |
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Product: | Artefact - Professional | ||||||||||||||||||
Format: | Professional artefact. You will create a health communication professional artefact that is theory and evidence-based. Further details will be made available on Canvas. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving |
A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
Please note that you need to have regular access to the resource(s) listed below. Resources may be required or recommended.
Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
Required | Ken Jones,Debra Creedy | 2012 | Health and Human Behaviour | (3rd ed.) | OUP Australia & New Zealand |
Students will be required to have a reliable Internet connection, a computer, a microphone headset and a webcam for Technology Enabled Learning and Teaching Activities.
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying: The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4% The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale You have not failed an assessment task in the course due to academic misconduct
Late submission of assessment tasks may be penalised at the following maximum rate: - 5% (of the assessment task's identified value) per day for the first two days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. - 10% (of the assessment task's identified value) for the third day - 20% (of the assessment task's identified value) for the fourth day and subsequent days up to and including seven days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. - A result of zero is awarded for an assessment task submitted after seven days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. Weekdays and weekends are included in the calculation of days late. To request an extension you must contact your course coordinator to negotiate an outcome.
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The SafeUniSC Specialist Service is a Student Wellbeing service that provides free and confidential support to students who may have experienced or observed behaviour that could cause fear, offence or trauma. To contact the service call 07 5430 1226 or email studentwellbeing@usc.edu.au.
For help with course-specific advice, for example what information to include in your assessment, you should first contact your tutor, then your course coordinator, if needed.
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To book a confidential appointment go to Student Hub, email studentwellbeing@usc.edu.au or call 07 5430 1226.
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