UNIT 2: LEARNING OBJECTIVES

  • To introduce different ways of thinking about health, culturally and historically.
  •  To consider the different status given to ‘lay’ beliefs about health.
  • To begin to explore ideas about the group project.
Exercise
Number		 Exercises Handouts Approximate Timings
1 Recap from Unit 1 and Introduction to Unit 2 15 mins
2 Causes and Treatments of Illness/Medical and Alternative approaches A 45 mins
3 Historical and Cultural Ideas about Health B 45 mins
4 Different Views 30 mins
5 The Group Project 60 mins
6 Recap and summary Learning Logs 15 mins
Total Time approx. 3 hours 30 mins

UNIT 2: TUTOR SUMMARY NOTES

EXERCISE 1: RECAP FROM UNIT 1 AND INTRODUCTION TO UNIT 2
(15 minutes)

The purpose of this short exercise is to remind participants of what they covered in the previous session. It lets them share thoughts and ideas that they may have had  and allows them to link into this unit.

EXERCISE 2: CAUSES AND TREATMENTS OF ILLNESS: MEDICAL and ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES (45 minutes)

This can be a very stimulating and fun exercise. Participants often come up with remedies that no-one has ever heard of before. Encourage people to talk about what it was like to take these remedies and why they were told it would be ‘good for them’.

EXERCISE 3: HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL IDEAS ABOUT HEALTH
(45 minutes)

This is the first main exercise on the course that involves reading and feeding back to the group. Encourage the pairs/small groups to talk through the section together and come up with main points that can be easily fed back. An alternative to this would be to give each pair/small group a sheet of flipchart paper and markers and ask them to visually sketch out the ideas that are outlined in the section that they’ve been given. This can be a more active and creative way of doing this exercise. Try and leave enough time for some discussion of Handout B as it tends to stimulate interesting debate.

Another useful reference is a chapter from Cornelia Featherstone’s book ‘The Medical Marriage’ entitled – ‘Health and Wellness as the Focus of Health Care’.

EXERCISE 4: DIFFERENT VIEWS (30 minutes)

This exercise may bring out some quite personal issues. Make sure that people are comfortable with this and emphasise that they don’t have to talk about things if they don’t want to. It is, however, a useful stage to remind participants about the ground rules (confidentiality, respect, support, etc.) which should make it easier for people to speak out if they want to.

EXERCISE 5: THE GROUP PROJECT (60 minutes)

 As participants realize what is fully involved with the Group Project they will need some fairly substantial reassurance from you. Try to get participants to decide t this point whether they want to do the Project in small groups or in one large group.

EXERCISE 6: RECAP AND SUMMARY (15 minutes)

Recap, summary and learning logs.