Principles and Practices of Health
Curriculum guideline
Effective Date:
Course
Discontinued
No
Course code
THRT 1204
Descriptive
Principles and Practices of Health
Department
Therapeutic Recreation
Faculty
Applied Community Studies
Credits
3.00
Start date
End term
202130
PLAR
Yes
Semester length
Flexible delivery ranging over 1 to 15 weeks
Max class size
30
Contact hours
60 hrs./semester
Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Tutorial
Learning activities
- Lecture / discussion
- Small group activities
- Case studies
- Media
Course description
This course examines current concepts in health ranging from the individual perspective of a healthy lifestyle to the societal perspective of health care services and delivery. Students will acquire the knowledge and skill to promote healthy behaviour and avoid harmful habits. Health professions, service and delivery will also be examined, with a special focus on the health benefits of leisure and recreation.
Course content
The following global ideas guide the design and delivery of this course:
Health, Health Education, Health Promotion
- Theories and constructs of health
- Physical, psychosocial and spiritual health
- Healthy People 2000: A new direction for health promotion
- Health education
- Health prevention: primary, secondary, tertiary
Health Professionals, Services and Delivery Systems
- Health, paraprofessional and professional staff
- Health services: Allopathic and Non-Allopathic medicine
- Problems and promises in the Canadian health care system
- Personal responsibility for health and health care
Promoting Healthy Lifestyles
- Nutrition: eating for optimum health
- Weight management
- Physical fitness
- Sexuality, including reproduction and expression of sexuality
- Healthy, caring relationships
- Prochaska’s Transtheoretical Model of Behaviour Change
- Apply behaviour change techniques and models to one’s personal health goals
Avoiding or Overcoming Harmful Habits
- Addiction, types, process, treatment and recovery
- Safe and responsible use of pharmaceuticals
- Physiological and behavioural effects of alcohol
- Alcoholism, treatment and recovery
- Other legal addictions: caffeine and tobacco
- Illicit drug use, misuse and abuse
- Drug use and abuse and leisure cultural activities / rituals for example, sporting events, rites of passage, after event activities
Preventing and Responding to Disease
- Cardiovascular disease
- Cancer
- Infections and sexually transmitted disease
- Non-infectious conditions: respiratory, neurological, digestive, musculoskeletal
- Leisure and recreation a preventative measure
- Leisure, recreation and health promotion
Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- describe health, health education and health promotion
- describe the range of health care professionals, services and delivery systems
- demonstrate a healthy lifestyle
- identify harmful habits and describe how to avoid or overcome them
- explain how to decrease risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, infectious and sexually transmitted diseases and other non-infectious conditions
- apply leisure and recreation in health promotion and decreasing risk of disease
- apply behaviour change techniques in order to improve personal health
Means of assessment
This course will conform to Douglas College policy regarding the number and weighting of evaluations
An evaluation schedule is presented at the beginning of the course. Typical means of evaluation will include a combination of written assignments, presentations and testing.
This is a graded course.
Textbook materials
A list of recommended textbooks and materials is provided for students at the beginning of the semester.
Resources include:
- Selected readings from a variety of health and therapeutic recreation journals
- Selected audio-visual and computer resources
- Selected readings from books and journals