Nutritional Epidemiology and Research Skills

• • • Introduction to epidemiology and research methods.
  • • Research process.
  • • Biostatistics.
  • • Measurements of disease exposure and occurrence.
  • • Confidence intervals, relative risk, odds ratios.
  • • Accuracy measures in epidemiology.
  • • Nutritional biomarkers in epidemiology.
  • • Quality criteria and levels of evidence.
  • • Health survey results.
  • • Epidemiology in diet and disease.
  • • Food composition databases.
  • • Human research ethics.

You must either have successfully completed the following subject(s) before starting this subject, or currently be enrolled in the following subject(s) in a prior study period; or enrol in the following subject(s) to study prior to this subject:

• LTU-HEA201-Integrating Evidence into Practice

Please note that your enrolment in this subject is conditional on successful completion of these prerequisite subject(s). If you study the prerequisite subject(s) in the study period immediately prior to studying this subject, your result for the prerequisite subject(s) will not be finalised prior to the close of enrolment. In this situation, should you not complete your prerequisite subject(s) successfully you should not continue with your enrolment in this subject. If you are currently enrolled in the prerequisite subject(s) and believe you may not complete these all successfully, it is your responsibility to reschedule your study of this subject to give you time to re-attempt the prerequisite subject(s)

Others

Past La Trobe University students who have previously completed DTN4EPI (Epidemiology and Research Methods), or DTN3EPO (Epidemiology and Research Skills for Nutrition), or DTN404 (Nutritional Epidemiology and Research Skills) are ineligible to enrol in this subject.

Additional requirements

• Software requirements - The subject also requires IBM SPSS Standard Grad Pack 23/24/25/26 (statistical analysis software) and Xyris' FoodWorks (nutritional analysis software).
• Other requirements - This subject is available through Open Universities Australia (OUA) and the course is restricted for enrolment. Single subject enrolments for restricted subjects are not available at OUA, please see https://www.latrobe.edu.au/study/apply/pathways/single-subject-entry for further information. Students who successfully complete two from the four open enrolment subjects (HBS101, DTN101, CHM101, PHE102) may apply under the Academic Eligibility category for admission to the restricted Bachelor of Food and Nutrition. You must be enrolled in the Bachelor of Food and Nutrition to be eligible to enrol in all other non-open access subjects offered in the degree.

In this subject you will develop an understanding of the fundamentals of epidemiology and epidemiological study designs and research concepts. These will be of direct relevance to the role of food and nutrition in the prevention, causation and management of disease. Nutrition measurement techniques for the assessment of diet and body composition of individuals and populations will be covered in depth. You will cover sources of data on mortality and morbidity, measures of disease prevalence, incidence and risk, chance, bias and confounding variables of relevance to nutritional epidemiology. Standard parametric and non-parametric statistical techniques will be reviewed, and you will have the opportunity to use statistical software programs to analyse a population dataset.

Please note:  this subject was previously known as DTN404 Nutritional Epidemiology and Research Skills

• Data collection and data entry (450 words equivalent) (10%)
• Statistical analysis plan (800 words) (15%)
• One research poster (1500 words equivalent) (45%)
• 2 x 30 minute Module Quizzes (15% each) (30%)

For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).