Undergraduate Course: Health, Illness and Society 3 (MSBM09003)
Course Outline
| School | Deanery of Biomedical Sciences |
College | College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 9 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | **This course is only open to students on the BSc Medical Sciences programme**
This course aims to integrate medical sociology with medical ethics and public health to analyse the contributions of ethical, social, psychological and public health factors to health and illness. |
| Course description |
Health, Illness and Society (HIS) introduces students to the study of health experience and outcome in relation to social, cultural and political influences. The course draws on perspectives from the social sciences, epidemiology and ethics (public health ethics, and ethics relating to medical and social care), and is structured around 3 key parts. 'Understanding Health Inequalities' is the first part, running from weeks 1-4 incl, followed by 'Experiences of health and illness', covered in weeks 5-8 incl. Finally, 'Global and Planetary health' will be the focus of the final weeks. Taken as a whole, the course will introduce students to:
- The ¿social determinants of health¿ which shape patterns of health inequalities in the population.¿
- The many and varied factors that shape experiences of illness.¿
- Key ethical principles, and how these relate to, both, clinical care and population health.¿¿
In the initial weeks of the course, you will be introduced to health inequalities and the various frameworks used for understanding these disparities in health experiences and outcomes.¿The course goes on to explore¿experiences of health and illness, covering topics such as chronic illness and disability, the doctor-patient interaction and experiences of diagnosis. Finally,¿we will¿turn to consider global¿and planetary health, focusing on questions of health that concern us all, as interconnected in the global world. Throughout the course, resources will be used that offer examples from both the UK and globally.¿¿
Lectures and tutorials will introduce students to different forms of evidence (including qualitative and epidemiological research findings, accounts from individual patients and moral argument) and how to combine and critically use them in writing and discussion.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Students must be enrolled on the BSc Medical Sciences degree programme. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2020/21, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 15,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 15,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Revision Session Hours 3,
Other Study Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
159 )
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| Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) |
N/A
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed through three equally weighted essay-style assessments (or ¿in-course assessments¿, ICAs). Each assessment is worth one third of the overall course mark. The assessments will relate to each of the three key sections of the course, with one ICA on health inequalities, one on lived experience of illness and one on global and planetary health.
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| Feedback |
Support is given to students in tutorials before the submission of in course essays and extensive feedback is given on each essay following submission |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the intersecting social, political, and cultural influences on how illness is experienced and care provided.
- Demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of the intersecting social, cultural, political and environmental influences on inequitable distribution of health and illness within and between societies, and how different and multiple axes of social position are impacted.
- Be able to identify key sociological concepts which help us to understand health inequalities and the lived experience of illness; and be able to use apply concepts to illuminate these experiences.
- Demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of public health interventions (upstream and downstream) to improve the health of individuals and populations in the UK and in low to middle income countries.
- Understand the basics of key ethical principles as applied to both preventative public health and also clinical practice and social care.
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Reading List
Bradby, H., 2008. Medical sociology: An introduction. Sage.
Smith, K.E., Bambra, C. and Hill, S.E. eds., 2016. Health inequalities: Critical perspectives. Oxford University Press.
Scambler, G. ed., 2018. Sociology as applied to health and medicine. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Further readings will be given in the course resource list. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | HIS3 |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Sarah Wright
Tel:
Email: S.J.Wright@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Colin Arthur
Tel: (0131 6)51 3094
Email: carthur@ed.ac.uk |
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