Comparative Studies in Health

Course Coordinator: Dave Lam, RN

Course Developer: Dr Juliana Hong, Consultant

NURS N301 is a core course for the Bachelor of Nursing programme. This course facilitates students in exploring the impacts of cultural diversity on the different aspects of nursing practice and nursing ethics.

Aims
This course aims to:

• Enhance nurses’ awareness of clients and their own health beliefs as nurtured by different cultures;
• Provide perspectives on social determinants in shaping peoples health behaviours; and
• Reinforce the concepts of ethical and moral reasoning in clinical nursing practice.

Contents
The course covers the following topics:

• Cultural diversity in health beliefs and behaviours
• Social meanings of health and illness
• Health beliefs and health-seeking behaviours
• Clinical and social epidemiology
• Political economy of health I — states of health
• Political economy of health II — the tripartite game
• Introduction to ethics in the context of health
• Ethical theories and the principles of autonomy, beneficence and maleficence
• Principles of justice, feminist ethics and the practice of nursing
• From comparative health studies to contextualized nursing

Learning support
There will be 11 monthly two-hour tutorials throughout the course.

Assessment
There will be three written assignments (two for continuous assessment and one for final examination). All assignments are to be submitted online.

Set book(s)
There is no set book for this course.

Note
In view of the nature and depth of the contents, students are advised to complete other courses in this programme before enrolling for this course.