Health Education

Degree Type: 

Master of Philosophy

Department: 

Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation

Programme Duration: 

2 years (Standard Entry)

Modes of Study: 

Regular

About Programme: 

Since its inception in 1986, the Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation has turned-out a number of Bachelor’s and Master’s graduates in Health and Physical Education. The growth in both the undergraduate and graduate programmes has created the need to: (a) expand the graduate programme and (b) create additional options for students. This need was also evident from a general dissatisfaction with a lack of variety in the current programme of Health Education. While still maintaining focus on Teacher Education, which is the main mission of the Department of HPER, the time has come to provide a more diverse programme that caters for the complex developmental needs of the nation in the area of health education.

The current structure of the Bachelor of Education (Health, Physical Education and Recreation) Degree was reviewed and started in 2008/2009 academic year. The programme diversified the options to make graduates more versatile in the job market. Besides, the increasing need for highly trained leaders in health education in schools, the department has recognised the need to extend leadership training in health education and promotion to the non-school sector. This is a forward-looking initiative aimed at meeting the demand for health education outside educational institutions. The demand for personnel with expertise in health education and promotion is currently on the increase, given the country’s policy shift from curative health to preventive health. This programme is therefore aimed at the continuous production of health professionals required to provide effective health education and promotion to all sectors of the country.

Target Groups

The programme targets the following groups of persons:

  1. Teachers in public Basic, Senior High Schools, Colleges of Education, and Technical Universities;
  2. Teachers in private Basic, Senior High Schools, Colleges of Education, and Technical Universities;
  3. School Health Education Programme (SHEP) coordinators at the Regional/Municipal/ Metropolitan/District/Circuit education levels;
  4. Personnel from Ministry of Health;
  5. Health related graduates;
  6. Personnel of NGOs in health related activities;
  7. Public and community health service providers.

 

Entry Requirements: 

The programme is open to people who possess the following qualification:

  1. a good first degree (at least a second class) in health related discipline from a recognised university/analogous institution.

Candidates seeking admission to Master of Philosophy (Health Education) programme must:

  1. submit an official transcript of academic record;
  2. submit at least two reference reports, one of which must be from a former lecturer;
  3. submit a 2-3 page proposal on intended area of study including references;
  4. applicants will also have to pass a selection interview.

Goal / Aim / Objectives: 

The goals of the programme are to provide opportunities for candidates to:

  1. teach students at various levels of the educational system in the area of health education;
  2. upgrade their current academic status to higher ones; and
  3. occupy upper level managerial positions in various health related areas.

The objectives of the programme are to:

  1. equip students with the requisite knowledge, techniques and skills that will enable them develop and upgrade themselves in specialised areas in health for both teaching and non-teaching employment;
  2. enable students acquire an appreciable level of intellectual capacity necessary for doctoral progression in health promotion programmes.

Career Opportunities: 

Not Published

Programme Structure

Level 800

First Semester

EPH 801: Research Methods for Health, Physical Education and Leisure
3 Credit(s)

This course is an examination of both quantitative and qualitative approaches to scholarly enquiry. It looks at fundamental designs under each approach and the methodological issues involved. The course is designed to assist students to design, implement and report their research projects. In EPH 801, most illustrations are selected from Health, Physical Education and Recreation.
EPH 802: Educational Statistics
3 Credit(s)

This course is complementary to EPH 801. It aims at equipping students with various intermediate techniques of analysing and reporting data. The course involves a practical component that interfaces students with extensive use of computer data analysis tools, such as SPSS. In EPH 802, most illustrations are selected from Health, Physical Education and Recreation.
EPH 844: Curriculum and Instruction in Health, Physical Education and Leisure
3 Credit(s)

The course examines the major theories of curriculum planning, implementation and evaluation. Also issues on political, economic, philosophical and sociological implication in curriculum development are examined.  Practical examination of curricula and curricular issues from pre-school to university level are discussed.  The course considers traditional and contemporary methods of instruction.  Emphasis is placed on the development of interactive learning strategies.  A variety of methods of evaluating student learning are presented.
EPH 861: Foundations of Health Education
3 Credit(s)

The course aims at identifying current health issues and diseases affecting both pregnant women and children globally. The course will examine the impact of various common health problems at different stages of the life cycle and their functional outcomes in terms of morbidity, mortality, psychological wellbeing, reproduction and growth. Students will also examine epidemiological literature on maternal and childhood diseases in developed and developing countries. Evaluation of various programmes and resources available to combat health and nutritional problems will be conducted. Discussions on the role of various international organizations will be done in the context of socioeconomic development and current political or economic policies and realities.
EPH 862: Intermediate Epidemiology
3 Credit(s)

This course builds on introductory knowledge in epidemiology. This course builds upon the basic principles and methods of epidemiology and introduces additional tools and concepts that are critical to a comprehensive study design. Topics include: risk and association, sampling strategies, interaction, confounding, adjustment, causal inference, validity and reliability and approaches to data analysis. Specifically, this course revises descriptive data collection and analysis in epidemiology. This course guides students to the design, conduct, and interpretation of observational epidemiologic and clinical studies in human populations with a focus on analytic cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies. Comparisons with randomized controlled trials (RCTs) will be made with discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the different study designs for specific epidemiologic and clinical research questions.It covers elementary standardization of crude rates and ratios.
EPH 868: Community and Environmental Health
3 Credit(s)

This course examines the health status of various communities. It also focuses on factors that affect the health of such communities. Various systems of community healthcare (PHC, CHPS) and their strengths and weaknesses will be examined. Also exposes students to issues of community mental health, community recreation and fitness, and community methods to controlling substance use and abuse and domestic violence. Furthermore, it looks at how family health influences the general community health. The relationship between community and health environment is examined to describe both positive and negative interactive effects of people and their environment. Specific environmental components such as air, water, land quality, residential and occupational issues and their effects on community health are explored. Again, it addresses approaches to empowering communities for health.

Second Semester

EPH 863: Nutrition, Exercise and Health
3 Credit(s)

The course is an examination of the interrelation between nutrition and health. The course will discuss both macro and micro nutrients, effects of their deficiency or excess, and ways to prevent or correct such problems. Issues will be related to different age groups, occupations, geographic locations. This course will also discuss health diet and food choices and the link between these and health. The role of nutrition and exercise in preventing chronic/Non communicable diseases will be discussed as wells nutrition disorders. Also, it will focus on the use of a socio-ecological framework in examining multiple levels of influence on dietary intake, food choices and related health outcomes; for example, these levels include a variety of environmental settings, such as homes/households, schools, neighborhoods and communities. The course will also address major public policy initiatives related to public health nutrition, exercise, health promotion and disease prevention.

EPH 864: Health Behaviour Change
3 Credit(s)

Theoretical and practical considerations in health behaviour change are examined in this course. Health behaviour is defined and different kinds of health behaviour identified (e.g. health-seeking behaviour, illness behaviour, health compromising behaviour, and health promoting behaviour). Discussions will cover both volitional and addictive behaviours. General techniques of behaviour change (both passive and active) and their strengths and weaknesses will be examined. 

EPH 867: Seminar in Health Programme Planning, Implementing and Evaluation
3 Credit(s)

Students will study how to develop theoretically-informed and evidence-based community health initiatives in this course.  Students work on developing their own culturally-competent community health initiatives, each of which is targeted at a particular population with a specific health need. It will include programme implementation and impact evaluation concepts, models/designs, methods, indicators, and data collection, analysis and interpretation strategies as use in community and public health initiatives. Students will work together in small groups on chosen community health topics.

EPH 872: Administration of Health Promotion Programmes
3 Credit(s)

Issues to be examined include needs assessment, health promotion facilities management, funding of health promotion, resource management, planning, budgeting, and accountability. The course will also equip students with in-depth knowledge in the administration of health promotion programmes. It will adopt both analytical and practical methods to cover the principles of administration and management of health programmes with emphasis on a systems approach for assessing and evaluating operations of government and non-governmental organizations programmes taking into cognizance cultural and political influences. Issues of inequality and distributive principles of health resources and their implications for quality health care, sustainability of health programmes and ethics of social justice will also be explored. Writing of grant proposal will also be covered in this course.

EPH 898: Thesis Seminar
3 Credit(s)

Students are guided to complete their thesis proposal. Students are required to make presentations on their intended topics, and later on their thesis proposals with instruments before a departmental panel and finally the corrected final proposal is presented before they are allowed to go to the field for their data.

Level 850

First Semester

EPH 899: Thesis Writing
12 Credit(s)

This is a guided research conducted and reported by the students. Guidelines for thesis writing are found in the Graduate Studies Handbook.