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Module Specifications.

Current Academic Year 2024 - 2025

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Date posted: September 2024

Module Title Arts & Health: Connections & Synergies
Module Code NS273 (ITS) / HEA1011 (Banner)
Faculty Science & Health School Nursing, PsyT & Comm Health
Module Co-ordinatorBriege Casey
Module Teachers-
NFQ level 8 Credit Rating 5
Pre-requisite Not Available
Co-requisite Not Available
Compatibles Not Available
Incompatibles Not Available
None
Students will re-attempt failed elements
Description

This module explores the synergies between the domains of arts and health. Students reflect upon human experiences of health/social adversity and recovery through studying the expression of these experiences in the arts and humanities. Students examine the contribution that creativity and art makes to health and healthcare and are supported to develop their own creativity. The module employs a bended learning approach and learning is assessed through continuous assessment methods including an online portfolio

Learning Outcomes

1. Discuss the connections and synergies between the domains of Arts and Health
2. Demonstrate advanced understanding of the lived experiences of health/social adversity and recovery as conveyed through arts and humanities
3. Discuss the complexities and expectations of giving and receiving care as portrayed in arts and humanities
4. Identify and evaluate specific arts-based approaches, art forms and arts processes, in terms of their contributions to health and well-being
5. Demonstrate knowledge concerning the roles, contribution and practices of arts practitioners in health/social care contexts and identify possibilities for collaborative working practices
6. Recognise and advance personal/professional creativity through engagement with a small scale arts and health intervention or development of a personal creative piece related to module themes



Workload Full-time hours per semester
Type Hours Description
Seminars16Online and face to face. Weekly discussion groups of arts and health material and practitioner/service user expereinces
Workshop8Face to face/group/online arts based workshops
Independent Study80Project and portfolio preparation and development, reflective exercises, reading/viewing. Availing of module co-ordinator support
Online activity16Engaging with podcasts and online arts and humanities resources, reading/viewing, participating in online forums, posting reflections and perceptions
Assignment Completion5Presentation of work
Total Workload: 125

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Introduction to Humanities in Healthcare
The use and usefulness of humanities in healthcare contexts.•Interpretative approaches and their relationship to healthcare.

Health and illness in the humanities – contexts and cultures.
Concepts and meanings of health and illness as conveyed in arts and literature in relation to: •Gender •Culture •Age

Health and illness in the humanities – lived experiences.
Exploration of the following themes/ experiences as represented in the humanities: Disintegration, Being a patient, Being in pain, Being excluded, Living with disability, Experiencing beauty, Experiencing hope/ hopelessness, Living on the margins, Experiencing meaning/ meaninglessness, Being afraid, Feeling in control/ powerlessness, Recovery, Living with long-term illness, Feeling violated, Grieving, loss and dying, Experiencing caring, Experiencing the body,

Helping and caring in the humanities
Historical and modern portrayal of helping and caring •The experience of caring. •Roles of care-givers – complexities and ethical issues.

Artful and human practice
Skilled healthcare intervention as an art. • Creative/ artistic expression in healthcare workers. • Using the humanities in caring/helping practice.

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment100% Examination Weight0%
Course Work Breakdown
TypeDescription% of totalAssessment Date
ProjectOver the course of the module and with support, students will either engage with a small scale arts and health intervention or will develop a personal creative piece related to module themes. The choice of project will depend on student preferences and practice contexts/opportunities. The projects will be presented in class or in online/virtual format50%Every Week
PortfolioStudents will develop an online portfolio containing their reflections on module themes as well as arts and humanities resources which are relevant to their own social/healthcare practice. The eportfolio will also document the progression of their ideas and processes for their arts and health project50%Every Week
Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories:
Resit category 1: A resit is available for both* components of the module.
Resit category 2: No resit is available for a 100% continuous assessment module.
Resit category 3: No resit is available for the continuous assessment component where there is a continuous assessment and examination element.
* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a Continuous Assessment/Examination split; where the module is 100% continuous assessment, there will also be a resit of the assessment
This module is category 1
Indicative Reading List

  • Frankl V: 1987, Man’s search for meaning: an introduction to logotherapy, Hodder and Stoughton, London,
  • Stephen Clift and Paul Camic: 2015, Oxford Textbook of Creative Arts, Health, and Wellbeing. International perspectives on practice, policy and research., Oxford University Press Oxford,
  • Daykin, N: 2019, Arts, Health and Well-Being: A Critical Perspective on Research, Policy and Practice, Routledge,
  • Shaun Mc Niff: 2004, Art Heals: How Creativity Cures the Soul,, Shambhala Publications Boston,
  • Theo Stickley, Stephen Clift: 2017, Arts, Health and Wellbeing: A Theoretical Inquiry for Practice, Cambridge Scholars Publishing Newcastle,
  • Daisy Fancourt: 2017, Arts in Health: Designing and researching interventions, Oxford University Press Oxford,
  • Therese Jones: 2014, Health Humanities Reader, Rutgers University Press New Jersey,
  • Paul Crawford, Brian Brown, Charley Baker, Victoria Tischler, Brian Abrams: 2015, Health Humanities, Palgrave Mc Millan London,
  • Gunaratnam Y and Oliviere D (eds): 2009, Narrative and Stories in Health Care: Illness, Dying and Bereavement, Open University Press, Oxford,
Other Resources

45889, 0, A range of literary and artworks will be selected and used as the module progresses,

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