Subject

Health and Population Well-Being

  • code 13804
  • course 3
  • term Semester 2
  • type op
  • credits 2

Main language of instruction: Catalan

Other languages of instruction: English, Spanish,

Teaching staff

Head instructor

Dr. Pere CASTELLVI - pcastellvi@uic.es

Office hours

Dr. Pere Castellví: pcastellvi@uic.es

Introduction

In the event that the health authorities announce a new period of confinement due to the evolution of the health crisis caused by COVID-19, the teaching staff will promptly communicate how this may effect the teaching methodologies and activities as well as the assessment.

Medicine must take into account not only disease but also people's well-being. The well-being of populations is an indicator of population health that is increasingly of interest to both clinicians and epidemiologists, politicians, and public health technicians, as it is highly related not only to health promotion and prevention of disease, but also with functionality, health-related quality of life, and disease progression, including mortality and life expectancy.

In this course, the aim is to define what is well-being and what are the components that make up well-being, in what ways can it be measured with studies published worldwide and what relationship does well-being have with health, following the institutions and studies that have been interested about this theme.

Finally, it will also discuss how to intervene to improve the health of populations.

Pre-course requirements

This subject does not require any prerequisites for the student.

Reading ability in English, Spanish and Catalan as the bibliography and readings will be in these languages.

Objectives

  • Know what wellness is and what definitions have been used throughout history
  • Understand the components of well-being
  • Learn how important it is for the health of populations and individuals
  • Know how well-being has been measured in various countries and institutions
  • Learn about interventions that have been carried out to improve people's well-being
  • Learn to design an intervention to improve people's well-being

Competencies

  • 04 - Develop professional practice with respect for patient autonomy, beliefs and culture.
  • 06 - Develop professional practice with other health professionals, acquiring teamwork skills.
  • 10 - To understand and recognise the agents and risk factors which determine health status, and learn how they determine the symptoms and natural development of acute or chronic diseases in individuals and populations.
  • 11 - Understand and recognize the effects of growth, development and aging on the individual and their social environment.
  • 25 - Recognize the determinants of public health; genetic and sex-dependent lifestyle, demographic, environmental, social, economic, psychological and cultural determinants.
  • 27 - Recognize role in multidisciplinary teams, assuming leadership when appropriate, for the delivery of health care, such as interventions for health promotion.
  • CB-2 - To know how to apply and incorporate knowledge, an understanding of it and its scientific basis and the ability to solve problems in new and loosely defined environments, including multidisciplinary contexts that include both researchers and highly specialised professionals.
  • CB-4 - To be able to predict and control the evolution of complex situations through the development of new and innovative working methodologies adapted to the scientific / research, technological or specific professional field, which is generally multidisciplinary, within which they undertake their activities.
  • CTP-3 - To develop critical thinking and reasoning as well as self-assessment skills.

Learning outcomes

  • At the end of this subject, the student must be able to:
  • Recognize that health is a global dimension that includes not only disease, but also well-being and quality of life
  • Identify which components and determinants of well-being exist and the importance they present in people's health
  • Know that there are various ways to measure well-being
  • Recognize the strengths and limitations of well-being
  • Develop an intervention protocol to improve well-being
  • Critically analyze a wellness-based intervention

Syllabus

In this matter the following contents will be worked, among others:

  • Definitions of well-being
  • Measurement of population welfare
  • Components and determinants of well-being
  • Interventions based on population welfare
  • Practical application of wellness interventions

Teaching and learning activities


Online

The classes will be developed around debates on case studies, which the students will have previously prepared with the readings indicated for the session. Theoretical concepts will be developed around these readings. There will be practical sessions on the use of wellness programs. In case the sessions are online, it will be necessary to have a computer in the workplace of the student and to carry out the works and to send them by means of the corresponding application

In groups, students will present a meta-analysis work in three sessions:

  1. Study protocol: Introduction, Methods and statistical analysis, Limitations and Expected Results.
  2. Final presentation of the protocol and conclusions.

Evaluation systems and criteria


Online

In groups or individually, students will carry out a protocol of an intervention that emphasizes improving the well-being of people on a topic of their choice. Intermediate results will be discussed in the classroom. Assessment will be based on the manuscript submitted, oral presentations of articles and participation in the classroom.

The content of the manuscript will be evaluated with respect to its suitability with respect to the EQUATOR guides, as appropriate.

To pass the subject the student must obtain a grade point average higher than 5.

Students who do not pass the subject in the ordinary call will have an extraordinary call that will consist of the repetition of the exercises.

Bibliography and resources

  • World Health Organization (WHO). Measurement of and target-setting for well-being: an initiative by the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Second meeting of the expert group Paris, France, 25–26 June 2012
  • Joseph Stiglitz. GDP is not a good measure of wellbeing – it's too materialistic. The Guardian. Fecha: 3/12/2018
  • Martín-María N, Miret M, Caballero FF, et al. The Impact of Subjective Well-being on Mortality: A Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies in the General Population. Psychosom Med. 2017;79(5):565-575. doi:10.1097/PSY.0000000000000444
  • The New Economics Foundation (NEF). Measuring Well-being: A guide for practitioners. London (UK). Fecha: 07/2012

Teaching and learning material

      Material
            Joseph Stiglitz. GDP is not a good measure of wellbeing – it's too materialistic. The Guardian; 3/12/2008 gdpisnotagoodmeasureofwellbeing_stiglitz.pdf 
            Martin-Maria M et al. The Impact of Subjective Well-being on Mortality: A Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies in the General Population martin-maria-2017-the-impact-of-subjective-well-being.pdf 
            Ngamaba KH, Panagioti M, Armitage CJ. Income inequality and subjective well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Qual Life Res (2018) 27:577. incomeinequalityandwellbeing_metanalysis.pdf 
            WHO. Measurement of and target-setting for well-being. Paris, 25-26 June 2012 measurementwellbeing_who2012.pdf 
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