Prospectus

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Research Topics in Health Promotion

Course
2023-2024

Entry requirements

Open to MSc Psychology (research) students.

Description

In the first part of this course, you will become acquainted with several core topics in Health Promotion. These core topics involve current conceptual issues, state-of-the art theories, paradigms, and interventions in the field of Health Promotion, and the Leiden research program on Health Promotion in particular. You will familiarise yourself with these topics, critically reflect on them, and learn to design a new study. In this way you will be trained to apply current insights in the field of health promotion including ongoing debates and theoretical as well as methodological developments to design research projects that help this field move forward. With a small group of students, you will be asked to critically reflect on one core topic in a written assignment and to host an interactive session which involves an oral presentation and a debate related to this topic.

In the second part of this course, you formulate a new research question and propose an appropriate study to address this question building on what you have learnt during the first part of the course. In this individual assignment you will present the rationale, research question, and methodology of your proposed study in poster format, accompanied by a short pitch.

Course objectives

At the end of the course, students can...

  • critically select relevant literature on selected topics in health promotion and analyse its strengths, weaknesses, and knowledge gaps;

  • develop an appropriate scientific research question as well as the methodology to study this question, building on the available evidence and knowledge gaps in the literature;

  • form judgements, justify their stance, and have a constructive debate with their peers about selected topics in health promotion based on a proper selection, valuation, and integration of scientific evidence.

Timetable

For the timetable of this course please refer to MyTimetable

Registration

Education

Students must register themselves for all course components (lectures, tutorials and practicals) they wish to follow. You can register up to 5 days prior to the start of the course.

Exams

You must register for each exam in My Studymap at least 10 days before the exam date. You cannot take an exam without a valid registration in My Studymap. Carefully read all information about the procedures and deadlines for registering for courses and exams.

Exchange students and external guest students will be informed by the education administration about the current registration procedure.

Mode of instruction

The course will consist of lectures and interactive workgroups.

Assessment method

Full attendance during workgroups is mandatory as learning goals are tied to the interaction that takes place in the workgroups. Absence is only allowed when the coordinator has been contacted in advance with an appropriate reason (e.g., illness or serious personal circumstances) and has provided explicit approval. In principle passing the course is not possible in case of missing multiple workgroups.

Assessment is based on the written group assignment in the form of an opinion paper (20%), the interactive presentation and debate session (20%) as well as the individual research proposal in the form of a poster presentation (60%). All assignments individually need to be ≥5.0 or retaken after feedback. In case a resit is required for the opinion paper or for the poster session, a maximum grade of 6.0 can be obtained since the assignment is the same for the resit and the student can benefit from additional feedback. Not meeting the deadline for the position paper or not attending the poster presentation session without prior approval by the coordinator will be treated as a resit (i.e., a maximum grade of 6.0 applies). Resits for the poster presentation session will involve a separate individual session in which the poster will be presented to the coordinator.

In case of missing one’s own group’s interactive presentation or debate session (with approval in advance by the coordinator), the student will be provided with a substitute assignment.

No resits are available when the final grade is >5.5.

The Institute of Psychology follows the policy of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences to systematically check student papers for plagiarism with the help of software. All students are required to take and pass the Scientific Integrity Test with a score of 100% in order to learn about the practice of integrity in scientific writing. Students are given access to the quiz via a module on Brightspace. Disciplinary measures will be taken when fraud is detected. Students are expected to be familiar with and understand the implications of this fraud policy.

Reading list

A reading list will be posted on Brightspace.

Contact information

Primary contact person: Dr. Antoinette van Laarhoven a.vanlaarhoven@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

Prof. Marieke Adriaanse m.a.adriaanse@fsw.leidenuniv.nl