This module is a full-time 8 week professional placement in community outreach, health promotion, public health and industry settings, focusing on meeting Nutrition and Dietetic competencies in established or emerging roles in Year 2 Semester 1. This module will further build on dietetic skills and foster professional independence in the needs assessment and management of individuals and communities with varied nutritional needs according to public health policy and strategies. Students will have the opportunity to participate as a health professional and develop and demonstrate competencies required to work as a dietitian in community health promotion and industry settings. This module focusses on acquisition and consolidation of nutrition and dietetic knowledge and skills in these settings. Professional Accreditation Related Elements (PARE) regulations apply to this Placement. This PARE module is non-repeatable at annual repeats - a repeat of the module is provided on a link-in basis in the next academic year.

This module is a practical placement where the student is supervised in Health promotion/Community/Industry service settings by experienced service providers/Registered Dietitians (Supervisors/Practice Educators), with additional educational support and input from University of Limerick staff. Students will have the opportunity to practice and consolidate skills learned in clinical placement 1 and in the academic setting, especially from the modules 'Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics A, B and C' (CT6082/CT6003/CT6033) and 'Public Health and Community Nutrition' (CT6053). Students will undertake the collection, assessment, and interpretation of relevant information on public health nutrition issues and translate it into effective interventions and practice. In the public health and community setting students will get the opportunities to develop their group counselling skills and be involved in evidenced based nutrition programmes and initiatives. Students will integrate themselves effectively into the multidisciplinary team.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to: 1. Demonstrate core skills in the application of dietetic practice to community and public health nutrition work in outreach settings including community, social care or industry 2. Communicate in a professional manner in counselling, educating, engaging and advocating for service users or community groups, liaising with other members of the community service team in oral and written format. 3.Apply critical thinking, reasoning and evaluation in dietetic practice and show evidence of same. 4. Translate knowledge of public health nutrition strategies to a needs assessment and participate in planning, implementation and evaluation of an intervention or management plan.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to: 1. Develop professional attitudes and practices which facilitate growth as a competent dietitian and health professional and demonstrate ability to work as a contributing member of the community outreach team. 2. Critically reflect on practice extending self-awareness, independent thinking, insight and cultural competency linking to professionalism. 3. Reflect on attitudes and practices to be a competent health professional who values ethical behaviour in the public health, industry, social care and community setting 4. Value a collaborative and team approach with fellow professionals for the successful implementation of goals and priorities.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to: n/a

Student learning is experiential and there is a mixture of service user contact, group work, project management, case studies, discussion and tutorials. A paired placement model and peer assisted learning (PAL) (see placement manual) will be used where possible. A learning portfolio will be completed throughout. The module will incorporate the most up-to-date evidence base for the prevention of chronic diseases and for community health promotion and intervention programmes A dynamic approach is taken to the Community Nutrition Outreach Placement placements, and this can mean that while your projects are within in the health prevention paradigm, sometimes the organisation or supervisor does not have community or public health nutrition as the core of their role and this is something to be aware of. This is the students' third placement and is based in Health promotion/Community/Industry service settings. During this placement the students will build on skills developed during clinical placement 1 and practise new skills which are specific to the community setting. The student will progress to developing, implementing, reviewing and evaluating dietetic interventions. Students will build on skills in literature searching and critical appraisal of research in the development of individual case and group management plans in the industry setting and with community intervention projects and programmes. During the placement students will begin to practice skills independently, whilst still having their work supervised, once they have demonstrated consistent ability in these areas.