Unit Synopsis
Public health programs require a coordinated effort and are typically based on a systematic planning model. This unit builds on your understanding of public health by providing a planning framework and the necessary tools to tackle complex public health issues at population, community and individual levels. Effective public health programs incorporate a combination of initiatives to promote and protect health, hence you will explore and critique a range of individually focused initiatives (aimed at changing individual behaviour) and structural initiatives (aimed at changing social, economic, political, and environmental factors). Public health advocacy will be explored as a key strategy for facilitating 'upstream' changes such as regulation, policy or procedural changes. You will have the opportunity to develop a planning model to address a specific public health issue; this model can be used to prioritise health issues, select appropriate public health initiatives and develop indicators to assess health impacts and outcomes over time.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 2 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
48 credit points
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). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
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 Undergraduate 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.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 20% |
| 2. Written Assessment | 40% |
| 3. Written Assessment | 40% |
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%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 30.77% response rate.
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.
Source: Unit Coordinator
An increase is being seen in the use of generative AI.
Develop clear guidelines on the appropriate use of generative AI in assessments, ensuring students understand ethical and academic integrity expectations. Revise assessment design to emphasise critical thinking, application, and reflection, reducing opportunities for AI-generated responses. Provide targeted support on academic writing and independent analysis, and consider integrating AI literacy workshops to help students use these tools responsibly while maintaining academic rigour.
Guidelines were developed and uploaded to the Moodle site at the start of Term 1 2025. Academic Integrity and Gen AI literacy sessions were embedded into the tutorials.
Source: Unit coordinator
The unit content will require some minor revisions to ensure it remains relevant, appealing, and aligned with the needs of a more diverse, on-campus international student cohort in 2026.
It is recommended that the unit content be reviewed in collaboration with the Head of Course and the Public Health teaching team, with minor updates implemented before the next offering in 2026.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Articulate the importance of a planning model to guide program planning within public health
- Distinguish between 'individually focused' and 'structural' public health initiatives
- Determine the most appropriate combination of initiatives for addressing a key public health issue
- Articulate the importance of public health advocacy as a key strategy for improving the health of the community
- Develop a planning model to address a specific public health issue
- Solve ethical concerns relating to initiative development.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | ||||
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | ||
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | ||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • | |||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |