Practical Skills Disease and Prevention

Fac. Health, Medicine and Life Sciences

Practical Skills Disease and Prevention

Full course description

This module includes the following practicals and skills trainings:

Collaboration in Teams: in the field of health promotion, it is of great importance to develop skills that enable you to collaborate constructively and effectively in teams; the topic of collaboration is emphasized in all courses of the Bachelor’s program Prevention and Health using different working formats, such as training sessions, games, and reflection assignments; in this module in particular, students will learn about the importance of conflicts in teams and how to deal with conflicts.
Is screening on lung cancer useful?: students learn to calculate and interpret different measures related to the effectiveness and consequences of a screening, including the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of a test.
Health Counseling skills: students will familiarize themselves with the basic principles of health counseling and acquire skills in applying these principles; health counseling techniques in several care settings and for various types of prevention (i.e. primary, secondary and tertiary) will be illustrated and practiced.
(Professional) English presentation skills: students receive guidance in how to present a topic in front of an audience convincingly in English; a teacher of the language center will be present during the group presentations (part of PGZ2024) to provide feedback on students' English presentation skills; the training is tailored to all students and will be useful for all levels including native English speakers.
Working visit to the Maastricht Study Centre: the Maastricht Study is a large cohort study aimed at investigating complications of diabetes; students will follow a guided tour to learn about what the Maastricht Study entails, to learn about the types of measurements done at the study site, and to see how research is organized in a real-life context of which the results may fuel health promotion initiatives.

Please note that PGZ2224 must always be followed in combination with PGZ2024 (Disease and Prevention). It is not possible to enroll for either one of these courses separately; the total of 10 ECTS credits for PGZ2024 (9 ECTS) and PGZ2224 (1 ECTS) will only be awarded after passing both courses.

PGZ2024 and PGZ2224 are part of the International Classroom which means these courses are open to different students. PGZ2024 and PGZ224 will therefore be taught in English.

Course objectives

Knowledge and insight

Students acquire knowledge and understanding about: the importance of disease characteristics with regard to choice and contents of measures of disease prevention and the principles of health counseling.

Application of knowledge and insight

After this module the students are capable of applying the obtained knowledge and insights in different situations and different levels, especially with regard to: critical appraisal of the efficacy and suitability of different types of prevention in the public health context; analyse a disease or disorder on disease characteristics and formulate an advice about the prevention possibilities for this disease or disorder; and applying and practicing the principles of health counseling in a counseling session.

Forming opinions

After this module the students are capable to critically appraise and judge: the choice for a preventive intervention based on disease characteristics; ethical aspects of disease prevention in the public health context; and ethical aspects of different types of preventive interventions.

Communication

After this module the students are capable to communicate (in speech and in writing): with colleagues and concerned parties on disease and preventive measures in the public health context and with clients in a health counseling session.

Learning skills

The student has skills to: communicate in academic English; collaborate with other students and public health officials; identify the conflicts that can occur while working in teams; and deal with conflicts while working in teams.

Practical Skills Disease and Prevention