Medical Humanities and Health Studies
Director Associate Professor David Moller, Sociology and Medicine
Professors Eleanor Kinney, Law; Gary Mitchell, Medicine; David Orentlicher, Law and Medicine; Herman Saatkamp Jr., Philosophy and Medical Genetics; William Schneider, History and Medical Genetics
Associate Professors Jeanette Dickerson-Putman, Anthropology; Anne Donchin, Phiolosophy; Margaret Gaffney, Medicine; Carol Gardner, Sociology; Gregory Gramelspacher, Medicine; William Gronfein, Sociology; Jan Keffer, Nursing; Kimberly Quaid, Medicine; Richard Ward, Anthropology and Dentistry
Assistant Professors Richard Gunderman, Philosophy and Radiology; Janet Nelson, Religious Studies; Stuart Schrader, Communications; Geoffrey Warner, Economics; Eric Wright, Sociology and Nursing
The Medical Humanities and Health Studies Program provides a unique opportunity for students in liberal arts, premedicine, allied health sciences, predentistry, and nursing, and for all those interested in the state of health care in America, to explore the concepts of health and illness from an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary perspective.
Minor in Medical Humanities and Health Studies
The interdisciplinary minor in medical humanities and health studies seeks to promote an increased awareness of the humanistic, social, and cultural dimensions of health care and health care systems. It provides an exciting opportunity for students to work in close conjunction with faculty who have strong teaching and research interests in the area of health care. A survey of the relevant issues to be addressed during the course of study in the minor includes human values and ethics in decision making; the idea of preventive and holistic health and health care; patient care as an art form and scientific endeavor; the relation among ecology, economy, and health care; the relation between cultural and social systems and health and health care; the connection between health care systems and good health; the role of the provider-client relationship, especially in the areas of communications skills and the humanistic dimensions of patient care; the meanings of suffering, illness, and dying; the role of technology in improving care but creating a legacy of dehumanization of patients; and the role of the consumer in the health care system.
The minor entails successful completion of a minimum of 15 credit hours, distributed as follows:
Required Core Course
MH301 Perspectives on Health, Disease and Healing (3 cr.) The course utilizes the perspectives of the humanities and social science disciplines to provide students with a broader understanding of the many facets of health and disease, suffering and dying as well as the art and science of healing.
Electives
A minimum of 3 credit hours must be completed from each of the three following areas:
Humanistic Perspectives on Health Care
Communication Studies
C392 Health Communication (3 cr.)
Philosophy
P393 Biomedical Ethics (3 cr.)
Religious Studies
R384 Religions, Ethics, and Health (3 cr.)
Sociology
R327 Sociology of Death and Dying (3 cr.)
Social Scientific Perspectives on Health Care
Anthropology
A337 African American Health Care (3 cr.)
E421 The Anthropology of Aging (3 cr.)
E445 Medical Anthropology (3 cr.)
Economics
E387 Health Economics (3 cr.)
Geography
G410 Medical Geography (3 cr.)
Sociology
R285 AIDS and Society (3 cr.)
R381 Social Factors in Health and Illness (3 cr.)
R382 Social Organization of Health Care (3 cr.)
R410 Alcohol and Society (3 cr.)
R415 Sociology of Disability
R495 Topic: Women and Madness (3 cr.)
Other Electives
The remaining three credit hours of electives may come from the course above or the following courses:
Medical Humanities and Health Studies
MH492 Topics in Medical Humanities and Health Studies (3 cr.)
MH498 Readings in Medical Humanities and Health Studies (1-3 cr.)
Nursing
Z492 Human Sexuality and the Health Professional (3 cr.)
Political Science
Y200 Topic: U.S. Health Policy (1 cr.)
SPEA
H316 Introduction to Environmental Health (3 cr.)
H320 Introduction to Health Administration (3 cr.)
Note: Other courses may be accepted upon approval of the Medical Humanities and Health Studies Committee. See the Medical Humanities and Health Studies Committee chairperson for information.
Required Exit Course
MH495 Independent Project Seminar in the Medical Humanities and Health Studies (3 cr.) Each student pursuing a minor degree in Medical Humanities and Health Studies Program who has completed at least 9 credit hours toward the degree will take a seminar or be given the opportunity to develop a research or applied project related to the interests of the Medical Humanities and Health Studies Committee. This seminar or project will allow the student to apply the knowledge gained from the course work taken in the Medical Humanities and Health Studies Program, serving to tie together the humanistic and social scientific bases of health care in a directed endeavor of interest to the student. The student should contact the chairperson to arrange the details of this independent project.
