Public Health and Health Promotion with Foundation Year Canterbury Christ Church University

Overview

The Public Health and Health Promotion with Foundation Year course from Canterbury Christ Church University will equip you with the knowledge and skills necessary to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities.

The World Health Organization and governments around the world are supporting the expansion of health promotion and public health. This is a growing and important area to be in.

You will study the mental, emotional, social, physical, spiritual, political and environmental influences on health and how currently the government aims to address these.

All about the course

The Public Health and Health Promotion degree is about the theory and practice of preventing disease and promoting good health and wellbeing.

You will study the mental, emotional, social, physical, spiritual, political and environmental influences on people’s health. You will learn about how to improve health through education; communication; and social, psychological, environmental, economic and political change.

You will explore areas including:

• lifestyles, social and environmental health
• health promotion and protection
• physical activity, nutrition, and sexual health
• international health
• working in public health.

The degree will give you a sound understanding of the general principles that underpin all health promotion and public health practice across the world, and in year four it allows you to specialise in topics of particular interest, such as physical activity, alcohol and drugs, sex and relationships, public health nutrition and mental health.

Your future career

The degree provides suitable entry qualifications which will contribute to becoming a registered health promotion or public health practitioner. It also opens up routes into teaching, through PGCE, and prepares you for further postgraduate study at all levels through to PhD. The course is normally accepted for graduate entry into health professional and social work programmes of study.

Typical areas of employment that you can enter after completing this degree are:

• Commissioning public health services
• Public health intelligence and surveillance
• Health trainer
• Project management: bid writing, community engagement and empowerment
• Health policy and electoral reform
• Health research
• Communicating health information through social marketing and health-related media
• Health services improvement and administration
• Criminal justice system work in prisons and probation
• Housing support, welfare and citizen’s advice
• International development and global health: education programmes, tackling poverty, human rights
• Charity work: fundraising, improving life-chances for vulnerable people and those with disabilities Non-Governmental Organizations
• Undertake further study to become a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner
• Improving healthy lifestyles (e.g. physical activity, sexual health, smoking cessation, drugs and alcohol, weight management)
• Town planning, urban development and regeneration, healthy places
• Health protection, health improvement, environmental health, health and safety officer, risk management, emergency planning
• Occupational health – workplace health and wellbeing, human resources
• Coaching, mentoring, counselling, supporting people with mental health issues, youth support work Leisure industry
• Food sustainability, pollution reduction, climate change
• Teaching and the wider education sector
• Civil service