MPH8004 : Social Determinants of Health
- Offered for Year: 2025/26
- Module Leader(s): Dr Courtney McNamara
- Co-Module Leader: Professor Clare Bambra
- Lecturer: Dr Eman Zied, Dr Laura Woods, Dr Steph Scott
- Owning School: Population Health Sciences
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
| Semester 2 Credit Value: | 20 |
| ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
| European Credit Transfer System | |
Aims
Overall, the module aims to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and critical perspectives necessary to address pressing public health challenges and contribute meaningfully to advancing health equity agendas.
More specifically, the aims of this module are to enable students to:
1. Understand fundamental and advanced concepts of social determinants of health (SDH), including frameworks and theories, and their application to health inequalities.
2. Draw on and critically analyse both qualitative and quantitative sources in the examination of health inequalities
3. Comprehensively evaluate pressing health equity challenges with a focus on national and global drivers of inequality
4. Effectively communicate the role of SDH in pressing health equity challenges to peers, academic audiences, and through policy evidence briefs.
Outline Of Syllabus
This module provides students with in-depth theoretical and research-informed understanding of social determinants of health (SDH), their contribution to health inequalities and the basis for developing and evaluating policies and interventions to address them.
Specifically, it teaches fundamental and advanced concepts of SDH, alongside frameworks and theories for their application to health inequalities, while also considering the role, strengths, and limitations of both quantitative and qualitative data sources. Prioritising engagement with SDH at both the national and international level, the course aims to teach students how to both comprehensively evaluate pressing health equity challenges and communicate them effectively to peers, academic audiences and through policy evidence briefs. With a combination of interactive lectures, group-based discussions, and short topic-based presentations by leading authorities in the field, emphasis is placed on research-led teaching that showcases theoretical concepts and data evaluation in real-world contexts. This approach not only aims to enhance students’ understanding of SDH but also to foster an appreciation of emerging themes in public health, health equity and SDH scholarship.
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 10 | 3:00 | 30:00 | Present in person (divided into appropriate slots) |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 40 | 1:00 | 40:00 | |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 128 | 1:00 | 128:00 | |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Module talk | 2 | 1:00 | 2:00 | Present in person: Formative surgery on the summative assessment (optional) |
| Total | 200:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
Most of the learning outcomes relate to critiquing and/or analysing the subject. Presentation will be structured to be as interactive as possible, with in-built opportunities for facilitated group work and peer interaction. To bring all the students to a similar level of comprehension, students will be asked to read and prepare for group work sessions prior to the lectures. The module talks will take the form of an optional formative surgery on the assessment in which students will be given the opportunity to discuss queries about the summative assessment, either submitted in advance or provided on the day, no written feedback is provided.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral Presentation | 2 | M | 50 | Individual, in person 10 minute presentation, followed by 5 min Q&A, 8 slides submitted in advance with 250 word structured abstract |
| Written exercise | 2 | M | 50 | 2000 word policy brief |
Formative Assessments
Formative Assessment is an assessment which develops your skills in being assessed, allows for you to receive feedback, and prepares you for being assessed. However, it does not count to your final mark.
| Description | Semester | When Set | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written exercise | 2 | M | PPT Slide Deck |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
The summative oral presentation will:
a) test students’ ability critically to assess explanations for health inequalities that are organised around social determinants of health, and
b) invite them to apply this knowledge and skill set by focusing on a specific health inequality using an outcome and context of their own choosing.
The summative written exercise will:
c) test students’ ability critically to assess explanations for health inequalities that are organised around social determinants of health, and
d) invite them to apply this knowledge and skill set in the form of a policy/evidence brief focusing on a specific policy of their own choosing
Optional formative 'surgeries' will be held on the summative assessments.
A formative assessment will be comprised of a PPT Slide deck that students develop and build on weekly in the lead up to the first summative assessment. Feedback will be both from peers and instructors.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- MPH8004's Timetable