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Unit of Study SOC20003 - Society, Health and Illness (2014)

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Unit Snapshot

  • Enrolment information

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Unit description

Provides an overview of sociological concepts and perspectives on health and illness, whilst focusing primarily on Australian society. Examines the causes, nature and outcomes of key health inequalities as well as the main attempts to rectify them. The social, cultural and political consequences of health inequalities are illuminated.

Unit content

1. Sociological approaches to the study of health and illness.
2a The social distribution of health and illness in Australian society; Class and workplace health
2b The social distribution of health and illness in Australian society; Gender, Indigenous health and ethnicity
3a The social organisation of health care; Rural health and medical dominance
3b The social organisation of health care; Nursing and alternative medicine
4. The Australian health care system.
5. The social context of mental health and disability
6. Health promotion and illness prevention.
7a Health, politics and social change
7b Health, politics and social change; The role of media

Availabilities

Location Domestic International
Gold Coast Session 1 Session 1
Online Session 1 Session 1

Learning outcomes and graduate attributes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

GA1: Intellectual rigour, GA2: Creativity, GA3: Ethical practice, GA4: Knowledge of a discipline, GA5: Lifelong learning, GA6: Communication and social skills, GA7: Cultural competence
Learning outcome count Learning outcome description GA1 GA2 GA3 GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7
1 critically analyse sociological perspectives on health and illness
2 recognise how health, illness and the healthcare system are outcomes of the ways in which society is organised
3 identify the social, economic, political and cultural aspects involved in reproducing or changing health inequalities in Australian society
4 critically evaluate health status in relation to stratification concepts of class, gender, ethnicity and regionality.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. critically analyse sociological perspectives on health and illness
    • GA4:
  2. recognise how health, illness and the healthcare system are outcomes of the ways in which society is organised
    • GA7:
  3. identify the social, economic, political and cultural aspects involved in reproducing or changing health inequalities in Australian society
    • GA1:
  4. critically evaluate health status in relation to stratification concepts of class, gender, ethnicity and regionality.
    • GA4:

Prescribed learning resources

Prescribed Texts
  • No prescribed texts.

Prescribed Learning Resources may change in future Teaching Periods.