Health, illness and human behaviour I and II
Dr K V Jones (Psychological Medicine) and Dr C Hassed (Community Medicine)
The general aims are (a) to introduce the student to the individual - in health and illness and over the entire lifespan - as a complete human being in a social setting; (b) to place medical practice in an historical, cultural and ethical context; (c) to introduce the student to basic concepts and methods of biostatistics and medical research; (d) to provide students with the opportunity to learn and practise skills of communication, physical examination, first aid, and critical thinking; and (e) to provide students with the opportunity to develop attitudes appropriate to the practice of medicine. Educational methods used in these studies include the learning of core knowledge content from lectures, textbooks and project work, and the development of skills and attitudes through tutorials, first-aid training, and contact with health care providers and consumers in medical settings, and with a normal family. The core knowledge content is treated in six subunits during the year: the practice of medicine in Australia; human growth and development; basic psychological processes; ethics in medicine; biostatistics; and first aid. The content is designed to provide the student with basic vocabulary and concepts necessary to understand health, illness and human behaviour. Four components are concerned with the development of clinical and communication skills: (1) clinical contact visits (general practice, hospital ward or unit, emergency department and rehabilitation setting); (2) communication skills - lectures and tutorials; (3) family study project; and (4) first-aid training. Each student will maintain a workbook logging all experiences relevant to skills acquired during the year. Included in the workbook will be communication skills exercises, contact visit assignments and space for reports on each visit, ethics exercises, family-study assignments, critical-thinking exercises, and other exercises relating to skills development.
Assessment
Ethics essay: 1200 words * Family study essay (3000 words): 20% * Tutorials and workbook - including formal videotaped communication skills assessment: 30% * Examinations (first semester, 3 hours; second semester, 2 hours): 50%
Prescribed texts
Hoffman L and others Developmental psychology today 5th edn, Random House, 1988
or
Gething L and others Life span development McGaw-Hill, 1994
or
Berger K The developing person through the life span 3rd edn, Worth, 1994
Jones K V and others (eds) Readings in health, illness and human behaviour Faculty of Medicine, Monash U, 1995
Jones K V Student workbook: Clinical and communication skills Faculty of Medicine, Monash U, 1995
Recommended texts
One from
Bootzin R and others Psychology today 7th edn, Random House
Summers J and others Psychology: An introduction Wiley
Wortman C and Loftus E Psychology Knopf
or other current psychology textbook