Unit information: Conducting Child Health Research in 2021/22

Unit name	Conducting Child Health Research
Unit code	BRMS30010
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Professor. Crawley
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Bristol Medical School
Faculty	Faculty of Health Sciences

Description including Unit Aims

In this unit, students will be taught about (and discuss, consider) the ethical issues to consider in child health research as well as the legal framework of conducting child health research including gaining consent and assent in children and young people. As with the other units, there will be a focus on the issues that are specific to child health research including cultural issues, developmental issues and childhood disability.

Students will then learn about why Patient and Public Involvement is important (PPI) and get involved in running Young Peoples Advisory Groups. This YPAGs are already in existence and provide the perfect opportunity for students to understand the process, ask research questions and see how children and young people can improve research.

To ensure students can make the most of their research attachment with a research team, and to prepare them for the career, they will learn about working in teams, managing and understanding other people as well as mentoring, leadership and well being.

Intended Learning Outcomes

1. Be able to communicate clearly and explain the ethical issues of research in children/families
2. Be able to outline the principals of gaining consent/assent in children and teenagers and the considerations that disability / development and cultural norms.
3. Be able to explain the use of routine / big data and how this is affected by GDPR.
4. To have active experience and involvement in PPI using a variety of methods: online, interviews and group work.
5. Have knowledge of the principles of how to work in a team / manage people and how different personality types may affect this.
6. Be able to reflect and communicate clearly about the issues of managing two careers (clinical and research)
7. Be able to outline the steps of applying for funding

Teaching Information

Teaching will be provided in small group and tutorials. In addition to seminar/workshop teaching we will use peer led topic sharing/teaching which will improve students ability to teach/train as well as learn. We will provide reading lists and expect students to prepare for seminars, (similar to case based learning) prior to attending seminars.

Students will take part in and then lead and develop Young People’s Advisory Group (YPAG) sessions for children, young people, families and carers.

Assessment Information

Based on the principles of programme level assessment, this unit will be co-assessed with Unit 1. Some LOs will be tested in the MCQ (See BRMS30009 unit description - 10% of the MCQ will be testing this unit, contributing to 10% of this unit mark), the majority of this assessment will be via reflective notes.

Formative Assessment: MCQ writing and practice exam (with BRMS30009). Reflective notes on Ethical issues and PPI involvement. We will use reflective notes because this are used in Medicine to encourage doctors to reflect on their practice and on their learning. These are essentially short essays (one side of A4 each) and they need to demonstrate an element of insight and thoughtfulness.

Summative assessment: The three reflective notes (Ethical issues (30% of unit) , PPI (30% of unit) and Leadership (30% of unit) will contribute a total of 90% of the unit mark. The remaining 10% will be from the MCQ exam.

Reflective notes will be graded, have a 40% pass mark, and all three are must pass. The MCQ component is not a must pass, though the mark will contribute to the overall unit grade.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. BRMS30010).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.