Medical Humanities
Overall Objectives
Medical Humanities is a broad field of study that focuses on the intersection between health care, health and illness, and the humanities and social sciences. The overall aim of Medical Humanities is to use the concepts and analytic tools from various humanities disciplines to enhance understanding of the complexities of health and illness, and the provision of health care, at the level of both individual doctors and patients, and health care systems. Some of the disciplines included in the Medical Humanities are:
- History
- Anthropology
- Ethics
- Sociology
- Health Policy
- Aboriginal Health, which draws upon a number of disciplinary conceptual frameworks and methodologies.
Students in the Medical Humanities unit will usually undertake an analytic or theoretical project based on published literature or other documentary sources. These projects do not require ethics approval. The unit is organised as follows:
Semester 6: |
undertake 4 coursework subjects; |
Semester 7: |
early drafts of research report; |
Students may be able to undertake a small-scale data collection or fieldwork project in Medical Humanities, if this is relevant to their research topic, but this would need special permission from the Unit Co-ordinator. Students interested in doing fieldwork or data collection are advised to consider the Social Health unit instead, which may better suit their research interests. Note that there is some flexibility to transfer from Medical Humanities to Social Health after Semester 6 has started.
For further details please go to the Faculty of MDHS AMS website at: http://www.medicine.unimelb.edu.au/ams/
Assessment Breakdown
Research Component
The research component consists of a supervised 7000-8000 word written research report, and is worth 50 points. The mark for this component is made up of 2 elements: a) the research report worth 85%; and b) a supervisor's mark worth 15%, based on an oral presentation done at the beginning of Semester 7.
NB: Students must pass the research component to complete the AMS year successfully.
Coursework Component
The coursework component is worth 50 points (4 x 12.5 points subjects, all in Semester 6). All students undertake the research training subject Qualitative Health Research. The other subjects are chosen from a wide range of subjects offered by the CHS and the Faculty of Arts; see the Faculty's website http://www.arts.unimelb.edu.au/futurestudents/disciplines/ for subject details. Students will be assisted with subject choice in an individual course planning session at the beginning of Semester 6.
NB: The Jamkhed course run by the Australian International Health Institute can be one of the coursework options. This subject is largely self-funded by students.
Student Numbers
Number of places available: 25