Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree with the main field of study within social sciences, humanities or religious studies or 120 credits 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, among these immigrants and refugees. 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, seminars (campus and/or web based), and group presentations (only campus), planned web conference. The language of instruction is English. Course papers can be prepared in Swedish or English. Attendance at seminars is required.

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.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.

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

Students retain the right to be examined on the course according to this syllabus for 3 semesters after their course instance has ended. Normally, instruction will be given according to the latest version of the course syllabus only.