Overview
This unit explores how culture, social systems, community structures, and broader contextual factors shape health and wellbeing across diverse population groups. You will critically examine how these intersecting influences shape public health experiences and outcomes, with particular attention to Australia’s cross-cultural landscape. Emphasis is placed on culturally responsive, ethically informed, and context-sensitive public health practice. You will analyse complex community health issues and reflect on how culturally attuned, collaborative perspectives can inform more equitable and meaningful public health outcomes. By completing this unit, you will strengthen your capacity to work effectively with diverse communities, interpret health challenges through cultural and systemic lenses, and contribute to informed and culturally responsive public health practice across varied settings.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Student feedback and self-reflection
To adjust the due date of the first assessment to provide students with increased spacing between the two assessments, allowing for better workload management and reduced pressure.
To change the Assessment 1 due date from Week 9 to Week 7, allowing a better distribution.
- Critically synthesise advanced public health evidence to explain how social, cultural, structural, and contextual factors shape health outcomes in diverse communities
- Evaluate advanced public health concepts, principles, and theories to interpret and justify responses to complex cross-cultural and community health issues
- Evaluate how social determinants, systems, and community health structures shape public health outcomes across varied populations and settings
- Design feasible, evidence-informed, and culturally responsive public health actions and strategies that address community needs within diverse practice contexts
- Formulate evidence-informed public health analyses and proposals using advanced reasoning suited to academic, professional, and community audiences.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 60% | |||||
| 2 - Presentation - 40% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | |||||
| 2 - Communication | |||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | |||||
| 4 - Research | |||||
| 5 - Self-management | |||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | |||||
| 7 - Leadership | |||||
| 8 - First Nations Knowledges | |||||
| 9 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
a.fard@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Culture, Acculturation, and Intercultural Competence
Chapter
Berry, J. W. (2003). Conceptual approaches to acculturation. In K. Chun, P. Balls-Organista, & G. Marin (Eds.), Acculturation: Theory, method and applications (pp. 17–37). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Community Health
Chapter
Goodman, R. A., Bunnell, R., & Posner, S. F. (2014). What is “community health”? Examining the meaning of an evolving field in public health. Preventive Medicine, 67(1), S58–S61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.07.028
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Social Determinants of Health
Chapter
Wilkinson, R., & Marmot, M. (2003). Social Determinants of Health: The solid facts. WHO Regional Office for Europe.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Health Promotion
Chapter
Davies, J. (2013). Health promotion: A unique discipline? Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Targeting Health Promotion to Community Needs
Chapter
Demaio, A., Drysdale, M., & de Courten, M. (2012). Appropriate health promotion for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities: Crucial for closing the gap. Global Health Promotion, 19(2), 58–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757975912441230
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Discussion: Thematic Literature Review
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Contexts of Practice: Rural and Remote Communities
Chapter
Bourke, L., Humphreys, J. S., Wakerman, J., & Taylor, J. (2012). Understanding rural and remote health: A framework for analysis in Australia. Health & Place, 18(3), 496–503. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2012.02.009
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Contexts of Practice: Indigenous Communities
Chapter
Gwynne, K., Jeffries, T., & Lincoln, M. (2019). Improving the efficacy of healthcare services for Aboriginal Australians. Australian Health Review, 43(3), 314–322. https://doi.org/10.1071/AH17142
Events and Submissions/Topic
Written Assessment Due: Week 8 Monday (4 May 2026) 5:00 pm AEST
Written Assessment Due: Week 8 Monday (4 May 2026) 5:00 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Contexts of Practice: The Aging Society
Chapter
Sims, J. (2017). Healthy ageing. Australian Family Physician, 46(1/2), 26–29.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Contexts of Practice: Mental Health
Chapter
Gopalkrishnan, N. (2018). Cultural diversity and mental health: Considerations for policy and practice. Frontiers in Public Health, 6, 179–179. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00179
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Health Promoting Institutions
Chapter
Bauman, A., Curac, N., King, L., Venugopal, K., & Merom, D. (2012). Active, healthy cities: How does population physical activity vary between Australian cities? Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 23(3), 201–207. https://doi.org/10.1071/HE12201
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Discussion: Poster Presentation
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Poster Presentation Due: Week 12 Thursday (4 June 2026) 5:00 pm AEST
Poster Presentation Due: Week 12 Thursday (4 June 2026) 5:00 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
The first assessment task is an individual 'thematic critical literature review' of 3,000 words (+/–10%), excluding references. In this task, you will examine a significant public health issue affecting a specific and clearly defined community. You will choose a broad topic area from those provided by your lecturer and refine it into a focused research question or thesis statement to guide your review. Using relevant scholarly literature and high-quality sources, you will critically synthesise evidence to examine how social, cultural, structural, and contextual factors shape the public health issue within your chosen community. Your review must go beyond description by identifying patterns, tensions, gaps, methodological limitations, and debates within the literature, and interpreting their implications for future public health responses. The insights you generate will form the foundation for the public health action or strategy you will design in Assessment 2.
This assignment must be written in a formal academic style and fully referenced using APA 7th edition. Full details on the required content and structure of this assessment are provided in the Assessment Handbook on Moodle.
This assignment is due by 5:00 p.m. on Monday of Week 8.
The level of GenAI use permitted for this unit is Level 2 (AI Planning). This means you may use AI for pre-task activities such as brainstorming, outlining, and initial research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas.
Week 8 Monday (4 May 2026) 5:00 pm AEST
Week 11 Monday (25 May 2026)
The assessment criteria for this assignment are:
1. The public health issue, community, and research focus are clearly defined and justified.
2. The literature search strategy and selection criteria are clearly described and appropriate.
3. Literature is critically synthesised into coherent themes that demonstrate depth of analysis.
4. Gaps, limitations, and debates in the literature are clearly identified and discussed.
5. Implications and directions for public health response are clearly articulated and evidence-informed.
6. Academic writing is clear, well structured, and appropriately presented.
7. Sources are accurately referenced using APA 7th edition, and academic integrity is maintained.
*A detailed assessment rubric is available on Moodle.
- Critically synthesise advanced public health evidence to explain how social, cultural, structural, and contextual factors shape health outcomes in diverse communities
- Evaluate advanced public health concepts, principles, and theories to interpret and justify responses to complex cross-cultural and community health issues
- Evaluate how social determinants, systems, and community health structures shape public health outcomes across varied populations and settings
- Design feasible, evidence-informed, and culturally responsive public health actions and strategies that address community needs within diverse practice contexts
- Formulate evidence-informed public health analyses and proposals using advanced reasoning suited to academic, professional, and community audiences.
2 Presentation
The second assessment task is an individual academic poster with a recorded video presentation. In this task, you will translate key insights, evidence gaps, and priority directions identified in Assessment 1 into a culturally informed public health action or strategy that addresses the identified public health issue and community need. You will propose and justify a feasible, ethical, and evidence-based response that is grounded in the literature reviewed in Assessment 1.
The poster and video should be presented in a clear and impactful format that enhances understanding and engagement, with the poster using visual tools such as diagrams and infographics where appropriate. This assignment must follow an appropriate academic style and be fully referenced using APA 7th edition. Full details on the required content, format, and submission requirements for the poster and recorded video are provided in the Assessment Handbook on Moodle.
This assignment is due by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday of Week 12.
The level of GenAI use permitted for this unit is Level 2 (AI Planning). This means you may use AI for pre-task activities such as brainstorming, outlining, and initial research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas.
Week 12 Thursday (4 June 2026) 5:00 pm AEST
Vacation/Exam Week Friday (19 June 2026)
The assessment criteria for this assignment are:
1. The public health issue, community, and identified gaps and needs are clearly explained.
2. Key literature insights are synthesised to inform the proposed public health response.
3. A feasible, evidence-informed, and culturally responsive public health action or strategy is clearly proposed.
4. Anticipated impacts of the proposed action or strategy are clearly articulated.
5. The poster is visually clear, well organised, and uses in-text citations appropriately.
6. The video presentation clearly explains and justifies the proposal and communicates effectively.
7. Sources are accurately referenced using APA 7th edition, and academic integrity is maintained.
*A detailed assessment rubric is available on Moodle.
- Critically synthesise advanced public health evidence to explain how social, cultural, structural, and contextual factors shape health outcomes in diverse communities
- Evaluate advanced public health concepts, principles, and theories to interpret and justify responses to complex cross-cultural and community health issues
- Evaluate how social determinants, systems, and community health structures shape public health outcomes across varied populations and settings
- Design feasible, evidence-informed, and culturally responsive public health actions and strategies that address community needs within diverse practice contexts
- Formulate evidence-informed public health analyses and proposals using advanced reasoning suited to academic, professional, and community audiences.
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
