Outline

Overview

This unit introduces key concepts in health communication. Students will explore micro- and macro-level theories of health (behaviour) communication that inform the design and implementation of health communication campaigns, planned and unplanned effects of communication campaigns, and the evaluation of such campaigns. It aims to give students a critical and practical understanding of theory and research concerning the role of communication in health promotion efforts.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit	Media and Communications
Credit points	6
Prerequisites ?	None
Corequisites ?	None
Prohibitions ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Olaf Werder, olaf.werder@sydney.edu.au
Tutor(s)	Tiffanny Junee, tiffanny.junee@sydney.edu.au
	Clare Davies, clare.r.davies@sydney.edu.au
	Jodie Wrigley, jodie.wrigley@sydney.edu.au
	Charlotte Launder, charlotte.launder@sydney.edu.au
	Hamideh Khaleghi Mohammadi, hamideh.mohammadi@sydney.edu.au
	Melanie King, melanie.king@sydney.edu.au

Assessment

The census date for this unit availability is 31 March 2025

Details
Criteria

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Assignment	Reflective Essay Long-answer essay	30%	Formal exam period Due date: 09 Jun 2025 at 23:00	2500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Presentation	Communication Strategy Presentation Presentation/Performance	20%	Multiple weeks	500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Health Topic Research Report Long-answer essay	20%	Week 06 Due date: 05 Apr 2025 at 23:00	1000 Words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Communication Strategy Report Long-answer essay	30%	Week 10 Due date: 10 May 2025 at 23:00	2000 Words
Outcomes assessed:
= AI allowed ?

Assessment summary

Health Issue Report	1000 words	20%
Communication Strategy Report	2000 words	30%
Communication Strategy Presentation	500 words	20%
Reflective Essay	2500 words	30%

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a High distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a Distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100
Distinction	75 - 84
Credit	65 - 74
Pass	50 - 64
Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see guide to grades.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

Except for supervised exams or in-semester tests, you may use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessments unless expressly prohibited by your unit coordinator.

For exams and in-semester tests, the use of AI and automated writing tools is not allowed unless expressly permitted in the assessment instructions.

The icons in the assessment table above indicate whether AI is allowed – whether full AI, or only some AI (the latter is referred to as “AI restricted”). If no icon is shown, AI use is not permitted at all for the task. Refer to Canvas for full instructions on assessment tasks for this unit.

Your final submission must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of automated writing tools or generative AI, and any material generated that you include in your final submission must be properly referenced. You may be required to submit generative AI inputs and outputs that you used during your assessment process, or drafts of your original work. Inappropriate use of generative AI is considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

The Current Students website provides information on artificial intelligence in assessments. For help on how to correctly acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the  AI in Education Canvas site.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

This unit has an exception to the standard University policy or supplementary information has been provided by the unit coordinator. This information is displayed below:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date. After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Support for students

The Support for Students Policy reflects the University’s commitment to supporting students in their academic journey and making the University safe for students. It is important that you read and understand this policy so that you are familiar with the range of support services available to you and understand how to engage with them.

The University uses email as its primary source of communication with students who need support under the Support for Students Policy. Make sure you check your University email regularly and respond to any communications received from the University.

Learning resources and detailed information about weekly assessment and learning activities can be accessed via Canvas. It is essential that you visit your unit of study Canvas site to ensure you are up to date with all of your tasks.

If you are having difficulties completing your studies, or are feeling unsure about your progress, we are here to help. You can access the support services offered by the University at any time:

Support and Services (including health and wellbeing services, financial support and learning support)
Course planning and administration
Meet with an Academic Adviser

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Introduction to Health Communication	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 02	Public Media and Health	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 03	Health Comm Theories	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 04	Health Literacy/Educational Approaches	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 05	Health Policy Approaches	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 06	Persuasion (Promotion/Social Marketing)	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 07	Evaluation of Interventions	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 08	Case Studies 1 (Smoking, alcohol, drugs)	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 09	Case Studies 2 (Obesity, HIV/AIDS, Infectious diseases)	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 10	New directions in health communication	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 11	Communication Strategy Presentations	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 12	Communication Strategy Presentations	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 13	Communication Strategy Presentations	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance: According to Faculty Board Resolutions, students in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are expected to attend 90% of their classes. If you attend less than 50% of classes, regardless of the reasons, you may be referred to the Examiner’s Board. The Examiner’s Board will decide whether you should pass or fail the unit of study if your attendance falls below this threshold.
Preparation: Students should commit to spend approximately three hours’ preparation time (reading, studying, homework, essays, etc.) for every hour of scheduled instruction.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

All readings for this unit can be accessed through the Library system available via Canvas.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. Recognise the interplay of theories and assumptions on outcomes and effects
LO2. Learn about the dissemination of health-related content
LO3. Study and develop processes of communication that influence public health
LO4. Train thoughtful critique and engagement of others in issues debates

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Alignment with Competency standards

Outcomes	Competency standards
	Public Health Dentistry - 1.a. recognising the personal limitations and scope of the specialty and knowing when to refer or seek advice appropriately 2.b. communicating effectively with patients, their families, relatives and carers in a manner that takes into account factors such as their age, intellectual development, social and cultural background 2.c. use of technological and telecommunication aids in planning and delivering specialist treatment 2.d. communicating effectively in all forms of health and legal reporting, and 2.e. interpreting and communicating knowledge, skills and ideas. 3.a. critically evaluating scientific research and literature, products and techniques to inform evidence-based specialist practice, and 3.b. synthesising complex information, problems, concepts and theories. 4.1.a. historical and contemporary literature 5.2.b. writing reports.
	Public Health Dentistry - 1.a. recognising the personal limitations and scope of the specialty and knowing when to refer or seek advice appropriately 1.b. practising with personal and professional integrity, honesty and trustworthiness 1.c. providing patient-centred care, including selecting and prioritising treatment options that are compassionate and respectful of patients’ best interests, dignity and choices and which seek to improve community oral health 1.d. understanding and applying the moral, cultural, ethical principles and legal responsibilities involved in the provision of specialist dental care to individual patients, to communities and populations 1.e. displaying appropriate professional behaviour and communication towards all members of the dental team and referring health practitioner/s 1.f. understanding and applying legislation including that related to record-keeping 1.g. demonstrating specialist professional growth and development through research and learning 1.h. supporting the professional development and education for all members of the dental and/or health community, and 1.i. demonstrating leadership in the profession. 2.b. communicating effectively with patients, their families, relatives and carers in a manner that takes into account factors such as their age, intellectual development, social and cultural background 2.c. use of technological and telecommunication aids in planning and delivering specialist treatment 2.d. communicating effectively in all forms of health and legal reporting, and 2.e. interpreting and communicating knowledge, skills and ideas. 3.a. critically evaluating scientific research and literature, products and techniques to inform evidence-based specialist practice, and 3.b. synthesising complex information, problems, concepts and theories. 4.1.a. historical and contemporary literature 5.2.b. writing reports.
	Public Health Dentistry - 1.a. recognising the personal limitations and scope of the specialty and knowing when to refer or seek advice appropriately 2.b. communicating effectively with patients, their families, relatives and carers in a manner that takes into account factors such as their age, intellectual development, social and cultural background 2.c. use of technological and telecommunication aids in planning and delivering specialist treatment 2.d. communicating effectively in all forms of health and legal reporting, and 2.e. interpreting and communicating knowledge, skills and ideas. 3.a. critically evaluating scientific research and literature, products and techniques to inform evidence-based specialist practice, and 3.b. synthesising complex information, problems, concepts and theories. 4.1.a. historical and contemporary literature 5.2.b. writing reports.
	Public Health Dentistry - 1.a. recognising the personal limitations and scope of the specialty and knowing when to refer or seek advice appropriately 1.i. demonstrating leadership in the profession. 2.b. communicating effectively with patients, their families, relatives and carers in a manner that takes into account factors such as their age, intellectual development, social and cultural background 2.c. use of technological and telecommunication aids in planning and delivering specialist treatment 2.d. communicating effectively in all forms of health and legal reporting, and 2.e. interpreting and communicating knowledge, skills and ideas. 3.a. critically evaluating scientific research and literature, products and techniques to inform evidence-based specialist practice, and 3.b. synthesising complex information, problems, concepts and theories. 4.1.a. historical and contemporary literature 5.2.b. writing reports.

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

Hello everyone: Thank you for your feedback on the Unit of Study Survey (USS) for MECO6919. We appreciate everyone's feedback but also realise that a response rate of 43% does not exactly include everyone's perception. We will reflect on the ratings and the comments you made, and where applicable will use them to make improvements in the unit next year. The unit was overall again quite well evaluated. However, there were a few things that I will try to improve following from your comments: 1) Some mentioned that we should have more group discussions while others argued the opposite. Since this is using a flipped format (and we did receive mostly positive feedback on the recorded lectures and slides), we assumed that current discussion levels and lecture parts are in a good mix and these diverse answers will be harder to interpret. However, we will aim to think of a different solution. 2) We get a comment about students' participation levels every term in about every unit. I wish I had a simple solution to that (barring embarrassing someone by forcing them to speak). We try to create an environment where everyone can feel at ease, but I realise a host of factors impact someone's ongoing silence. We strive to find an answer, though. 3) There are mixed reviews (although not too many) about group-based assignments with some feeling the marker is not really assessing everyone on their performance but nonchalantly assigns a group grade despite the assignment instructions saying otherwise. Given the changed assignment formats (no group work), this won't be a problem anymore. Aside from that, I was satisfied that the unit was overall well received and found your endorsement, In fact, almost all of you (between 85-95%) were overall satisfied with the quality of the course and developed relevant skills in critical and analytic thinking. If you would like to give us further feedback about the unit, we'll be happy to reflect on it. Please send an email to olaf.werder@sydney.edu.au.

Additional information

As per School policy, students must complete all assignments in the unit to obtain a grade and avoid an automatic Absent Fail (AF) mark
Contact your seminar teacher for course-specific questions (e.g., group issues, etc.), and contact the unit coordinator for larger issues (simple extensions, special considerations, seminar switches/course clashes, etc.).
Apply for extensions (where applicable) sufficiently ahead of the due date, not the day before or the day of (exceptions are emergencies). Note that there are no individual extensions for group efforts.
If you are unsure whether this unit is right for you (in case it is an elective), please make an appointment with the coordinator and discuss it instead of disrupting class proceedings by enrolling/disenrolling within a week or two.
More information can be found on Canvas after enrolment

Dr. Werder Website

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Alignment with Competency standards

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Additional information

Additional information

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

MECO6919: Health Communication

Semester 1, 2025 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Alignment with Competency standards

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Additional information

Additional information

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links