General provisions

Kursen kan ingå i Master programmet religionsvetenskap, 120 credits

Entry requirements

Bachelor's degree with the main field of study within social sciences, humanities or religious studies or 120 credits of completed first-cycle courses including 90 credits within some religious studies main field of study.

Learning outcomes

After completion of this advanced-level course, students will be able to:

- analyse existing empirical studies related to healthcare and meaning in relation to both research design and scope

- analyse cultural, gender and psychosocial theoretical perspectives informing both research and policy formation in the health-care fields

- formulate and investigate problems in ones own health-care field as well as create a research project design

- conduct a field-work investigation that involves

- communicate knowledge about the intersections of meaning-making, health and culture for both academic and non-academic groups

- develop and refine ones own specific ideas, values, and means of understanding central questions and strategies for addressing health-related questions of meaning-making in cultural context

Content

The course is for those interested in research or policy work in medical, healthcare, psychological, social, or pastoral care contexts. It focuses on interactions between meaning-making and health within the different cultural contexts under investigation. Individual, organisational, and societal levels are examined through a lifecycle perspective. Special attention is given to cultural, acculturation, and gender analysis for understanding how constructions of health and illness are formed, and the implications of these constructions for how healthcare policies and programs are constructed. Theoretical concepts and applications from clinical psychology of religion, cultural psychology, health psychology, cultural psychiatry, acculturation studies, and medical anthropology are included. Working models and tools for mapping and analysing interactions among health, meaning-making, and culture in different types of care contexts are provided. The advanced level course involves an intense application of the models and tools in a field-study context as well as the development of an individual research project.

Instruction

Format includes: lectures, masters-level seminars. The language of instruction is English. Course papers at the advanced level should be prepared in English, unless permission of the instructor is given for using Swedish or another language.

Assessment

The forms of examination are for this course written assignments, active participation in seminars and group discussions. Students may also be required to give oral presentations. The course is divided into the following credit segments:

- obligatory class participation and group work, 1 credit,

- written assignment/presentation during the term, 3 credits,

- final assignment, including independent project, 3.5 credits.

Other regulations

For a course to be completed a minimum level of 75% attendance is required in all of the elements of the course described in the syllabus. Absence over and above this is to be compensated by compensatory task(s) as decided upon by the teacher responsible for the course.

Please note that the stated teaching methods may be replaced by self-studies if there is a very low number of students.

Transitional provisions

Members of a course regulated by this course plan have the possibility to be examined in accordance with the same course plan within two years after the closure of the course. If there are particular reasons, such an examination can take place also later on. Normally no instruction in accordance with former versions of the course plan is given.