Within the courses taught at the Department Of Interdisciplinary Areas students gain knowledge about the impact of environmental factors on health, the global context of public health, public health tasks, definitions of health and disease, and health standards. Furthermore, students acquire knowledge about health care in general as well as specifics of health care of particularly vulnerable population subgroups (women, infants and young children, school children and young people and the elderly). By acquiring knowledge on Croatian public health priorities, the correlation between lifestyle habits and health, and some new public health challenges, students will be able to create the prerequisites for the implementation of public health activities. After completing the courses, students will be able to explain the role and functioning of the world's leading public health organisations, national public health programmes and national strategies and plans, as well as the role of public health in emergencies, the peculiarities of public health communication and the use of ethical principles in public health.
Within the Sociology of Health and Illness course, students acquire knowledge related to social inequality and health, gender determinants and health, working conditions and health, social integration and social support, health risk behaviours, alternative medicine and patients' rights and their satisfaction with the health system.
Within the Globalisation and Health course, and the Health and Environment course, students acquire knowledge about environmental issues, i.e. the causes and consequences of global warming, air and water pollution, problems related to population growth, and possibilities of using renewable energy sources. After attending classes, students will be able to identify the positive and negative sides of globalisation processes, develop a strategy of preventive activities and assess their outcomes, show the role and functioning of the world's leading public health organisations, national public health programmes and national strategies and plans. As part of the methodical training, students visit water treatment plants for human consumption and wastewater treatment plants and in the laboratory gain knowledge about water chemistry, chemical, physical and biological water pollution, details, advantages and disadvantages of conventional and modern water technologies and wastewater treatment and international and national water quality regulations and standards.
Within the Epidemiology and Hygiene course, students will be able to describe the basic concepts and causes of certain diseases as well as the basic features of epidemiological research. They will also be able to explain the methods of recognising them. They will be able to group and differentiate diseases according to their epidemiological characteristics as well as recognise the impact of a particular epidemiological problem on a particular area and community. They will be able to show the impact of preventive measures on hygienic-epidemiological problems with special emphasis on vaccination. They will be able to apply preventive measures in their work.
Within the Health Economics course and the Business Communication course, students will be able to recognise and understand the basic elements of microeconomic analysis, because of future professional work, and show that the concept of health economics has an equally important and complementary but different role from the health profession, as well as master communication skills in health care.
Scientific and professional research of the members of the Department is closely related to the disciplines taught to students.
The research areas of the Department focus on:
- determining the impact of environmental factors and lifestyle habits on the risk of various diseases (through questionnaires) and with the aim of preventing them, as well as on the progression of existing health conditions (especially chronic diseases) and the impact on the quality of life and society as a whole;
- screening - selected detection of risky behaviour among young people in the area of Osijek
- the use of meta-analysis and systematic literature reviews to strengthen evidence in the detection of conductive disorders among overweight children
- research on social inequalities, gender as determinants of health, working conditions, health risk behaviours
Head of department
Assistant Professor Dario Galić, Ph.D.
Teachers and associates
Associate Professor Ivan Miloloža, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Stjepan Rudan, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer Lorna Dubac Nemet
Lecturer Tamara Alebić, Ph.D.
Lecturer Josip Jakab
Lecturer Kristina Kopf
Lecturer Maja Koporčić
Lecturer Marija Vrkić
Postdoctoral Researcher Dubravka Holik, Ph.D.
Teaching Assistant Emanuela Ham
Teaching Assistant Sanja Pešić
Ivan Kordić, technical associate
External collaborators
Associate Professor Ante Cvitković, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Sanda Pribić, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Suzana Vuletić, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Hrvoje Glavaš, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Dubravka Mahaček, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Jasmina Pacek, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor Dario Brdarić, Ph.D,
Assistant Professor Zrinka Puharić, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor Agneza Aleksijević, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor Sanja Friedrich, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor Željko Sudarić, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor Atila Čokolić, Ph.D.
Lecturer Boris Grgić
Lecturer Marko Mikša
Lecturer Jasenka Crnković
Lecturer Martina Bogut Barić
Postdoctoral Researcher Vilmica Kapac, Ph.D.
Teaching Assistant Slavko Čandrlić, Ph.D.
Teaching Assistant Mario Vukušić