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2023　Essence of Humanities and Social Sciences23:Contemporary Society Viewed from Medical Care

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Academic unit or major
Humanities and social science courses
Instructor(s)
Kagawa Yumi 
Class Format
Lecture    (Face-to-face)
Media-enhanced courses
Day/Period(Room No.)
Wed3-4(J2-203(J221))  
Group
-
Course number
LAH.S501
Credits
1
Academic year
2023
Offered quarter
3Q
Syllabus updated
2023/3/20
Lecture notes updated
-
Language used
Japanese
Access Index

Course description and aims

This course will focus on social issues related to health and medicine. Students will examine the issues through a combination of lectures and group work.
The lectures in this course will introduce interdisciplinary knowledge surrounding healthcare, including medicine, public health, health behavior, medical sociology, and medical communication, so that students will be able to experience the challenges of a single theme from various perspectives.
The aims of this course are:
1) to learn that there are various viewpoints and opinions when considering a single issue and to acquire the ability to grasp things from a bird's eye view
2) to acquire communication skills to convey what one thinks in one's own words to others
3) to acquire problem-solving skills to explore the essence of issues through group discussions.

Student learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to:
1) Understand contemporary social challenges viewed from medical care.
2) Discuss about social challenges in a logical way and propose plural solutions.
3) Explain one’s own opinion logically to others
4) Understand others’ way of seeing, communicate and facilitate consensus-building
5) Understand the process of “consensus-building” and “value-creation”, and learn how to apply the skills to other topics.

Course taught by instructors with work experience

✔ Applicable How instructors' work experience benefits the course
As a patient myself, I have experiences in the activities of a patients' association and in the management of a non-profit organization where patients and people with disabilities give lectures about their experiences. In this class, I would like to introduce the diversity of opinions surrounding medical care in the real world in a more concrete way by introducing the stories of actual patients.

Keywords

health and medicine, social issues, medicine, public health, health behavior, medical sociology, health communication

Competencies that will be developed

Specialist skills ✔ Intercultural skills ✔ Communication skills ✔ Critical thinking skills Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

This class will be conducted face-to-face (in Japanese).
The first through fourth sessions will be lectures, and the fifth through seventh sessions will be group work.
Group work will be conducted with the same members over the three classes. Group members will share information gathering and analysis and engage in discussions to explore the essence of the issues. To encourage students to participate more proactively, group members will be asked to choose one theme of their choice from among those covered in the first through the fourth lectures. Students will be asked to form groups of three or four with other students who wish to work on the same theme.

Course schedule/Required learning

  Course schedule Required learning
Class 1 (1) Class guidance: Purpose of this class, skills to be acquired, how to proceed with the class, and grading (2) Lecture 1: Social issues surrounding health and medical care Overview of perspectives when considering social issues surrounding health and medical care (individual, interpersonal, and social levels), social determinants of health, health disparities, etc. After the lecture, students are expected to be able to explain social disparities in health, "individual level" and "social level" factors affecting health, etc.
Class 2 Lecture 2: Health and medical issues from the individual level Overview of the influence of individual knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors on health, patient perspectives and behaviors, health literacy, etc. Review the first lecture.
Class 3 Lecture 3: Health and medical issues from the interpersonal level Overview of the characteristics and issues of interpersonal communication in medical situations, and the characteristics and issues of health-related interpersonal communication in daily life situations. Review the second lecture.
Class 4 (1) Lecture 4: Health and medical issues from the social level Overview of the impact of media information on health, risk communication, health promotion activities, etc. (2) Instructions and group allocation for group work in the 5th through 7th lectures Review the third lecture.
Class 5 Groupwork (1) Tasks to be assigned until the next week will be decided by group discussion.
Class 6 Groupwork (2) Continuation of group work.
Class 7 Groupwork (3) Preparing a final report based on the contents discussed in the group work.

Out-of-Class Study Time (Preparation and Review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

None required

Reference books, course materials, etc.

Reference books: ※Please refer to the Japanese description column.
Course materials: course materials are provided during class.

Assessment criteria and methods

(1) Comprehension of lectures: A quiz will be given in each of the first four classes to check students' understanding of the lectures (40% of the total grade)
(2) Contribution to group work: Participation in group work will be checked in each of the 5th through 7th classes (30% of the total grade)
(3) Final report: A report on the group work (approximately 1,000words in Japanese or 500 words in English) (30% of the total grade)
The final report will be evaluated comprehensively from the following points of view:
・Logicality and originality of the idea for setting the task
・Ability to listen to the opinions of group members and build consensus
・How you contributed to the group work

Related courses

  • LAH.S401 ： Essence of Humanities and Social Sciences1:Toward Our True Nature

Prerequisites (i.e., required knowledge, skills, courses, etc.)

There is no particular medical expertise or skill that you should have acquired in advance.
Japanese will be used in class and group discussions. Reports will be accepted in English.

Other

This course is 500-level course.
Tokyo Tech’s “wedge-shaped style education” enables students to pursue liberal arts education in a phased manner throughout undergraduate and graduate programs.
Students are encouraged to take 100-level to 600-level courses in order. As such, master’s students must begin Humanities and Social Science courses at the 400 level (in 1Q/2Q of the first year for those entering in April, and 3Q/4Q for those entering in September), then proceed to 500-level courses (in 3Q/4Q or later for those entering in April, and 1Q/2Q of the following year or later for those entering in September).

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