• Before you enrol
• Observational skills
• Communication skills
• Intellectual, such as conceptual, integrative and quantitative abilities
• Behavioural and social skills
• Sustained Performance

Committed to equity and diversity

At UniSC, we are committed to facilitating the integration of all students into the University Community.

Reasonable adjustments in teaching and/or assessment methods can be made for students provided those adjustments do not compromise the inherent requirements of the program.

The inherent academic requirements of the Master of Health Promotion are the fundamental skills and abilities that the student must be able to achieve in order to demonstrate the essential learning outcomes of the Master of Health Promotion.

This Statement provides realistic information about the inherent academic requirements that you must meet in order to complete the Master of Health Promotion and graduate. Make sure you read and understand the requirements for the Master of Health Promotion so you can make an informed judgement about your ability to fulfil them.

Skills you need

The Master of Health Promotion has inherent academic requirements in five categories:

• Observational skills
• Communication skills
• Intellectual, such as conceptual, integrative and quantitative abilities
• Behavioural and social skills
• Sustained Performance

Before you enrol

If you intend to enrol in a Master of Health Promotion degree at UniSC, look carefully at the inherent academic requirements listed in this statement and think about whether you might experience challenges in meeting them.

If you think you might experience challenges related to your disability, health condition or for any other reason, you should discuss your concerns with a University Ability Adviser or School staff.

Reasonable adjustments

Students with disabilities or other special circumstances may be provided with reasonable adjustment to enable them to meet the inherent academic requirements of the Master of Health Promotion if the adjustment is:

• logistically reasonable
• likely to result in the student being able to perform the skills adequately and in a timely manner

Support and further information is available from UniSC

• Ability Advisers

• Career Advisers

• Relevant academic contacts

Observational Skills

The capacity to demonstrate effective observational skills.

Students will use these observational skills to:

• observe and interpret non-verbal information from people and/or environments
• recognise hazards and safety issues
• recognise a range of behavioural cues

Justification

These are inherent academic requirements of the Master of Health Promotion because students must be able to observe people in order to interact effectively with community and/or clients and use technology based systems. These observational skills are specified in international professional core competencies for health promotion.

Adjustments

Reasonable adjustments to address the effects of vision impairment must be effective, consistent and not compromise care or safety.

Exemplars

As a student you must:

• observe non-verbal information and cues within a multidisciplinary group context, including being culturally appropriate
• enter and access information from computer systems such as Microsoft Office applications, data analysis software and health-related databases

Communication Skills

The capacity to demonstrate the following non-verbal and verbal communication skills:

• Verbal
• Nonverbal
• Writing

Verbal

Students are required to have a capacity to demonstrate proficient oral English language.

Students will use these speaking skills to:

• elicit and provide relevant information
• communicate sensitively and with cultural awareness
• convey a spoken message accurately and effectively
• communicate in a respectful, clear, attentive, empathetic, honest and non-judgemental manner

Nonverbal

Students are required to have a capacity to demonstrate effective active listening skills.

Students will use these listening skills to:

• hear, concentrate and understand oral communication
• respond through paraphrasing to confirm understanding

Writing

Students are required to have a capacity to demonstrate proficient written English language skills.

Students will use these writing skills to:

• draft, revise and edit a range of professional written communication types
• write accurate records that meet professional standards
• document professional practice processes, evidence, outcomes and recommendations
• develop education resources
• use appropriate grammatical structures and vocabulary
• paraphrase, summarise and reference in accordance with appropriate academic conventions

Justification

These are inherent academic requirements of the Master of Health Promotion because students must be able to communicate verbally and non-verbally with student peers, teaching staff and industry professionals across the curricula including workplace integrated learning. This range of communication skills are specified in the international professional core competencies for health promotion.

Adjustments

Adjustments for impaired verbal communication must address effectiveness, timeliness, clarity and accuracy issues, to ensure safe and effective practice.

Adjustments for impaired non-verbal communication must enable the recognition, initiation and appropriate response to effective communication in a timely and appropriate manner, to ensure safe and effective practice.

Exemplars

As a student you must:

• practice verbal communication skills during tutorial/workshop discussions
• practice listening skills during tutorial/workshop discussions
• respond in a timely way to verbal feedback during tutorials and workshops
• create written reports, project plans, communication briefs, health literacy resources, posters, infographics

Behavioural and Social Skills

The capacity to demonstrate the following behavioural and social skills:

• ethical decision making abilities
• respect diverse values, beliefs and cultures
• reflective abilities
• manage stressful situations
• sufficient self-awareness to identify and manage fluctuations in health and emotional status
• adapt to change and uncertainty

The behavioural and social skills are used to facilitate professional behaviours in practice as evidenced by compliance with academic and non-academic codes of conduct, and codes of conduct of industry partners and discipline specific competency requirements relating in academic, health and community service settings.

• Student Conduct - Governing Policy
• Student placement agreement – (login to Sonia Online required).
• Code of Conduct - Queensland Public Service

Justification

These are inherent academic requirements of the Master of Health Promotion because students are accountable and responsible for ensuring professional standards of behaviour. Abiding by these professional standards ensures integrity, accountability and ethical practice that benefits community and population health and wellbeing.

Adjustments

Reasonable adjustments must comply with standards and maintain ethical behaviour.

Exemplars

As a student you must:

• establish rapport with clients and key stakeholder groups to be able to work collaboratively to achieve health and wellbeing outcomes
• respond appropriately to the complex health and wellbeing needs of clients/communities
• manage complex situations that require negotiation, collaboration and critical thinking e.g. community planning and risk management
• comply with relevant codes of conduct while at university
• comply with privacy and confidentiality requirements in academic, professional and field experience settings

Intellectual – Conceptual, Integrative and Quantitative Abilities

The capacity to demonstrate the following conceptual, integrative and quantitative abilities:

• process information relevant to professional practice
• apply logic and objective reasoning to practice and problem solving
• have awareness of and ability to modify own professional behaviour to suit current situation
• understand, calculate, interpret and apply numerical data to problem solving scenarios
• interpret and comprehend information in formats that include hand written text, printed text, electronic texts, graphs and diagrams

Justification

These are inherent academic requirements of the Master of Health Promotion because students must be able to obtain, understand, interpret and apply information as the basis for evidence-based practice.

Adjustments

Reasonable adjustments must support the student’s ability to acquire, analyse and apply knowledge.

Exemplars

As a student you must:

• identify and assess client and key stakeholder capabilities or issues using evidence and critical reasoning e.g. conducting a community needs assessment
• develop and implement appropriate initiatives to improve health and wellbeing outcomes e.g. Project plans
• evaluate outcomes of health and wellbeing initiatives and plans within defined timeframes, quality benchmarks and budget
• read and interpret academic sources of evidence and legislation to inform professional practice
• Identify, interpret and apply statistical data to inform professional practice e.g. identify patterns of health and wellbeing within populations

Sustained Performance

The capacity to demonstrate the ability to maintain physical, mental and emotional performance over extended and/or specified periods of time:

• Physical skills and energy are required to perform tasks in a timely manner or over an extended period.
• Mental and emotional skills are required to concentrate on multiple tasks for an assigned period of time.
• Concentration skills are required to perform repetitive activities until a task is completed appropriately.

Justification

These are inherent academic requirements of the Master of Health Promotion because students must be able to perform activities with a level of concentration that ensures a capacity to focus on the activity until it is completed appropriately. Activities may occur over extended periods of time.

Adjustments

Adjustments must ensure that performance is consistent and sustained over a given period.

Exemplars

As a student you must:

• maintain consistent concentration throughout classroom learning activities
• perform multiple tasks in an assigned period of time with a level of concentration that ensures a capacity to focus on the activity until it is completed appropriately