Enrolments for 2020 have closed.
Social Determinants of Health
Undergraduate | LTU-PHE101 | 2020
Course information for 2020 intake View information for 2024 course intake
Explore how access to healthcare influences how people interpret, understand and respond to health, wellbeing and illness. Examine how education, race, class, gender and culture guides people’s decision making and expectations of well-being.
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- Part of a degree
- Duration
- 13 weeks
HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Social Determinants of Health
About this subject
At the completion of this subject students will be able to:
- explain common beliefs about health and illness to suggest and discuss the basis of these beliefs and why they persist;
- examine how social and cultural factors shape and determine people's experience of health and illness in different parts of the world;
- compare health and illness outcomes experienced by groups from different social and cultural contexts and explain why differences occur;
- discuss the interactions between health and illness, social perceptions of disease, culture and other societal structures and institutions;
- research and use different types of data and information to understand and explain health and illness issues within a diverse social and cultural context.
- Introduction to the Social Determinants of Health
- Health as a social construct
- Health and culture
- Health and media
- Education as a social determinant of health
- Employment as a social determinant of health
- Health care system and social determinants of health
- The social determinants on a global scale
- Health throughout the life course
- Stigma and discrimination and social determinants of health
- Social justice and social determinants of health
- Gender and social determinants of health
- The economics of the social determinants of health and health inequalities
- Health and the living environment
In this subject students will examine the ways health, well-being and illness are experienced, understood, and responded to by people as social beings who participate in various groups, organisations, communities, and societies. Critical factors such as education, social class, gender, and ethnicity and culture will be explored to examine how social practices, positions, and processes influence access to and use of resources supportive of health and well-being. Theories and frameworks will be examined and assessed so that students can develop an ability to become aware of and interpret various life concerns both personally and professionally and gain a more nuanced awareness of the dynamics operating between the personal and public domains.
- 3 x 20min online 1000 word equ (30%)
- Essay (1500 word equivalent) (35%)
- Report (500 word contribution) (20%)
- Speaking Task -1000 word equiv (15%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
Part of a degree
To enrol in this subject you must be accepted into one of the following degrees:
Core
- LAT-HUN-DEG-2020 - Bachelor of Food and Nutrition
Additional requirements
- Other requirements -
This subject is offered via Open Universities Australia. La Trobe University students can undertake this subject as part of a cross institutional enrolment under certain circumstances, and must seek approval from the Bachelor of Food and Nutrition course coordinator for eligibility. Due to the nature of the subject content and online delivery, enrolments are generally not permitted past the published OUA enrolment date for the study period.
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.
Related degrees
Once you’ve completed this subject it can be credited towards one of the following courses
UndergraduateLAT-HUN-DEG