Health Services and Public Health Research

Structure and Content

The aim of the MSc curriculum is to provide a broad-based training in the conduct and application of Health Services and Public Health Research. From enrolment to successful course completion, the expectation is that each student will gain sufficient experiences from the course to progress to their educational qualification. After completion of the MSc, students will be able to:

• Design and conduct health service and public health research projects.
• Select different research methods for different service questions.
• Apply skills of information processing, computing and statistical analysis.
• Understand the main issues and constraints in achieving evidence based health care and public health strategies.

Overview of course content

The MSc has been designed to include 7 'core' courses:

1. Applied Statistics
This course equips the student with knowledge of statistical principles and methods. In addition, the student will gain experience of analysing, presenting and interpreting numerical data.

2. Epidemiology and Demography
The course teaches basic principles and interpretation skills, and explores the meaning and significance of demographic and epidemiological data. From an epidemiological perspective, the course will examine measures of the health status of populations, including rates and measures of association and risk.

3. Health Economics
Students will explore fundamental principles, including: opportunity cost; what economics is (and is not); demand, supply and markets for health care; market failure in health care; 'need' as an economic concept; financing and organising health care; economic approaches to health service evaluation; health economics research in practice; using health economics in the NHS environment.

4. Health Services Research
The aim of this course is to equip students with the skills and information needed to appraise and undertake health services research. Students will learn how to formulate a research question; design a study; collect and manage data; understand how to select a method of statistical analysis; critically appraise data and prepare a report of the findings.

5. Managing for Health
This course provides students with an understanding of the changing role of management within the NHS and the growing emphasis on evidence-based health care. Core managerial concepts are introduced and their application to the specific environment of the NHS is highlighted.

6. Public Health
This course opens discussion about the nature and purpose of a public health approach to morbidity and health care. The course introduces students to major public health issues such as communicable disease control and environmental health, diet and heart-disease. An important thread is the relationship of poverty to ill health and the role of interventions such as health promotion in trying to enable people to become healthier.

7. Information Skills
This course provides students with a background in the necessary information skills for postgraduate study.

Assessment and examinations

All taught courses are assessed by continuous assessment, including completion of individual and group assignments. Some courses require completion of additional written examinations. The research dissertation accounts for 70% of the assessment process. Award of an MSc in Health Services and Public Health Research normally requires passing each course.

Thesis

MSc students are required to submit and pass an agreed research thesis. Full support from a range of supervisors is provided for students to complete a high-quality research investigation. The thesis should be original work, not previously submitted for another examination. At MSc level, theses are usually 10,000 to 20,000 words. Students are encouraged to negotiate with their sponsoring agency, where applicable, for an agreed research topic. In addition, a pool of research projects is available at the Department of Public Health.

Students who complete a three month research thesis will be eligible for a Diploma. Students who complete the taught curriculum are eligible for a Certificate in Health Services and Public Health Research. Students, according to their marks for the above courses, can continue to either a MSc project or Diploma.

Those students who finish only parts of the taught curriculum are provided with a Certificate of Completion for individual courses.

Dedication

12 months, full-time.