Overview
This course develops practical competence in epidemiologic methods for investigating sexually transmitted infections and informing prevention and control. Topics include measures of disease frequency and association; surveillance systems; descriptive epidemiology; outbreak investigation; study design; sampling; screening and diagnostic test performance; bias, confounding, effect modification, and causal inference; sexual network analysis; antimicrobial resistance surveillance; and interpretation of routine, survey, clinical, and molecular data.
Students apply these methods to realistic and simulated datasets by calculating incidence, prevalence, notification rates, attack rates, risk ratios, odds ratios, rate ratios, and attributable measures. Practical work includes developing case definitions, cleaning and visualizing data, constructing epidemic curves, assessing surveillance quality, interpreting regression outputs, and communicating findings to technical and nontechnical audiences. The course emphasizes uncertainty, study limitations, privacy, data governance, nonstigmatizing language, and responsible use of sensitive sexual health information.
Learning Outcomes
- Formulate focused epidemiologic questions concerning sexually transmitted infections and align them with appropriate study designs and data sources.
- Calculate and interpret measures of disease frequency, association, and attributable impact using routine, survey, clinical, and molecular data.
- Evaluate STI surveillance systems for completeness, timeliness, representativeness, validity, and operational usefulness.
- Construct case definitions, clean datasets, visualize patterns by person, place, and time, and investigate potential outbreaks using epidemic curves and appropriate analytic methods.
- Interpret screening and diagnostic test performance, regression outputs, uncertainty estimates, and effect measures in epidemiologic analyses.
- Distinguish statistical association from causal inference by evaluating bias, confounding, effect modification, temporality, and alternative explanations.
- Critically appraise published STI epidemiology studies, including their sampling strategies, analytic methods, limitations, and applicability.
- Synthesize epidemiologic findings into concise, evidence-based recommendations for prevention, antimicrobial resistance control, and outbreak response.
- Communicate sensitive sexual health findings accurately and respectfully while applying principles of privacy, data governance, and nonstigmatizing language.
Timetable
| Type | Length | Frequency | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 2 hours | Weekly | All semester |
| Lab | 2 hours | Weekly | All semester |
| Tutorial | 1 hour | Fortnightly | All semester |
Assessment Schedule
| Type | Description | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment | Applied epidemiology assignments (2 × 10%) | 20.00% |
| Test | Data analysis practical test | 20.00% |
| Quiz | Short knowledge quizzes (5 × 2%) | 10.00% |
| Deliverable | Surveillance and outbreak investigation report | 15.00% |
| Exam | Final examination | 35.00% |
Prerequisites
Teaching Staff & Programs
This course is delivered jointly by faculty from the participating programs listed below. In line with the Douchewater Way, the University of Sexology tailors core instruction directly to each cohort's specific discipline — adapting curriculum to program needs rather than forcing students into a one-size-fits-all model. Learn more about our approach at The Douchewater Way.
