The main objective of year 1 is to establish a solid knowledge base in the relationships between health, behaviour and social life, and to begin the exploration of the complex issue of health promotion. This will be achieved primarily through HEPR 6001, HEPR 6002 and part of HEPR 6003. These courses are primarily designed to equip participants with the foundation knowledge and skills necessary to inform the design of meaningful health promotion interventions. The programme will be delivered in such a way as to foster the simultaneous development of suitable attitudes for working with sensitive issues.
There is a strong emphasis on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) prevention (diabetes, hypertension, cancer,) and their risk factors (unhealthy dietary practices, physical inactivity, obesity, stress) in this initial year because: (1) there is an urgent need to strengthen the Caribbean response to the non-communicable disease epidemic; (2) behaviour change has been the most difficult element of NCDs prevention to implement in the Caribbean to date; and (3) of the complexities of this area, mastery of this aspect of promoting health lifestyles will result in solid skills for working in other areas of health promotion. Year 1 will also include the research courses, EDRS 6208 and part of EDRS 6210, which will expose participants to the empirical-analytical and naturalistic traditions of education research, and HEPR 6005. HEPR 6005 requires participants to undertake a 40-hour attachment to a health promotion institution.
Because of way that the programme is organized, HEPR 6003 will run over the two years of the programme. Year 1 will focus primarily on the theoretical frameworks, including theories, models, principles and strategies; while Year 2 will focus on the application of the principles/theories, and the development, implementation and evaluation of individual Health Promotion initiatives along with site visits.