Module: Health, Illness and Society

Module Information


Module Information

Lead tutor: Dr Sara Shaw

Additional Tutors: Dr Moira Kelly, Prof Trisha Greenhalgh

 

Phone: 020 7882 7325

Emails: s.shaw@qmul.ac.uk, m.j.kelly@qmul.ac.uk,
p.greenhalgh@qmul.ac.uk

  

This module counts 15 credits towards your MSc (180 credits) or Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits). It is a core module for the MSc in International Primary Health Care and optional for other courses. You are expected to undertake a total of 150 hours of study, including private study, attending lectures and seminars, and preparing the assignment. Attendance at lectures and seminars is a course requirement.

 

 

HEALTH, ILLNESS AND SOCIETY


INTRODUCTION TO THE MODULE (TG 27th Sept)

Orientation: Aims and objectives, assignment

Lecture: Sociology of health and illness: a map of the field

Virtual seminar: Key concepts in medical sociology


RESEARCHING ILLNESS IN ITS SOCIAL CONTEXT (MK 4th Oct)

Lecture: Introduction to social research on health and illness

Virtual seminar: Interviews


PROFESSIONS AND THE CLINICAL RELATIONSHIP (SS 11th Oct)

Lecture: Professions, power and trust

Virtual seminar: Discourse analysis


THE ILLNESS EXPERIENCE (MK 18th Oct)

Lecture: Theoretical perspectives on illness experience

Virtual seminar: Narrative health research


CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF A QUALITATIVE PAPER (TG 25th Oct)

Lecture: Appraising qualitative papers

Virtual seminar: Critical appraisal


READING WEEK


RISK AND SURVEILLANCE (SS 8th Nov)

Lecture: The sociology of risk

Virtual seminar: Thinking critically about medical screening


EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE (TG 15th Nov)

Lecture: Evidence-based medicine as a social movement

Debate: “We need more guidelines”


THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY (SS 22nd Nov)

Lecture: Sociology understandings of pharmaceutical industry

Virtual seminar: Documentary analysis


DISEASE, ILLNESS AND DEATH (MK 29th Nov)

Lecture: The social construction of disease, illness and death

Virtual seminar: The ‘good death’: sociological perspectives


SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE (SS 6th Dec)

Lecture: Big science, little science

Virtual debate: Should contemporary medicine offer longevity without disability and infirmity?

 

Supplementary reading list

 

SS = Dr Shaw   TG = Prof Greenhalgh   MK = Dr Kelly

Core Reading

Module textbook:

Handbook of Medical Sociology. 6th edn. Edited by Bird CE, Conrad P, Fremont AM, Timmermans S. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press; 2010 (Check Library availability or buy it here)


Virtual Seminars

In this module, instead of attending seminars in a classroom, you will join a virtual group and address a task in the online environment, facilitated by one of the module tutors. You will need to log into the seminar on QMPlus within 24 hours of the lecture and respond to the instructions there. You are required to make at least three postings in this forum and respond to three postings by other people before the next week’s session. The content of your postings is not graded, but you will lose marks if you do not make any postings. One student will be nominated to moderate the seminar and summarise key points.

Prepare 200 words to post in the virtual seminar room on “An example of illness and healthcare in social context”.