Course Description

[This is a certified Communication-intensive (Ci) Course which meets all of the requirements endorsed by HKU’s Senate, including i) the teaching and assessment of written, oral, and visual communication ‘literacies’; and ii) at least 40% of the course grade assigned to communication-rich assessment tasks.]

To examine health in its truest sense, one must explore beyond the limits of medicine to engage a much wider set of questions embracing social, cultural, political, economic, moral and spiritual aspects of human experience. The aim of this course is for students to gain greater insight into the multi-dimensional aspects of health and to develop a more holistic and humanistic appreciation of health in both a personal and societal context. The course will encourage students to look critically at various models of health, to understand the complexities of health-related behaviours and to appreciate the possible roles played by politico-social forces, cultural change and spiritual disorientation in shaping well-being. The humanistic aspects of health will be examined through an exploration of the winding journey from illness to healing, with illness often being the wake-up call for individuals to re-evaluate the way they approach life and thus inspire questions about self–awareness, self–actualization and spirituality.

Course Learning Outcomes

On completing the course, students will be able to:

1. Explain health as a multi-dimensional and dynamic concept, which necessarily integrates individual, societal, biomedical, spiritual, cultural and historical influences, and how this relates to health issues encountered in everyday life.
2. Assess the inter-relatedness of health perceptions and practices across cultures.
3. Discuss personal responsibilities towards achieving health in a rational way and how this contributes to the individual, community and global good.
4. Critically evaluate the meaning of health through the analysis of qualitative and quantitative health information, literary and artistic works and personal introspection.
5. Use written, oral and visual modalities to effectively communicate concepts related to health and wellbeing.

Offer Semester and Day of Teaching

First semester (Wed)