Module: Critical Thinking & Health

Latest Module Specifications

Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026

Module Title	Critical Thinking & Health
Module Code	HEA1025 (ITS: NS122)
Faculty	Nursing, PsyT & Comm Health	School	Science & Health
NFQ level	8	Credit Rating	5

Description

In this module, we explore a variety of phenomena to do with everyday life, society and health as a way of developing a "critical consciousness" oriented to the meanings of things as part of a relational world.

Learning Outcomes

1. Understand the value of developing critical thinking skills.
2. Assess the relationship between health and society from a critical viewpoint.
3. Develop a reasoned critical position in relation to current evidence on health.
4. Collaborate with others in thinking critically about a range of phenomena to do with everyday life, society, and health to inform professional decision-making.

*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Workload	Full time hours per semester
Lecture	24	Lecture and group discussion
Online activity	12	Watching and examining video materials
Independent Study	47	Reading
Independent Study	42	Writing a reflective assignment
Total Workload: 125

Section Breakdown
CRN	11236	Part of Term	Semester 1
Coursework	0%	Examination Weight	0%
Grade Scale	40PASS	Pass Both Elements	Y
Resit Category	RC1	Best Mark	N
Module Co-ordinator	David Loughrey	Module Teacher	Marcia Kirwan, Mark Philbin

Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Assessment Breakdown
Reflective journal	Reflective assignment in which critical thinking is applied to a topic related to health and society.	100%	Sem 1 End

Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories; RC1: A resit is available for both^* components of the module. RC2: No resit is available for a 100% coursework module. RC3: No resit is available for the coursework component where there is a coursework and summative examination element. ^* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a coursework/summative examination split; where the module is 100% coursework, there will also be a resit of the assessment

Pre-requisite	None
Co-requisite	None
Compatibles	None
Incompatibles	None

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

Critical thinking
What is critical thinking? The role of cognitive biases and heuristics in human cognition in misinformation are explored. Assessing how arguments are formed and logical fallacies.

Critical analysis of health research
Critically evaluating the quality of health research studies. Understanding various methodologies in health research and their implications for assessing evidence.

Critical thinking in public health and policy
Exploration of the significance of critical thinking in health and policy, including ethical decision-making.

Critically evaluate health and media
Critically evaluate health information sources and understanding the influence of media on public health perceptions. Assess strategies to address health misinformation.

Critically thinking and ethical considerations in health
Discussion of ethical issues in health. How can critical thinking inform ethical decision-making. Understanding moral dilemmas or failures in health and society.

Developing positions on health issues
Explore various health topics, such as vaccination mandates or the allocation of limited healthcare resources. Assess how to form positions on these topics using critical thinking.

Indicative Reading List

Books:

Aysha Akhtar: 2019, Our Symphony with Animals, Pegasus Books, 336, 9781643130705
Hannah Arendt: 2003, Responsibility And Judgment, Schocken Books Incorporated, 295, 9780805211627
Hannah Arendt: 1963, Eichmann in Jerusalem, Penguin UK, 312, 0143039881
Ernest Becker: 1997, The Denial of Death, Simon and Schuster, 314, 0684832402
Rutger Bregman: 2020, Humankind, Bloomsbury, 463, 9781408898949
Anne Boyer: 2019, The Undying, Penguin UK, 320, 9780241399736
Barbara Ehrenreich: 2010, Smile Or Die, Granta Books, 235, 9781847081735
Arthur W. Frank: 2013, The Wounded Storyteller, University of Chicago Press, 279, 022600497X
Paulo Freire: 1998, Pedagogy of Freedom, Rowman & Littlefield Pub Incorporated, 144, 9780847690466
Atul Gawande: 0, Being Mortal, 1846685818
William MacAskill: 2016, Doing Good Better, Guardian Books, 325, 9781783350513
Matthieu Ricard: 2015, Altruism, Little, Brown, 864, 9780316208246
Stanley Milgram: 0, Obedience to Authority, 1905177321
Susie Orbach: 2010, Bodies, Profile Books(GB), 182, 1846680298
Plato: 2003, The Last Days of Socrates, Penguin Classics, 256, 9780140449280
Michael J. Sandel: 2020, The Tyranny of Merit, Penguin UK, 288, 9780141991184
Peter Singer: 2015, The Most Good You Can Do, Yale University Press, 211, 9780300219869
Sarah Trainer,Alexandra Brewis,Amber Wutich: 2021, Extreme Weight Loss, New York University Press, 213, 9781479857265
Winters, E.: 2022, This Is Vegan Propaganda: And other lies the meat industry tells you, Vermilion, London,
Philip G. Zimbardo: 2008, The Lucifer Effect, Random House, 551, 1846041031

Articles:

Bourban, M. & Broussois, L: 2020, The Most Good We Can Do or the Best Person We Can Be?, Ethics, Policy & Environment, 23, 159, 2155-0085, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21550085.2020.1848175, 517929
2019: Staying "just normal": preservation strategies in prosthesis use, Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 14, 1748-3107, https://doi.org/10.1080/17483107.2018.1451561, 517930, 1
Contemporary hospice care: the sequestration of the unbounded body and 'dirty dying': Sociology of Health and Illness, 20, 121, https://doi-org.dcu.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/1467-9566.00094, 517931, 1, Murray, S.
Social Semiotics: 15, 153, https://doi-org.dcu.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/10350330500154667, 517932, 1, Schwitzgebel, E., Cokelet, B. & Singer, P., 2020
203: 00100277, https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S001002772030216X, 517933, 1, Throsby, K., 2007, "How could you let yourself get like that?" Stories of the origins of obesity in accounts of weight loss surgery
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Other Resources

None