Admission requirements
Bachelor degree and admission to Master Vitality & Ageing.
Description
In this course students gain understanding about perspectives of older people on health and ageing. We will first focus on risk and resilience factors that determine vitality and well-being. Older individuals differ greatly, not only as to the extent to which they experience increasing somatic, functional and social changes or limitations, but also regarding their self-regulation abilities to adapt to adversity and to reach personal goals. In this course, the notion of vitality and resilience will be further explained by introducing common challenges to health in older age.
Common diseases and conditions among older people comprise conditions like osteoarthritis, heart disease, high blood pressure, dementia and depression. Also other problems occur with increasing age that affect day-to-day activities such as mobility problems, incontinence, cognitive problems and sensory disorders. Moreover, many older individuals experience several concurrent chronic conditions (multimorbidity or comorbidity) and experience problems with multiple pharmacological medications (toxicity).
In this course, students gain a basic understanding of such diseases and limitations which are common in ageing individuals. A brief introduction of these challenges to health will be used to elaborate on personalized health care, vitality in older age, screening for risk and resilience factors, self-management and shared decision making and other multidisciplinary interventions for older people to enhance personalized health care. Students will learn that the goal of health care for these older individuals is not only a matter of maintaining physical and mental health, but also remaining independent, participation in social activities and having a purpose in life.
Subsequently, this knowledge about threats and opportunities to vitality among ageing individuals will enable students to develop their own intervention to target a specific challenge. Students will become familiar with several examples of interventions, and how they are gradually developed. They acquire knowledge and basic skills regarding developing and implementing an intervention in several steps. Specific attention is allocated to empathizing with the target population and how to involve them throughout the process to ensure that the intervention is tailored to the needs and preferences of a target group of ageing individuals. In the final stage, students present their intervention to an audience of older individuals.
Course objectives
The student:
is able to describe common diseases and impairments in older people
is able to explain how somatic, psychological, functional and social mechanisms are related to vitality
is able to apply and review the value of the concepts such as risk and resilience factors, vitality in older age and multidisciplinary interventions for older persons as a response to challenges to health and well-being
is able to analyse problems in light of multimorbidity
is able to analyse and identify the underlying mechanisms of challenges to vitality in older age
is able to explain the process of developing, implementing and evaluating innovations or interventions for ageing individuals.
is able to apply the knowledge regarding intervention development to find a solution for a specific challenge that addresses the influencing factors of the challenge.
is able to critically establish the value and applicability of scientific results and studies for the older population
is able to take the perspectives of older people into account in considering strengths and limitations of an intervention or innovation
is able to identify barriers and facilitators for implementing an intervention or innovation
TIMETABLE
All course and group schedules are published on our LUMC scheduling website or on the LUMC scheduling app.
Mode of instruction
(Interactive) lectures, working groups, activities like a mini-symposium, co-creation with elderly, self-study assignments.
The educational lines Communication in Science, Research and Evidence and Academic Development accommodate the programme and/or the assignments of this course.
Assessment method
Written essay exam
Written innovation paper (prepared in groups, written individually)
Video-pitch about the intervention or innovation (group assignment)
Completion of compulsory assignments described in the assessment plan
The final grade is based on the written exam (50%) and the written innovation paper (40%) and the video-pitch about the intervention or innovation (10%).
Credits will only be given if all compulsory assessments are completed.
The written innovation paper and the video-pitch will also be assessed separately by Communication in Science.
Students are expected to be actively engaged in discussion of the content and in the activities scheduled in the programme.
Resit
If the written exam is not passed, the student will get a retake.
If another assessment or mandatory part of the course is not passed or completed, the student will get a retake or revision or has to fulfil an alternative assignment.
Reading list
Will be published on Brightspace.
Registration
All students will be automatically enrolled for workgroups and exams.
Contact
Dr. Yvonne Drewes. Email: y.m.drewes@lumc.nl
Remarks
Elective students
Please contact the study advisor if you want to apply for this elective. Additional information can also be requested from the study advisor. You can contact the study advisor via studyadvisorva@lumc.nl.