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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2024/2025

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Health in Social Science : Nursing Studies

Undergraduate Course: Culture and healthcare in the UK and International context: Society, Culture and Health 3 (NUST10055)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Health in Social Science CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryPlease note that this course is only open to students within the School of Health in Social Science.

This course brings together concepts of culture and health to consider how these interact in the development and provision of healthcare in both a UK and international context. Drawing on disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, economics and business management the content of this course provides students with the tools to engage analytically with healthcare cultures. Students will organize and undertake a healthcare placement either in an international or UK context during which they apply this learning in the real life context. The students work closely with a 1:1 supervisor and arrange the experience within clear guidelines. Health & safety, governance, accountability and insurance are covered explicitly in teaching and supervision.
Course description This course draws on interdisciplinary knowledge and practices to equip students with an understanding of the interrelationship of culture, health and healthcare. Looking at culture on the micro and macro levels, the course focuses on working within International cultural contexts or working with people from an international context within the UK, and working in the cultural context of UK healthcare institutions. Ethnography will be introduced as a means to study culture and cultural practices, and students will be introduced to the theoretical underpinnings and observational practices to provide them with a sense of how they might pick up on culturally bound practices within their placement learning experience. Students will develop their communication and organizational skills through the organization of their healthcare placement.

Indicative content:
The social construction of culture and health; health beliefs, discourse, power, colonization - eg western interventions in developing countries, and ethical responses and approaches in international contexts (grassroots working vs top-down)
Social structures leading to the othering of those who are different
Appraise the use of ethnography and its methods in relation to studying and understanding culture
Cultural contexts within healthcare settings eg issues of horizontal violence, safety cultures, whistleblowing, leadership
Cultural safety and cultural competence; working in the UK with people from different cultural backgrounds eg work in asylum/refugee contexts; working in international contexts
Politics and the cultural organization of healthcare - including health economics eg as evidenced through NICE's role, governments and funding of healthcare, equitable access to healthcare

Teaching and learning will be through lectures, small group work, practical exercises, critical reflection, films, arts, supported placement organisation, and placement learning. Placement organisation will be supported by allocation of a member of staff as a contact point for the student.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Additional Costs Costs of placement must be met by the student.
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2024/25, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  None
Course Start Flexible
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 10, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 6, Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 4, Online Activities 10, Formative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 164 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Assessed elective placement (non-weight bearing at present)
One elective planning report 700-1000 words (30% - LO4, LO5)
One summative critically reflective blog 2,000-2,500 words (70% - LO1, LO2, LO3)

Feedback Two in-class (workshop) feedback opportunities, the first around writing critically and evaluating sources; the second about situating oneself within a written reflection.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Evaluate the impact of politics and culture on health-related beliefs and the provision of healthcare.
  2. Analyse the concepts of difference and othering, cultural safety, cultural competence, and how these impact at individual and organizational levels of healthcare.
  3. Critically reflect on the relationship between culture and healthcare practice observed in the placement learning setting.
  4. Apply the organizational and communication skills required to organize and complete the placement.
  5. Debate the ethics of their elective placement within the context of colonialization and globalisation.
Reading List
Racine, L. and Perron, A. (2012) Unmasking the predicament of cultural voyeurism: a postcolonial analysis of international nursing placements. Nursing Inquiry; 19 (3): 190-201.

Mkandawire-Valhmu, L. and Doering, J. (2012) Study Abroad as a Tool for Promoting Cultural Safety in Nursing Education. Journal of transcultural Nursing; 23(1) 82-89. DOI:

Ahmed, A., Ackers-Johnson, J., Ackers, H.L. (2017) The Ethics of Educational Healthcare Placements in Low and Middle Income Countries: First Do No Harm? Palgrave Macmillan, Switzerland.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills This course facilitates the development of the following graduate attributes:
Personal effectiveness is developed through the responsibility to organise the placement element of the course.
Personal and intellectual autonomy are developed through the engagement with the other and taking an approach which values and is curious about difference, critically reflecting on this.
Experience of different cultures, and a focus on cultures even when in the UK, provides an opportunity to expand outlook and engagement.
Communication skills are developed through the formal organisation of the placement as well as the need to adjust communication to fit different cultural norms.
KeywordsCulture,health,nursing,cultural safety,cultural competence
Contacts
Course organiserDr Rosie Stenhouse
Tel: (0131 6)51 5160
Email: Rosie.Stenhouse@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Lisa Binder
Tel: (0131 6)51 3969
Email: lisa.binder@ed.ac.uk
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