This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2016 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

ATS3717 - Health, culture and society

6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Undergraduate - Unit

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Faculty

Arts

Organisational Unit

Sociology

Coordinator(s)

Associate Professor Mark Davis

Offered

Clayton

First semester 2016 (Day)

Synopsis

The unit examines the sociological aspects of health. Seminar topics include: media representations of health and illness; public campaigns on smoking, alcohol and obesity; the turn to popular culture in health communications, including the CDC's popular 'zombie preparedness' campaign; responses to 21st century pandemics, including swine flu, SARS and Avian flu; the social and psychological impact of new biotechnologies to prevent and treat diseases, and; reproductive and sexual health. Students will gain knowledge of the contribution of sociology and related disciplines to the advancement of public health policy and communications in changing and complex societies.

Outcomes

All students completing this unit will be able to:

Identify and describe key social science perspectives on medicine and health care in contemporary society.
Discuss the implications of medicine and health care for individuals and communities.
Apply critical arguments to current problems, debates and controversies.
Identify implications for public policy.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 100%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.