Hi, my name is Connor and I am a recent graduate in Sport & Exercise Science from Leeds Metropolitan University and a current postgraduate student on the MPH here at UoB (2016-17). My personal interests in health promotion have led to my current role within a Local Authority in Leicestershire, delivering a smoking cessation initiative to improve health and reduce inequalities throughout the city. However, it was my early interests in physical activity and weight management that had initially drawn me towards the Health Promotion module, with Lectures by Paul Chadwick from the UCL Centre for Behaviour Change being a personal highlight of the module. Paul shared and discussed novel ideas regarding human behaviour and how a genuine understanding of behaviour is often lacking when developing interventions that are designed to change behaviours across societies.
Personal interests aside, the Health Promotion module lived up to expectations with topics ranging from alcohol abuse and ethics in health promotion to community participation. The module was very well delivered with experts in their respective fields utilising a range of teaching methods and styles, from small classroom lectures and open debates regarding the ‘sugar-tax’, to practical workshops around service evaluation in health promotion.
The assessment challenged us to build on the content that had been delivered throughout the module and consider how health promotion initiatives could be taken from theory into practice. This was enjoyable, yet challenging, with wider public health skills and knowledge from healthcare evaluation and health economics being particularly useful. Overall, I believe the module gave me invaluable knowledge, skills and ideas that I have been able to take forward with me and apply practically and I would highly recommend future MPH students participating in the module.
Written by Conor Melia, MPH Student
