Entry requirements

Registered nurses, medical doctors, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and biomedical laboratory technicians and last year students in these programmes

Aims

The aim of the course is to provide understanding of anthropological perspectives on the human life cycle, socio-cultural aspects on health and disease, health problems in different cultural settings, and belief in and practices of different types of treatments in different cultures. The course emphasises transcultural communication as means of overcoming cultural biases. The aim will be achieved by integrating theory and practice and by giving the students opportunity to come in contact with people from different cultures.

Content

The course will be carried through in five weeks. The first three weeks will take place in the class-room and will provide basic knowledge about culture and health and about transcultural communication. The final two weeks will be concerned with practice and assignments which will be carried out as training in transcultural communication techniques in the classroom as well as in health care workplaces and in other settings. Foreign students will be allowed to use English language.

- Introduction to anthropology and global health

- Cultures and values

- Beliefs and values of different cultural groups

- Human life cycle and socio-cultural aspects on health and disease

- Health problems in different cultural settings

- Types of treatments in different cultural settings

- Transcultural communication (barriers, techniques, assessment, etc.)

- Research methods in cultural care and medical anthropology

- Practice of transcultural communication skills

Instruction

Teaching will be provided in the form of lectures, seminars, and supervision of work individually and in groups.

Assessment

The examination will be based on the individual work and a written assignment