Last modified: 26 Jun 2025 12:16
This course will give you a detailed theoretical and practical understanding of the methods used to assess nutritional status, including body composition, dietary intake, and energy expenditure assessment. It includes a 'hands-on' experience of using a dietary assessment technique used routinely by nutritionists. The assignments for this course are designed to help you develop the skills you will employ in daily life as a nutritionist. These include presenting and conducting a nutritional assessment of a client and determining the best methods for nutritional assessment.
| Study Type | Postgraduate | Level | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | First Term | Credit Points | 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
| Co-ordinators |
|
||
This course will give you a detailed theoretical and practical understanding of the methods used to assess nutritional status, dietary intake and the nutritional composition of food. The theory will be implemented through a practical workshop to give you 'hands-on' experience using assessment techniques and equipment routinely employed by nutritionists. The assignments for this course are designed to help you develop the skills you will employ in daily life as a nutritionist. These include presenting and conducting a nutritional assessment of a client. Through the discussions and assignments, you will also develop your skills in critically appraising dietary, nutrition and health research methods in order to understand the limitations of the scientific basis of nutritional knowledge. By completing the course, you will be able to intergrate knowledge and understanding from various sources to identify or propose solutions resulting in improved human health through dietary or physical activity changes.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 60 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | 19 | Feedback Weeks | 24 | |
| Feedback |
Word Count (Report): 1500 Duration (Video Presentation): 15 minutes The assessment will include a single fictional participant information sheet, where students will need to build the nutritional output so that they can investigate the body composition, dietary intake and activity patterns of an individual, understand the strengths and limitations of methods used to evaluate these measures and give recommendations to an individual concerning current nutrition and health guidelines. |
|||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Procedural | Analyse | Determine the nutritional needs of an individual or group of individuals, taking into consideration factors such as age, gender, physical activity, and lifestyle. |
| Procedural | Analyse | Clarify the principles of how body mass and energy balance are controlled in the scientific basis for the measurement and estimation of nutritional requirements and dietary reference values |
| Procedural | Evaluate | Demonstrate ability to carry out sample selection and ensure validity, accuracy, calibration, precision, replicability and highlight uncertainty during collection of nutritional status data. |
| Reflection | Create | Demonstrate professional competency in communication of nutritional information with a range of audiences. |
| Reflection | Evaluate | Recall the principles underpinning, and strengths and limitations of, common methods of assessment of nutritional health including anthropometry, body composition assessment, and dietary assessment |
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 40 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | 12 | Feedback Weeks | 15 | |
| Feedback |
Students will be asked to revise 6 scenarios and write a short description (no more than 200 words per question), giving their critical evaluation of each of the devices chosen. This assessment will assess not only devices but also overall nutritional health assessment methods. Word Count: 1200 |
|||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Procedural | Analyse | Determine the nutritional needs of an individual or group of individuals, taking into consideration factors such as age, gender, physical activity, and lifestyle. |
| Procedural | Analyse | Identify and illustrate the theory and methods of investigation the dietary, nutrient and activity patterns of the general population, sub groups and the individual. |
| Procedural | Analyse | Clarify the principles of how body mass and energy balance are controlled in the scientific basis for the measurement and estimation of nutritional requirements and dietary reference values |
| Reflection | Evaluate | Recall the principles underpinning, and strengths and limitations of, common methods of assessment of nutritional health including anthropometry, body composition assessment, and dietary assessment |
| Assessment Type | Formative | Weighting | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Five tests, each requiring less than 30 minutes to complete. |
|||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Procedural | Analyse | Determine the nutritional needs of an individual or group of individuals, taking into consideration factors such as age, gender, physical activity, and lifestyle. |
| Procedural | Analyse | Identify and illustrate the theory and methods of investigation the dietary, nutrient and activity patterns of the general population, sub groups and the individual. |
| Procedural | Analyse | Clarify the principles of how body mass and energy balance are controlled in the scientific basis for the measurement and estimation of nutritional requirements and dietary reference values |
| Procedural | Evaluate | Demonstrate ability to carry out sample selection and ensure validity, accuracy, calibration, precision, replicability and highlight uncertainty during collection of nutritional status data. |
| Reflection | Create | Demonstrate professional competency in communication of nutritional information with a range of audiences. |
| Reflection | Evaluate | Recall the principles underpinning, and strengths and limitations of, common methods of assessment of nutritional health including anthropometry, body composition assessment, and dietary assessment |
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 100 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Duration: 30-45 minutes |
|||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
|
|
||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Reflection | Create | Demonstrate professional competency in communication of nutritional information with a range of audiences. |
| Procedural | Analyse | Identify and illustrate the theory and methods of investigation the dietary, nutrient and activity patterns of the general population, sub groups and the individual. |
| Reflection | Evaluate | Recall the principles underpinning, and strengths and limitations of, common methods of assessment of nutritional health including anthropometry, body composition assessment, and dietary assessment |
| Procedural | Analyse | Determine the nutritional needs of an individual or group of individuals, taking into consideration factors such as age, gender, physical activity, and lifestyle. |
| Procedural | Analyse | Clarify the principles of how body mass and energy balance are controlled in the scientific basis for the measurement and estimation of nutritional requirements and dietary reference values |
| Procedural | Evaluate | Demonstrate ability to carry out sample selection and ensure validity, accuracy, calibration, precision, replicability and highlight uncertainty during collection of nutritional status data. |
We have detected that you are have compatibility mode enabled or are using an old version of Internet Explorer. You either need to switch off compatibility mode for this site or upgrade your browser.
