BIOSTATS 6000 - Epidemiology

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2024

On completion of this course students should be familiar with the major concepts and tools of epidemiology, the study of health in populations, and should be able to judge the quality of evidence in health-related research literature. Topics include: historical developments in epidemiology; sources of data on mortality and morbidity; disease rates and standardisation; prevalence and incidence; life expectancy; linking exposure and disease (eg relative risk, attributable risk); main types of study design - case series, ecological studies, cross-sectional surveys, case-control studies, cohort or follow-up studies, randomised controlled trials; sources of error (chance, bias, confounding); association and causality; evaluating published papers; epidemics and epidemic investigation; surveillance; prevention; screening.

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Course Details

Course Code	BIOSTATS 6000
Course	Epidemiology
Coordinating Unit	Public Health
Term	Semester 1
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	2 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	N
Incompatible	PUB HLTH 7075 and PUB HLTH 4275
Quota	A quota of 20 applies
Assessment	Assignments, Online Activities and Participation

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Dr Angela Gialamas

Course Coordinator: Dr Angela Gialamas
Phone: +61 8 831 30962
Email: angela.gialamas@adelaide.edu.au
Location: Level 4, Rundle Mall Plaza, Adelaide

Program email: bca@adelaide.edu.au

Student & Program Support Services Hub
Email: askhealthsc@adelaide.edu.au
Phone: +61 8 31 30273

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from .

This course provides options to participate online for students unable to attend in person.

Course Learning Outcomes

1	Demonstrate an understanding of routine sources of data used in descriptive epidemiology, and appreciate their strengths and limitations accordingly;
2	Outline epidemiological measures of disease occurrence, calculate basic measures and describe patterns of disease occurrence;
3	Correctly calculate and apply absolute and relative measures of risk;
4	Differentiate epidemiological study designs, recognise the most appropriate circumstances in which to use each design, and describe the measures of disease occurrence that can be generated using each design;
5	Recognise potential threats to correctly interpreting results from epidemiological studies, and identify those most relevant to each study design;
6	Distinguish the difference between association and causation, and appreciate relevant issues in inferring causation from observational designs;
7	Summarise the principles of screening and the conditions under which a screening program would be most appropriate and cost-effective.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.	2, 5, 6, 7
Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.	3, 5, 7
Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.	1, 4, 7
Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.	3-5
Attribute 5: Intercultural and ethical competency Graduates are responsible and effective global citizens whose personal values and practices are consistent with their roles as responsible members of society.	4, 5, 7
Attribute 6: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural competency Graduates have an understanding of, and respect for, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander values, culture and knowledge.	N/A
Attribute 7: Digital capabilities Graduates are well prepared for living, learning and working in a digital society.	2, 3
Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence Graduates are self-aware and reflective; they are flexible and resilient and have the capacity to accept and give constructive feedback; they act with integrity and take responsibility for their actions.	1 - 7

Learning Resources

Required Resources

The textbook for the course is:
Webb P, Bain C, Page A. Essential Epidemiology: An Introduction for Students and Health Professionals. 4th edition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2020.

The textbook is available as an e-textbook from the University library. There are a small number of hard copies of the textbook
that are available for borrowing.

Other relevant reading material may be provided during the course in the form of book chapters, journal articles (both recently published and seminal), and links to websites.

Recommended Resources

Other Resources: Epidemiology Textbooks
There are many introductory epidemiology texts. Reading a text other than the set text can be helpful if a topic seems unclear or difficult – a different explanation and different examples can be illuminating. Some recommended texts for learning about epidemiology are described below.
1. Rothman K. Epidemiology: An Introduction. 2nd edition. Oxford, UK. Oxford University Press, 2012.
This is a small introductory-level book that provides good explanations of epidemiological concepts.

2. Szklo M, Nieto FJ. Epidemiology: Beyond the Basics. 3rd edition. MA, USA. Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2014.
This text digs a little deeper into epidemiological concepts.

Other Resources: Epidemiology Journals
Many journals also specialise in epidemiological research and you have access to the University's journal collection. Some good epidemiological journals include:
• The International Journal of Epidemiology
• Epidemiology
• American Journal of Epidemiology
• Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology
• Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.
Students could consider subscribing to a journal's Table of Contents, so that they can follow when new articles published in their area of interest. This is a free service offered by most international journals.

Online Learning

It is assumed that students will have access to the 成人大片 student e-mail address that was assigned to them on enrolment. Messages will be sent to their official 成人大片 student e-mail address and assume that they read their e-mail. The announcements page of the MyUni site for this course will also display relevant notices from time to time. MyUni is the primary entry point to online learning at the 成人大片. MyUni will be used to provide students with access to course materials, announcements, and other features to assist your study. Students can connect to MyUni on or off campus via the internet at: www.myuni.adelaide.edu.au/
Learning & Teaching Activities
Learning & Teaching Modes

Lectures: Provide basic factual information and introduce and illustrate concepts.

Tutorials: Provide an opportunity to develop understanding of lecture material and clarify concepts.

Practicals: A forum for application of lecture material. They provide an interactive forum to apply concepts from lectures and clarify understanding.

Assignments: Opportunity for independent application and exploration of key concepts.

Quizzes: Opportunity to practice learning at the end of an instructional unit.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

In general, we recommend that students spend 3 hours of independent study for every contact hour. This includes reading the set
text, wider reading, preparing answers to tutorial questions, and making progress with assignments. The work on assignments will be
greater as the due date approaches.

Learning Activities Summary
Topics
- Types of Health States
- Measuring Health States
- Study Designs: Intervention Studies
- Study Designs: Cohort and Cross-sectional Studies
- Study Designs: Case-control and Ecological Studies
- Effect Measures
- Random Error and P-values
- Systematic Errors: Confounding, Selection and Information bias
- Screening
Specific Course Requirements

See Study Guides at:

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessment Task	Assessment Type	Weighting	Learning Outcome(s) being addressed
Participation & Quizzes	Formative and Summative	15%	1-7
Assignment 1	Summative	25%	1, 2, 3
Assignment 2	Summative	30%	4-7
Assignment 3	Summative	30%	1-7

Assessment Related Requirements

Students are expected to prepare for tutorials by attempting the tutorial questions before the scheduled session.
Students are expected to actively participate in tutorials and practicals.

Assessment Detail

Assignment 1 (25%)
This online assessment will assess students' application of knowledge and understanding of key epidemiological measures and the ability to correctly calculate effect estimates. Students willl use a dataset to understand the occurence of a disease and factors associated with the disease.

Assignment 2 (30%)
This online assessment will assess students' knowledge and understanding of core epidemiological concepts. Students will answer a series of multiple choice and short answer questions about study designs, random and systematic error.

Assignment 3 (30%)
This online assessment will assess students' application of knowledge and understanding of concepts throughout the semester. Students will answer a series of multiple choice and short answer questions designed to assess learning and understanding across the content of all lectures, readings, practicals and tutorials.

Participation and Quizzes (15%)
Attendance and participation at all practicals/tutorials is required. Online quizzes are designed to support material presented in lectures and practicals/tutorials.

Submission

Extensions
All extensions for assignments must be requested, at the latest, by the last working day before the due date of submission. Extensions will generally be granted only on medical or genuine compassionate grounds. Supporting documentation must be
provided at the time a student requests an extension. Without documentation, extensions will not be granted. Late requests for
extension will neither be accepted nor acknowledged.

Only the Course Co-ordinator(s) may grant extensions.

Supporting documentation will be required when requesting an extension. Examplesof documents that are acceptable include: a medical certificate thatspecifies dates of incapacity, a police report (in the case of lostcomputers, car & household theft etc.), a letter from a Student Counsellor, Education and Welfare Officer (EWO) or Disability LiaisonOfficer that provides an assessment of compassionate circumstances, or aletter from an independent external counsellor or appropriateprofessional able to verify the student’s situation. The length of anyextension granted will take into account the period and severity of anyincapacity or impact on the student. Extensions of more than 10 dayswill not be granted except in exceptional circumstances.

Late submission
Marks will be deducted when assignments for which no extension has been granted are handed in late. Allassignments, including those handed in late, will be assessed on theirmerits. In the case of late assignments where no extension has beengranted, 5 percentage points of the total marks possible per day will be deducted. If an assignment that is 2 days late is awarded 65% on itsmerits, the mark will then be reduced by 10% (5% per day for 2 days) to 55%. If that same assignment is 4 days late, the mark will be reduced

by 20% (5% per day for 4 days) to 45%, and so on.

The School of Public Health reserves the right to refuse to accept an assignment that is more than 7 days late.

Assignments submitted after the due date may not be graded in time to be returned on the listed return dates.

Students submitting examinable written work who request (and receive) anextension that takes them beyond the examination period are advised that there is no guarantee that their grades will be processed in time to meet usual University deadlines.

Resubmission
If a student is dissatisfied with an assessment grade they should followthe Student Grievance Resolution Process

/student/grievance/process/ . Students who are not satisfied with a particular assessment result
should raise their concerns with Course Co-ordinator(s) in the first instance. This must be done within 10 business days of the date of
notification of the result. Resubmission of any assignment is subject to the agreement of the Course Co-ordinator(s) and will only be
permitted for the most compelling of reasons.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through .

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

This course now provides modern content on epidemiological thinking, a new textbook and revised practicals. The course was also updated to be offered fully online or face-to-face (i.e. flexible mode).

Feedback indicated that students thought the best aspects of the refreshed course were the teaching methods, lecture sessions, up-to-date materials and links to journal articles for more difficult concepts. Students thought that the assessments were fair and the different formats for the assessments suited a range of learning styles. A few students did not like the time that the course was offered (4-6 pm). In order to address this, offering the course in a fully flexible mode should go some way to making the course available to all students at times when they are free to study. Further, being mindful that we have to meet the needs of a very wide range of students, we have also introduced a zoom 'drop-in' session and opened Discussion Boards so students have many ways of communicating about the course.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student鈥檚 disciplinary procedures.

The 成人大片 is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The 成人大片 therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator

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