This unit exposes students to a sociological approaches to health, wellbeing and disease and asks questions such as: who gets sick, who is healthy, how diseases are understood, and how health care practices are distributed and organised. Health and wellbeing are considered from individual and population perspectives with a particular focus on the social distribution and patterning of health and illness, inequalities in health, experiences of health and illness and the politics of health care.
The unit focuses on both the Australian and global health contexts and students will participate in a 'public sociology' project to engage with sociological knowledge about health and suggest ways to improve health outcomes among at-risk groups using a social model of health.

Unit details

Location:
Footscray Park
Study level:
Undergraduate
Credit points:
12
Unit code:
SHE3001

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Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
  1. Argue how social and cultural factors affect health outcomes at individual and population levels using sociological concepts and evidence;  
  2. Investigate a global health issue using a social model of health; and,  
  3. Contextualise sociological aspects of health to a non-specialist audience.  

Assessment

Assessment type Description Grade
Report Topic responses x 2 (empirical task and reflection task) 30%
Research Paper Reading summary and critical review 30%
Project Produce 1 podcast episode in groups 40%