Postgraduate Course: Global Perspectives on Child and Adolescent Mental Health (PGSP11602)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Child and adolescent mental health has been identified as a major, yet neglected, global health priority. This course will provide an overview of child and adolescent mental health - across the spectrum from distress to wellness - that can affect children and young people. We pay particular attention to the social settings, determinants, and structural factors which can create the conditions for thriving, or can exacerbate poor mental health. Students will develop skills in critically appraising evidence-based interventions and policies for child and adolescent mental health, and in appreciating different disciplinary perspectives on wellness, distress, and what should be done to support young people worldwide. |
| Course description |
This course will begin with a critical exploration of key definitions including mental health, mental illness, childhood and youth, drawing on research and theory from across the disciplines of social work, psychiatry, psychology, medical anthropology, sociology, public health and childhood studies. It will go on to explore global and local frameworks for understanding child and adolescent mental health as "a problem", and the psychiatrization of childhood. Key theories which illuminate the causes of mental distress and mental illness in childhood and adolescence will be examined, such as: relationships, attachment, separation and loss, and trauma and adversity. Theories will be critically discussed highlighting regional, disciplinary and historical origins of these and differences in contextual applicability. The course will take a critically engaged approach to mental health treatment and preventative interventions, considering the transferability and scalability of these interventions.
Throughout the course we will explore conceptualisations of child and childhood - across disciplines, geographies, and contexts. We will critically interrogate the varied political, ethical, and epistemological claims that arise from specific framing's and forms of engagement with promoting, protecting, and intervening in the mental wellbeing of children and young people. This is the core orientation of this course: it asks us to critically engage with how children and childhoods are defined and understood, and how these shape how we respond to addressing child and adolescent mental health.
Each week will include a lecture/seminar, and a tutorial. Students will be encouraged to make links between theory and practice, critically engage with theory and research, and consider solutions to the dynamic challenges of child and adolescent mental health in different contexts. Case studies will explore a range of "problems" and research or practice approaches to address these across diverse global settings.
There will be two assessments for this course, 20% group presentation and 80% written assignment (max 3500 words). You will work in groups with course peers to develop a policy brief addressing a particular topic in-depth, and will presenting this as a group to the course cohort. The individual written assignment will require students to critically appraise a policy or practice recommendation for addressing a child and adolescent mental health "problem" that has been examined during the course. This will require students to critically engage theoretical, research, and policy and practice-based literatures covered in the course and from their own independent reading. Students will have flexibility in their topics for student presentations and essay based on discussion with the course organizer, allowing students to tailor the course to their interests.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 20 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
80 %,
Practical Exam
20 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
- 100% coursework (20% group project/presentation; 80% individual written assignment)
- 20% group presentation (12-15 minutes followed by 5-10 mins Q&A)
- 80% written assignment (max 3,500 words)
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| Feedback |
Written feedback for the presentations will be provided to support development of the written assignment. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Critically conceptualise childhood and adolescence from different disciplinary perspectives and in a global context.
- Apply a variety of disciplinary frameworks to create insights into approaches to CAMH promotion, prevention, and intervention in diverse global contexts.
- Assess the international and national goals, legal frameworks, policies, and research and practice strategies for promoting CAMH globally.
- Evaluate the ethical tensions between the research and theoretical evidence on CAMH needs and intervention strategies, and existing policy and practice in varied global settings.
- Undertake group projects to critically appraise existing research and theoretical insights to advise CAMH policy and practice in global settings.
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Reading List
- United Nations Children¿s Fund (2021) The state of the worlds children 2021: On My Mind, promoting, protecting and caring for children's mental health. UNICEF: New York
- United Nations (1989) Convention on the rights of the child, Treaty no. 27531. United Nations Treaty Series, 1577: 3-178
- United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (2016) General comment No. 20 (2016) on the implementation of the rights of the child during adolescence
- Tisdall, E.K.M. (ed.) (2023) Critical childhood studies¿: global perspectives . New York: Bloomsbury Academic.
- Han, C. (2020) Seeing Like a Child: Inheriting the Korean War . Edited by R. Rechtman and R. Rechtman. New York, NY: Fordham University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823289486.
- Leon, L. and Ames, P. (2021) ¿Girl YouTubers in Peru as economic agents negotiating gender and class identities¿, Global studies of childhood, 11(4), pp. 331¿343. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106211055186. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
By the end of the course, students should have strengthened their skills in:
- evalution and critical appraisal through research activity, discussion, presentation and writing
- communication, through involvement in discussion groups, presentations and written tasks.
- self-direction and autonomous work by engaging in weekly reading tasks and the development of an individual presentation and linked policy brief.
- accountability to others and working with others through weekly discussion tasks and group presentations, and learning to give and receive feedback through peer feedback tasks.
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Anna Chiumento
Tel: (0131 6)51 1785
Email: achiumento@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr James Wills
Tel:
Email: jwills2@ed.ac.uk |
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