28121 - ANTHROPOLOGY OF HEALTH

Subject type: Basic

Coordinator: Carolina Chabrera Sanz

Trimester: Second term

Credits: 6

The subject will be taught in Catalan by default. This criterion may be modified from time to time in response to general or specific situations that require it. La llengua d'expressió de l'alumnat en el context de l'aula, així com en el desenvolupament de les diferents activitats d'avaluació, podrà ser català o castellà indistintament. Students who prefer to take the final exam in Spanish must request it from the subject at least one week in advance. 

The complexity of health, disease, and care processes calls for the need for interdisciplinary analytical approaches that often transcend the boundaries of the so-called biomedical sciences. In response to this claim, the subject of Health Anthropology will propose to the student a tour of the main fields of intersection between the Health Sciences and the Social Sciences. Within this broad spectrum, an itinerary will be proposed in which priority will be given to the identification and recognition of the contributions made from an anthropological perspective on the understanding of the health-disease-care process. At the end of the course the student will be able to identify the social and cultural factors involved in the health-illness process. The follow-up of the course will provide a set of reflective knowledge and skills that will allow you to address health and disease beyond its biological dimension. Students will also be able to recognize the specific contributions of Anthropology to the field of health, valuing the advantages of incorporating a sociocultural perspective into the professional practice of nursing.

The program is composed of four thematic modules arranged in attention to the learning objectives of the subject. Through each of them, different fields of Health Anthropology will be explored in a compartmentalized way. However, the progression route marked by the teaching methodology aims to promote an integrated view of the subject, facilitating the identification of the contributions of Anthropology to the professional practice of Nursing. The course of the program will allow to achieve the general objectives of learning in a progressive way. All the modules will have a theoretical part from which the main contents explained in the syllabus will be introduced. At the same time, each module will include seminars for small groups where students' ability to relate theoretical concepts to readings and / or case studies will be stimulated. The first three modules are designed with the general aim of introducing students to the reflective field of Health Anthropology. The itinerary first proposes an approach to the concepts of society and culture, understood as constitutive elements of all human experience. Subsequently, and moving the center of attention to a more specific level, the program will approach the field of health, disease and care, valuing its close link with the social order and the diversity of forms. cultural. Through the fourth module - “Anthropology and Nursing” - the spaces of relationship between the concepts of Anthropology and the universe of Nursing praxis will be explored. The aim is to invite students to take an anthropological look at the objects, debates and practices of Nursing

LO1. Identify the diversity of health practices in relation to the diversity of cultural contexts

LO2. Assess culturally appropriate strategies in the health care planning process

LO3. Incorporate culturally appropriate strategies into the health care process (culturally competent nursing interventions

LO4. Describe and analyze health-disease-care issues in an anthropological key.

LO6. Identify the socio-cultural factors that influence a person's behavior

RA21. It identifies gender biases in existing knowledge about health-disease processes.

RA22. Learn about gender concepts related to the health sciences, identifying the health importance of gender identity, roles and sociocultural beliefs in women and men.

RA23. It identifies the articulation of gender inequalities with other inequalities of age, social class, origin, ethnic-cultural, sexual orientation, different capacities and their expression in people's health.

RA25. Know and use the contributions of women and gender studies in the discipline.

MD1. Expository class sessions: aimed at the presentation and discussion of the central contents of the syllabus. 

MD2. Seminars: Group work, cooperative learning activities, analysis and presentation of readings, dynamization of debates, case studies. 

MD6. Group face-to-face tutorials: Monitoring activities and formative evaluation to guide on learning concepts, skills and attitudes. Pedagogical guidelines for the improvement of cooperative and individual learning.

MD11. Self-employment: Reflective synthesis of the general contents of the subject, readings and analysis of texts, viewing of audiovisual materials, exploration of additional resources, preparation of the evaluations. 

MODULE 1: THE HUMAN CONDITION AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY (16pm): Objectives: Identify the main conditions of human existence, and understand the role of the social environment and culture in our process of adaptation to the world. Recognize the field of health and illness as realities conditioned by the social structure, and as experiences conditioned by cultural discourses. Teaching methodology and group typology: This first module will articulate 6 theoretical-reflective plenary sessions, a reading seminar and a case study. The seminars will be organized around the title "Towards a practical exploration of cultural diversity" and the groups in charge of facilitating them will attend a group tutorial beforehand.

Topic 1. The anthropological foundations of the human condition

• 1.1 The fundamental dimensions of human existence
• 1.2 Cognitive revolution, humanization and symbolic capacity
• 1.3 The human being as a social and cultural being
• 1.4 The internalization of social reality and the socialization process
• 1.5 Investigating societies and cultures: an introduction to the ethnographic universe

Topic 2. The socio-cultural diversity of human societies

• 2.1 Cultural diversity and representation of difference
• 2.2 Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism
• 2.3 Human mobility, globalization and interrelationships between cultural universes

MODULE 2: THE HEALTH-DISEASE PROCESS AND MEDICAL SYSTEMS. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF HEALTH (16pm): Objectives: To understand more deeply the influence of society and culture on the health-disease process. Identify the structural features of a medical system and recognize the existing diversity at the etiological, diagnostic and therapeutic level. Know the main theoretical concepts formulated from the Anthropology of Health for the description and analysis of the different medical systems. Recognize the formation process of the Western medical system and identify its socio-cultural particularities. Teaching methodology and group typology: The module will have five theoretical plenary sessions and two seminars on ethnographic cases. The groups in charge of dynamizing them will previously attend a group tutorial.

Topic 3. Medical systems and care models

• 3.1 Conceptions of health and illness as a cultural system
• 3.2 Culture, etiology and therapeutics I: explanatory models and therapeutic itineraries
• 3.3 Culture, etiology and therapeutics II: care pluralism

Topic 4. Medicine, science and belief

• 4.1 A new object of study for the anthropology of health: ethnomedicine
• 4.2 Anthropology of health and pragmatism: case study of applied medical anthropology
• 4.3 The reverse side of the gaze and critical medical anthropology: biomedicine as an object of study

Topic 5. The disease seen by anthropology. Critical approach to the hegemonic medical model

• 5.1 The historicity of the medical view
• 5.2 Particularism, multicausality and multidimensionality
• 5.3 The organic correlates of cultural universes: Symbolic effectiveness and epigenetics

MODULE 3: THE ECONOMIC-POLITICAL DIMENSION OF HEALTH AND ILLNESS (14pm): Objectives: Focus on the health-illness-care process from the perspective of the social structure. Understand the relationship between social inequalities and epidemiological indicators. Explore the causes and treatment of diseases from a social and economic-political perspective. Know the contributions of social epidemiology in the study of health and inequalities. Teaching methodology and group typology: The module will be developed through 4 plenary sessions of a theoretical nature, a reading seminar and a case study. The seminars will be organized around the title "Illness as a stigma" and the groups in charge of dynamizing them will attend a group tutorial beforehand.

Topic 6. Social exclusion and illness

• 6.1 Inequality, poverty and health
• 6.2 The social structure and the anthropology of the body: an approach to the notion of Embodiment.
• 6.3 Social class, gender and "race": Intersectionality and health

Topic 7. Social determination of Health: structural determinants versus lifestyles

• 7.1 The birth of Social Medicine
• 7.2 Environment, material conditions of life and health: theoretical and methodological proposals
• 7.3 Environment, material conditions of life and health: case study

Topic 8. Illness and social exclusion

• 8.1 An approach to the notion of stigma in the field of health
• 8.2 Stigma and pathologization of difference
• 8.3 Mental health, infectious-contagious diseases and functional diversity

MODULE 4: ANTHROPOLOGY AND NURSING. TOWARDS AN ANTHROPOLOGY OF CARE 

(14pm): Objectives: Link the background of the previous modules with the specific universe of Nursing practice. Understanding Nursing ethics from the care-curing dialectic. Understand the universal potential of the "caring" paradigm, valuing its necessary adaptability in intercultural contexts. Teaching methodology and group typology: Module 4 will have four plenary sessions and two reading seminars. The seminars will be organized around the title "(Re)thinking nursing from Anthropology" and the groups in charge of dynamizing them will previously attend a group tutorial.

Topic 9. Nursing beyond procedures

• 9.1 Vulnerability, care, society and culture
• 9.2 Nursing and Anthropology: a history of contacts and alliances
• 9.3 The construction of the Ethnonursing perspective

Topic 10. Anthropology of care and transcultural nursing applied to professional practice

• 10.1 Theoretical and methodological proposals from transcultural nursing
• 10.2 Uses of the paradigm of transculturality: review of care cases in migratory contexts
• 10.3 Overcoming models of cultural competence: Critical epidemiology and structural vulnerability

The assessment system has been designed with the intention of stimulating a progressive assimilation of learning objectives. The combination of different assessment activities will encourage the acquisition of formal and reflective skills, as well as an integrated view of the contents and practices proposed throughout the course. The evaluation criteria of the different activities and the characteristics of the written test will be presented in the first class and will be posted in the virtual classroom of the ESCS where they can always be consulted by students in favor of clarity. and transparency. The relationship between assessable activities, weighted score percentage and assessed competencies is specified under the following formula:

Component A. SE3: Group work and conducting a discussion seminar (20%) 

Component B. SE2: Individual works. Integrated in the Continuous Assessment system (30%) 

Component C. SE1: Theoretical and reflective exam at the end of the term (50%) 

Conditions for averaging: Obtain a grade equal to or higher than 5 in both component A, as well as components B and C.

Important note: The total or partial copy in any of the learning activities will mean a "Not Presented" in the subject, without option to present in the proof of recovery and without prejudice of the opening of a file for this reason.

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Le Breton, D. (1999), Anthropology of pain. Seix Barral, Barcelona.

Mallart Guimerà, Lluís (1992) I am the son of the Evuzok. The life of an anthropologist in Cameroon. Barcelona, ​​La Campana.

Martínez Hernáez A, (2008), Medical Anthropology. Theories about culture, power and disease. Anthopos, Barcelona.

Torralba, F. (1998) Anthropology of Caring. Borja Institute of Bioethics / Mapfre Medicine Foundation, Barcelona.

Esteban, Mari Luz, comp. (2007) Introduction to the anthropology of health. Theoretical and practical applications. Bilbao, OSALDE-OP.

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Winkelman, M. (2009) Culture and Health: Applying Medical Anthropology. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 

Esteller, Manel (2017): I'm not my DNA, RBA Books, Barcelona (Catalan version: I'm not my DNA, La Magrana, Barcelona)

Helman, Cecil (1994) Culture, Health and Illness. An Introduction for Health Professionals. London: Butterworth-Heinemann (Later editions. There is a Portuguese translation)

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SAAVEDRA SOLANO, Nayelhi I. Conceptualization of emotions in three medical systems: traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda and traditional Mexican medicine, in Revista Latinoamericana de Estudios sobre Cuerpos, Emociones y Sociedad. No. 20 Year 8. April 2016-July 2016. Argentina. ISSN 1852-8759. pp. 41-53.