HSBH2008: Physical Activity and Population Health

This unit of study provides students with an opportunity to develop an up-to-date critical understanding of the role of physical activity for the health of the population as well as the most promising principles that underpin mass-level physical activity interventions. Students will examine in detail the population's participation patterns and barriers to be physically active and has a primary focus on every-day incidental (non-sporting) physical activity for the prevention of physical and mental chronic disease. The unit is largely multi-disciplinary and it goes beyond disease prevention, to explore themes like positive wellbeing/happiness and maintenance of functional ability and independence to an older age. This unit takes a lifespan approach and actively promotes an understanding of the direct and distal implications of physical inactivity at each life stage. Particular acknowledgement is given to physical activity as a behaviour that is not merely a lifestyle 'choice' as it is often thought by medicine and other individual-centred disciplines; but rather the outcome of a complex web of societal, cultural, economic, political and individual circumstances that lead to the formation of personal habits across the lifespan. The entire unit will be largely interactive and will encourage students to discuss, debate, and critically evaluate the evidence, and provides the opportunity to have a project that will assist in future employment. At the start of the unit the students will be provided with an accessible and user friendly set of skills and tools (e.g. statistics, physical activity measurement) to enable them to make the most of the learning experience.