Innovative and digital approaches in health and welfare (DHV310)

Content

The course addresses researchers within the health and health promotion sciences broadly and researchers who study, or plan to study innovative aspects of health and illness in a life-long perspective.

The course explains innovation as new methods and ideas, programs, approaches, or technologies. The course will discuss health promotion and illness burden as major challenges globally and nationally, and its impact on the patients, service users, the health care system and society. It will address innovative and theoretical approaches to understanding different perspectives of health and illness during the life span. As part of this, students will gain knowledge of major models in life course epidemiology to understand the development and evolution of chronic diseases. The literature will encompass issues of innovations at the individual level to promote health and health behavior change, to increase patient capacity, coping, and health literacy, and at the system level to facilitate integrated and coordinated care, and new ways of delivering healthcare services. The course will address approaches to increasing the use of big data and advanced analytics to understand disease patterns and risk factors, which may allow for more precise and personalized approaches to public health interventions. Moreover, the course will discuss health policies and legislation relevant to guiding research and practice.

This course covers the development of key theoretical views on innovations in health and illness in a life-long perspective of public health. The course aims to provide the students with an understanding of the development, use, and implementation of innovation in healthcare services and community medicine. It will raise students' awareness of the importance of research within these topics, and help students develop critical thinking about theoretical and methodological issues to develop a broad basis for their respective research studies.

Learning outcome

Knowledge

The PhD candidate will:

• have advanced knowledge about relevant innovative and digital approaches at the individual and service level in a life-long perspective
• have advanced knowledge about strategies for health promotion and integrated care from a life-long perspective.
• possess knowledge of major models in life course epidemiology to understand the development of public health challenges. .
• have advanced knowledge of the application of innovative, theoretical and technological developments in health and health promotion.

Skills

By the end of the course, the PhD candidate will be able to:

• apply complex theories, and innovative and digital approaches to research
• identify and articulate implications of specific theories and innovative approaches in research on health and illness in a life-long perspective
• identify advanced innovative research approaches within epidemiology

General competence

By the end of the course, the PhD candidate will be able to:

• identify relevant challenges for the individual, the health care services and society from an innovation perspective
• present and critically discuss the theoretical and methodological choices in developing and conducting research on innovative and digital approaches within health, illness and health promotion in the writing of a scientific paper on the theme
• assess the need for innovative measures and technological tools in health services delivery to meet the challenges and needs of individuals in a lifelong perspective.

Required prerequisite knowledge

Master level within medicine, health sciences, epidemiology, societal safety, social science, or similar educations.

Exam

Course teacher(s)

Course coordinator:

Course coordinator:

Course teacher:

Course teacher:

Method of work

The course will be given in the form of 2 seminars and self-study. The seminars will contain lectures by the course coordinators and teachers. The outcomes of the seminars will be debated in plenum and by oral presentations from the individual participants. A detailed timetable will be made available at the beginning of the course-semester.

Open for

PhD candidates enrolled in PhD programmes at the University of Stavanger (Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of Health Sciences) or accredited universities/university colleges in Norway or abroad.  

Course assessment

Literature