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Module Specifications

Archived Version 2012 - 2013

Module Title Perspectives on Health
Module Code NS134
School School of Nursing and Human Sciences

Online Module Resources

Module Co-ordinatorDr Mark PhilbinOffice NumberH245b
NFQ level 8 Credit Rating 5
Pre-requisite None
Co-requisite None
Compatibles None
Incompatibles None
Description

In this module, learners explore various perspectives on health with particular reference to their moral, social and practical implications. The module will help learners towards a broad understanding of health issues which they will deepen as they progress through the BSc Health & Society programme.

Learning Outcomes

1. Identify the principal ways in which health is conceptualised and explained
2. Discuss the value and limitations of various perspectives on health
3. Explore the moral, social and practical implications of health perspectives
4. Integrate various health perspectives in examining particular health issues



Workload Full-time hours per semester
Type Hours Description
Lecture12Participation in lecture-discussion
Group work24Preparation for and participation in weekly reading groups
Tutorial4Group tutorials
Independent Study25Reading, use of library, Moodle use
Directed learning40Preparation for and completion of examination
Assignment Completion20Preparation of an essay
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

Health as a value
Health is examined as a fundamental good through consideration of how persons are better off for being healthy, what health means and how this varies, the problematic conflation of 'the healthy' with 'the good', the potential for health fascism and why health is a worthwhile field of study.

Health as biologically given
The biological basis of health status is explored along with Arthur Frank's idea of the 'contingency of the body'. The implications of the idea of biological givenness are also considered in relation to biomedical intervention, moral blamelessness, social exclusion, power and technology.

Health as a body project
The idea that persons should 'look after their bodies' is examined. The significance of lifestyle for health status is explored along with the personal and social implications of being somehow accountable for one's own body.

Health as a matter of coping
The idea of coping with stress is considered along with various personal dispositions or qualities that are often associated with positive health outcomes. These include optimism, hopefulness, resilience and hardiness.

Health as unequally distributed
Inequalities in health are considered in relation to material circumstances, affluence and poverty, gender, ethnicity and culture, geography and place.

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment50% Examination Weight50%
Course Work Breakdown
TypeDescription% of totalAssessment Date
Reassessment Requirement
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories;
1 = A resit is available for all components of the module
2 = No resit is available for 100% continuous assessment module
3 = No resit is available for the continuous assessment component
Unavailable
Indicative Reading List

  • Arthur W. Frank: 1995, The wounded storyteller, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 0226259927
  • Orbach, S: 2010, Bodies, Profile, London,
  • Martin E. P. Seligman,: 0, Flourish: A New Understanding of Happiness, Well-Being - And How to Achieve Them., 9781857885699
  • Nicholas Agar,: 0, Liberal Eugenics, 9781405123907
  • Susan Bordo; new preface by the author; new foreword by Leslie Heywood: 2003, Unbearable weight, University of California Press, Berkeley, Calif., 9780520240544
  • Brown, A: 2009, Personal Responsibility: Why it matters, Continuum, London,
  • Allen Buchanan,: 0, Better than Human: The Promise and Perils of Enhancing Ourselves, 9780199797875
  • 0: Smile or Die, 31176
  • 0: Culture, bodies and the sociology of health, 31177
  • 0: Man's Search for Meaning, 31178
  • 2005: The obesity epidemic, Routledge, New York, 31118
  • 2008: Fat, Polity, Cambridge, U.K., 31179
  • 0: Understanding Health Inequalities, 31180
  • 0: Body image, 31181
  • 2010: Enhancing Evolution: The ethical case for making better people, Princeton University Press, Princeton University, 31117
  • 0: Fat, Gluttony and Sloth, 31182
  • 0: Smoking Kills, 31119
  • 2008: Sociology of the body, Oxford University Press, Don Mills, Ont., 31120
  • 2002: Key concepts and debates in health and social policy, Open University Press, Philadelphia, PA, 31183
  • 0: The new genetics and the public's health, 31184
  • 0: Enhancing Human Capacities, 31121
  • 0: Social inequalities in health, 31185
  • 0: Modernism and Eugenics, 31186
  • 0: Against Moral Responsibility, 31122
  • 2006: Social determinants of health, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 31187
  • 0: The media and body image,
Other Resources

None
Programme or List of Programmes
BHSBachelor of Science in Health & Society
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