Unit 1 Human Lifespan Development Assignment Brief 2026 | Pearson

Unit 1 Human Lifespan Development Assignment Brief

Students will understand human growth and development across life stages, the factors influencing development, and the role of health and social care professionals in promoting wellbeing.

Unit introduction

Understanding how humans grow and develop across their lifespan is essential for anyone entering the health and social care sector. This unit explores the physical, intellectual, emotional and social changes that occur from infancy through to late adulthood,  helping you appreciate the complexity and uniqueness of individual development.

In this unit, you will learn how to explore the wide range of factors that influence development, including genetics, lifestyle choices, environmental conditions and social inequities. The unit also reflects modern issues such as digital health, mental wellbeing  and the evolving roles of health and social care professionals in promoting holistic care.

By completing this unit, you will build a strong foundation for further study or employment  in health and social care. You will develop transferable skills such as critical thinking, communication and empathy, which are essential for progression into higher education, apprenticeships or frontline care roles.

Learning Aim and Assessment Criteria

The essential content is set out under content areas. Students must cover all specified content before the assessment.

Learning aim A: Understand human growth and development across life stages

Students will explore holistic development. They will understand the relationship of the different areas of development and the effect they have on each other.

A1 Physical, intellectual, emotional and social development in infancy – (birth to 2 years)

• Physical: growth – height and weight; the development of gross motor skills: holding head up, sitting up, crawling, walking; the development of fine motor skills: using thumb and finger to pick up items; meeting milestones and expected development.
• Intellectual: learning about environment through interaction with it; recognising familiar faces; communicating with others and starting to talk; manipulating objects.
• Emotional: importance of bonding and attachment with primary caregivers; theories of attachment – Bowlby and Ainsworth.
• Social: relationships with caregivers, starting to interact with others.

A2 Physical, intellectual, emotional and social development in early childhood  (3 to 8 years)

• Physical: changes to growth, height and weight; gross motor skills: walking on tiptoe, hopping and skipping; fine motor skills: dressing and undressing, self-undoing/doing up buttons/laces.
• Intellectual: increase in vocabulary, talking in sentences; counting; increase in problem solving; knowing basic information about self.
• Emotional: managing own emotions, understanding others’ emotions, development of self.
• Social: developing friendships with other children.

A3 Physical, intellectual, emotional and social development in adolescence  (9 to 18 years)

• Physical: the changes surrounding puberty – changes to primary and development of secondary sexual characteristics; hormonal changes.
• Intellectual: abstract thinking; reasoning.
• Emotional: developing own identity and self-concept, including self-image and self-esteem; developing intimate relationships.
• Social: friendships and the effects of peer pressure on social development; social media influence on identity, mental health and behaviour, cyberbullying, online relationships, digital literacy; developing independence; peer influences on behaviour.

A4 Physical, intellectual, emotional and social development in early adulthood  (19 to 45 years)

• Physical: physical maturity: physical strength peaks, fertility, brain growth until early twenties; pregnancy and lactation occur; synaptic pruning; perimenopause – oestrogen levels decrease, causing the ovaries to stop producing an egg each month.
• Intellectual: new intellectual skills develop relating to further/higher education and work.
• Emotional: long-term intimate relationships; changes to self-concept, including self-esteem and self-image related to lifestyle (work, family); bonding and attachment with own family/guardians.
• Social: independent from family, groups of friends.

A5 Physical, intellectual, emotional and social development in middle adulthood  (46 to 69)

• Physical: menopause, to include: hot flushes, night sweats, cessation of menstruation and vaginal dryness; start of physical strength declining, vision and hearing loss; changes related to lifestyle factors, to include: weight gain, joint pain related to wear and tear; men’s health awareness (e.g. andropause, prostate health) and mental health in midlife, including burnout and work-life balance.
• Intellectual: improvement in verbal and reasoning skills from applied learning.
• Emotional: re-evaluation of priorities; contributing to the next generation, sense of emptiness as children grow up; emotional factors relating to menopause including changes to mood and libido.
• Social: relationships with peers at work; more social lifestyle with no children/early retirement/retirement; limited social life due to work pressures; changing roles – becoming a grandparent.

A6 Physical, intellectual, emotional and social development in late adulthood (70+ years)

• Physical: lung capacity reduces, arteries and heart muscle thicken, brain cells lose some functioning, falls from reduced mobility.
• Intellectual: ability to learn new skills (though may take longer), short-term memory less easily recalled, wisdom and creativity remain.
• Emotional: calmer, feeling alone, feeling younger than age, feelings of frailty.
• Social: more opportunities to meet friends due to retirement, meeting new people as taking on new activities; reduction in social circle of peers through this life stage; digital inclusion for older adults, such as using technology to maintain social connections and access services.

Learning aim B: Examine factors affecting human growth and development

B1 Genetic factors

• Predispositions to health/ill health: to include cardiovascular disease, breast and prostate cancers.
• Disorders: Huntington’s disease, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anaemia.

B2 Lifestyle factors

• Diet and weight management.
• Level of exercise.
• Use or not of substances and prescription drug misuse, emerging concerns and health impacts.
• Quality of sleep.
• Oral health.
• Pregnancy: factors impacting foetal development and premature birth, including pre-natal substance use/misuse, diet.

B3 Health inequities

• Health inequities according to WHO.
• Health inequities to include:
  ● difference in life expectancy across different socio-economic groups
  ● prevalence of mental health difficulties across socio-economic groups/gender/race  and ethnicity, neurodiversity (e.g. autism, ADHD) and intersectionality in mental health (e.g. race, gender)
  ● access to health services and differences of experience in healthcare – race and ethnicity, learning disabilities, gender, geographical location
  ● discrimination.

B4 Environmental, economic and occupational influences

• Environmental: exposure to pollution and unsafe housing conditions, asthma, tuberculosis, accidents.
• Economic: income and employment status, impact on health.
• Occupational related health: chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), musculoskeletal problems, stress and anxiety, shift work.

Learning aim C: Explore health promotion and care across life stages

C1 Common health conditions at different life stages

Students will explore the prevalence of the stated health conditions within the following  life stages.

• Infancy and early childhood: flu, chicken pox, ear infections, meningitis, conjunctivitis, speech development and problems, dental caries (tooth decay).
• Adolescence: substance misuse, sexual health.
• Early and middle adulthood: stress, depression and anxiety at work, digital burnout, remote working impacts, mental health in gig economy, accidents from risk-taking behaviour – acquired brain injury, life-changing injuries, inactivity/sedentary lifestyle.
• Late adulthood: dementia, heart disease, oral health, injury from falls, weakened immune system, complications from influenza.
• Obesity to be covered across the life stages.

C2 Health promotion and prevention strategies

Students will explore the purpose of health and social care promotion and prevention.

• Vaccinations: purpose and role; herd immunity.
• Age-related health checks and screening: newborn hearing screening; growth (height and weight) and developmental milestones (infants); hearing and eyesight checks (across all life stages); health checks for people aged 40-74 (diabetes, hypertension, height/weight, blood pressure, blood test for cholesterol); early cancer screening (cervical, bowel, breast); dementia screening.
• Mental health education: online mental health resources, AI-based support tools and mental health apps – benefits and limitations.
• Dental checks.
• Health education for smoking, alcohol and drugs, sexual health.
• Accident prevention.

C3 Roles of health and social care professionals

For conditions covered in C1, students should be able to identify and outline the roles of the professionals involved in the care and treatment of an individual.

• Nurses: mental health, adult, learning disability, children and young people (CYP) specialist community public health nurse – health visitor, children’s practice nurse, school nurse (SN) and occupational health nursing (OHN), digital health nurse, telehealth roles and AI-assisted diagnostics.
• Midwives
• Doctors: general practitioner, surgeon, psychiatrist.
• Allied professions: physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, radiography, podiatry.
• Dentist, dental hygienist.
• Social worker.
• Dietician
• Care and support workers: domiciliary/residential.
• Psychologist, counsellor.
• Youth worker.
• Social prescriber.

C4 Multidisciplinary and person-centred care

For professionals covered in C3, students should be able to identify and outline the multidisciplinary teams required to meet individual needs.

• Integrated care systems (ICSs): multidisciplinary/multi-agency approach, a range of services working together with the individual to ensure a seamless approach to care, digital integration of care records, telemedicine and remote monitoring technologies.
• Person-centred approach to care, the need to give holistic care: assessment of needs, assessment of the whole person, Roper and Tierney – activities of daily living; WHO Primary Health Care (2018) Strategy.
• Features of multidisciplinary team working:
  ● shared decision making – individual using health and social care services at the heart of the process
  ● different professionals working across a service – ways of working/ open communication/understanding each other’s roles o working with families and significant others.

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