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Community Nutrition

Course Number
CHL5653H
Series
5600 (Clinical Public Health)
Format
Online
Course Instructor(s)
Eric Ng

Course Description

This course focuses on critical perspectives in community nutrition. It will consider ecological, political, and social approaches to community nutrition theory and interventions. Topics including community health assessment, sustainable food systems, Indigenous foodways, food justice, and food policy will be addressed. Critical perspectives such as political economy, food sovereignty, and art-based inquiry will be used to analyze approaches to understand community nutrition programs and policy. Examples, mostly from Canada, will be used to highlight the complexity and tensions in community nutrition theory and practice in a variety of settings.

In this course, students will familiarize themselves with community and population level approaches to the assessment, planning, and implementation of nutrition programs and policies.  This course prepares our students for dietetic practice in various community and population-based settings.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

  1. Examine approaches to community nutrition with specific populations and in various settings.
  2. Recognize the ways in which social determinants of health intersect community nutrition theory and practice.
  3. Examine the tensions among various critical approaches to community nutrition.
  4. Identify opportunities for and engage in for advocacy towards systems and policy change.

Methods of Assessment

Program Analysis 30%
Advocacy Paper 30%
Presentation 30%
Participation 10%

General Requirements

Enrollment in CHL 5653H is prioritized for students in MPH Nutrition & Dietetics Program, MPH-Advanced Standing Nutrition & Dietetics Program and MPH-Indigenous Health Program. Other MPH students are encouraged to enroll in their second year, please contact instructor for approval.