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Course profile

Planning, Implementing & Evaluating Public Health Programs (PUBH7048)

Study period
Sem 1 2025
Location
Herston
Attendance mode
In Person

Course overview

Study period
Semester 1, 2025 (17/02/2025 - 14/06/2025)
Study level
Postgraduate Coursework
Location
Herston
Attendance mode
In Person
Units
2
Administrative campus
Herston
Coordinating unit
Medicine Faculty

This course will help you understand and analyse complex public health issues and develop innovative public health programs for impact. You will acquire knowledge and skills to develop, implement and evaluate public health program through conducting needs assessment and social analysis, identifying and prioritising potential solutions, applying evidence-based interventions for a particular context, developing innovative solutions to mitigate risk, and understanding and applying appropriate evaluation frameworks for the program. You will learn how to engage with stakeholders throughout the process.

This course will help you understand and analyse complex public health issues and develop innovative public health programs for impact. You will acquire knowledge and skills to plan, implement and evaluate public health program through conducting needs assessment and social analysis, identifying and prioritising potential solutions, applying evidence-based interventions for a particular context, developing innovative solutions to mitigate risk, and understanding and applying appropriate evaluation frameworks for the program. You will learn how to engage with stakeholders throughout the process.



Course requirements

Prerequisites

You'll need to complete the following courses before enrolling in this one:

PUBH7033

Recommended prerequisites

We recommend completing the following courses before enrolling in this one:

PUBH7034

Incompatible

You can't enrol in this course if you've already completed the following:

PUBH7036

Course contact

Course staff

Course coordinator

Lecturer

Dr Paul Gardiner
Dr Katherine Morley

Timetable

The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.

Aims and outcomes

This course will help you understand and analyse complex public health issues and develop innovative public health programs for impact. You will acquire knowledge and skills to develop, implement and evaluate public health problems through conducting needs assessment and social analysis, identifying and prioritising potential solutions, applying evidence-based interventions for a particular context, developing innovative solutions to mitigate risk, and understanding and applying appropriate evaluation frameworks for the program. You will learn how to engage with stakeholders throughout the process. This course will ensure you are well-equipped to work in health program planning, implementation and evaluation across diverse public health and health promotion fields as future public health professionals.

Learning outcomes

After successfully completing this course you should be able to:

LO1.

Critically appraise relevant evidence to set priorities for health program planning for promotion, prevention and protection.

LO2.

Design and conduct a health needs assessment and stakeholder analysis to inform the development of health program.

LO3.

Understand an apply the key principles and frameworks of planning, implementation and evaluation for public health programs.

LO4.

Create a detailed plan and program logic model for a public health action (Including meaningful aims and objectives), with an understanding of its feasibility and sustainability (risks and enablers).

LO5.

Construct evaluation plans including formative, process, impact and outcome evaluations.

LO6.

Demonstrate skills in written and oral communication to a range of relevant stakeholders, and skills in group work including collaboration, teamwork, self-reflection and group negotiation.

Assessment

Assessment summary

Category Assessment task Weight Due date
Paper/ Report/ Annotation Synthesising the findings of the Needs Assessment 30%

28/03/2025 2:00 pm

Paper/ Report/ Annotation Public Health Program Plan
  • Team or group-based
25%

2/05/2025 2:00 pm

Paper/ Report/ Annotation Implementation and evaluation of your program 45%

9/06/2025 2:00 pm

Assessment details

Synthesising the findings of the Needs Assessment

Mode
Written
Category
Paper/ Report/ Annotation
Weight
30%
Due date

28/03/2025 2:00 pm

Task description

As a public health practitioner, you are working for an organisation that wants to develop a public health program in a focus area for that organisation. You will need to choose the focus area from available scenarios. You have been asked to plan, implement and evaluate this program across the three nested assessments for this semester.


For this assessment, you will conduct a Needs Assessment based on your choice of scenario. You are required write a Report that summarises your conducted Needs Assessment and include recommendations for your organisation. This report should be a maximum of 2000 words (excluding references). This is an individual assessment but you may work in groups to collect the data for your Needs Assessment.


Further instructions will be available via the Course Blackboard site.

Submission guidelines

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

Please see 10. Policies & Guidelines

Late submission

Please see 10. Policies & Guidelines

Public Health Program Plan

  • Team or group-based
Mode
Written
Category
Paper/ Report/ Annotation
Weight
25%
Due date

2/05/2025 2:00 pm

Task description

This assessment is a briefing paper for the executive team of the organisation that you work for. The briefing paper will have two parts (detailed below) that build on your previous assessment. You will be required to describe the public health program that addresses the needs identified in the first assessment. You will need to demonstrate how the program could impact the intended population and how they know that the program is fit for purpose. This assessment will be a maximum of three A4 pages (excluding references). You may choose to complete this assessment as a group or individually.


Part 1: An overview of the program including a program logic model


Part 2: A map of stakeholders and engagement strategies using a provided template


Further instructions will be available via the course Blackboard site.

Submission guidelines

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

Please see 10. Policies & Guidelines

Late submission

Please see 10. Policies & Guidelines

Implementation and evaluation of your program

Mode
Written
Category
Paper/ Report/ Annotation
Weight
45%
Due date

9/06/2025 2:00 pm

Task description

Building on the first two assessments you will provide a detailed plan for the executive team of your organisation of how you will implement and evaluate your program.


You will be required to write a 2500-word report (excluding references). You will need to demonstrate that you have considered the risks in implementation via a risk mitigation table (template provided). You will also need to describe how you know if your program will be successful by proposing an evaluation plan that outlines how you will demonstrate that the proposed program would satisfy the aims, objectives and outcomes. The plan should describe an outcome or impact evaluation. Your plan should contain an updated program logic model. This is an individual assessment.


Further instructions will be available via the course Blackboard site.

Submission guidelines

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

Please see 10. Policies & Guidelines

Late submission

Please see 10. Policies & Guidelines

Course grading

Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.

Grade Description
1 (Low Fail)

Absence of evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes.

Course grade description: Typically 0-19%

2 (Fail)

Minimal evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes.

Course grade description: Typically 20-44%

3 (Marginal Fail)

Demonstrated evidence of developing achievement of course learning outcomes

Course grade description: Typically 45-49%

4 (Pass)

Demonstrated evidence of functional achievement of course learning outcomes.

Course grade description: Typically 50-64%

5 (Credit)

Demonstrated evidence of proficient achievement of course learning outcomes.

Course grade description: Typically 65-74%

6 (Distinction)

Demonstrated evidence of advanced achievement of course learning outcomes.

Course grade description: Typically 75-84%

7 (High Distinction)

Demonstrated evidence of exceptional achievement of course learning outcomes.

Course grade description: Typically 85-100%

Supplementary assessment

Supplementary assessment is available for this course.

The final grade awarded will be based on the results of the supplementary assessment only, and a passing grade will be awarded if, and only if, the student receives at least 50% of the marks on the supplementary assessment. 

Learning resources

You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.

Library resources

Library resources are available on the UQ Library website.

Learning activities

The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.

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Learning period Activity type Topic
Workshop

Week 1

Overview and Introduction

  • Course overview and expectations
  • Critical thinking
  • Overview of assessments
  • Working in groups

Workshop

Week 2

Paradigms and Principles

  • Ways of knowing
  • Health Promotion Planning Cycle
  • Principles

Identifying Needs Part I

  • Needs Assessment

Workshop

Week 3

Identifying Needs Part II

  • Identifying priority populations and key issues
  • Settings

Workshop

Week 4

Identifying Needs Part III

  • Decision making

Workshop

Week 5

Program Design and Implementation Part I

  • What are we aiming to achieve?

Workshop

Week 6

Program Design and Implementation Part II

  • Frameworks

Workshop

Week 7

Program Design and Implementation Part III

  • How are we going to do it?

Workshop

Week 8

Program design and implementation Part IV

  • Agile Project Management

Workshop

Week 9

Evaluation Part I

  • Principles of evaluation
  • Evaluation types

Workshop

Week 10

Evaluation Part II

  • What to evaluate?

Workshop

Week 11

Evaluation Part III

  • How to evaluate?

Workshop

Week 12

Evaluation Part IV

  • Evaluation findings

Workshop

Week 13

Panel of experts to provide lessons from practice

Policies and procedures

University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:

Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.

Course guidelines

School of Public Health (SPH) Guidelines for late submission of progressive assessment - Preamble

To apply for an extension to the due date for a piece of progressive assessment (eg assignments, oral presentations and computer-based assignments) students should complete the online request at  https://my.uq.edu.au/information-and-services/manage-my-program/exams-and-assessment/applying-assessment-extension?p=2#2  

Information regarding deferral of in-semester exams and end-of-semester exams is available from https://my.uq.edu.au/information-and-services/manage-my-program/exams-and-assessment/deferring-exam 

If requesting an extension on medical grounds, a medical certificate must be provided. The extension will be approved for the number of days included in the medical certificate that the student was not fit to study or work, eg if the medical certificate is for 3 days, an extension will be approved for 3 days maximum regardless of the student's request.  

If requesting an extension using a Student Access Plan (SAP) as evidence, a maximum of 7-day extension will be approved in the first instance. Updated medical documentation, as well as a copy of the SAP, is required if requesting an extension for more than 7 days. 

The maximum time for an in-semester extension is four weeks.  

The following SPH guidelines are consistent with the UQ policy. However, the SPH Guidelines contain specific rules and interpretations for SPH courses, and requests for extension and penalties for late submissions will be judged according to the guidelines outlined in this document. You should read both the information in your my.UQ at the following link: https://my.uq.edu.au/information-and-services/manage-my-program/exams-and-assessment/applying-assessment-extension and the SPH guidelines (below) before submitting a request for an extension. The SPH Guidelines apply to all courses offered by the School of Public Health unless the Course Profile explicitly states otherwise.

 

SPH Guidelines for late submission of progressive assessment

Initial extension for an individual item of assessment – the SPH Teaching & Assessment Support Team and/or the Course Coordinator decides.

This could be for medical or compassionate reasons, or if, in the opinion of the Course Coordinator, there are exceptional circumstances.

Acceptable and unacceptable reasons for an extension are listed at the following link, along with the required evidence to be provided:  https://my.uq.edu.au/information-and-services/manage-my-program/exams-and-assessment/applying-assessment-extension?p=1#1

All requests should be lodged at least 24 hours prior to the due date for the assessment.

If applying for an extension after the due date and time of the assessment item, your request may not be approved. An explanation as to why your request was not submitted prior must be included.       

If approved, a new due date will be set. This would generally be no later than 7 days after the original due date, however this can be modified to take account of the circumstances of the request and the time that would have been lost from studies.

If the new due date is past the date for submission of end-of-semester results, the student will receive an INC (incomplete) result.

Second and all subsequent extensions for an individual item of assessment – the SPH Teaching & Assessment Support Team and/or the Program Director together with the Course Coordinator decides.

This would only be approved for exceptional circumstance with supporting documentation.

  • Online requests must be made at least 24 hours prior to the due date from the first extension.
  • The SPH Teaching & Assessment Support Team and/or the Course Coordinator will consult with the Program Director, who will make the final decision.
  • If approved, the new due date would generally be no later than 7 days after the first extension due date.
  • The Program Director should consider if remedial or other support should be offered to the student.
  • The Program Director should provide a report on these matters as needed at SPH Examiners’ Meetings.

Please Note: In order to support course progression, extensions that total more than 14 calendar days from the original due date of an assessment item will only be approved in very exceptional circumstances. These requests are assessed and approved or denied on a case-by-case basis. 

If you have been ill or unable to attend class for more than 14 days, we advise you to carefully consider whether you are capable of successfully completing your courses this semester. You might be eligible to withdraw without academic penalty.

 

Penalty for late submission

Submission of assignments, practical reports, workbooks, and other types of written assessments after the due date specified in the Course Profile will receive a penalty.

The penalty will be a deduction of 10% RELATIVE PERCENTAGE per day (24 hour period or part thereof, including weekends and public holidays) or for work graded on a 1-7 scale, a deduction of one grade per day, e.g. If the original mark is 73%, then 10% relative percentage is 10% of this value, ie 7.3%, The final mark for this assessment item after applying the penalty for 1 day late submission would be 73 -7.3 = 65.7% The same outcome is achieved by multiplying the original score by .9; ie 73 x .9 = 65.7%

The penalty for multiple days late is the relative percentage multiplied by the number of days late. 

A submission that is not made within 10 days of the due date will receive a mark of 0% for that assessment item.

Where a student has sought more than one extension, the due date for calculating the penalty will be the due date for the most recently approved extension.

Submission of Medical Certificates

Students are responsible for ensuring that any medical documentation they submit is authentic and signed by a registered medical practitioner. Such practitioners can be identified via the AHPRA website. Also note that:

  • Not all online medical services are staffed by registered practitioners
  • If the registration status of the practitioner cannot be verified, then an alternative practitioner should be sought
  • Students will be held fully responsible for all documentation they submit, even if done so in ignorance of the practitioner's registration status

Medical documentation may be subjected to an audit by the University.

 

SPH Assessment Guidelines

The School of Public Health assessment tasks have been designed to be challenging, authentic and complex. While students may us AI technologies, successful completion of assessment in this course will require students to critically engage in specific contexts and tasks for which artificial intelligence will provide only limited support and guidance.

A failure to reference AI use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.

To pass this assessment, students will be required to demonstrate detailed comprehension of their written submission independent of AI tools.