Women and Health

SOCIOLOGY 4153

Fall 2005

M, W 2:00-3:15

CH 252

Dr. Lara Foley

Office: Chapman 210

Phone: 631-2050

E-mail: lara-foley@utulsa.edu

Office Hours: M, F 11-12; W 9-10 or by appointment

Website: http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~lara-foley

 

Course Description

This course examines women’s relationship to the healthcare system from a sociological perspective.  We will consider the changing role of women in the US healthcare system as both patients and healthcare providers.  We will also focus on the relationship of various social institutions (family, religion, the economy, the media) to women’s health.  The course also counts towards the women’s studies certificate.

 

Course Objectives

o       To understand the biomedical model of medicine as well as criticisms and alternatives to the biomedical model

• To understand power in the clinical setting
• To understand the effects of race, class, and age on women’s health and healthcare
• To consider violence against women as a public health concern
• To explore the workplace as it relates to women’s health
• To understand how ideal standards of beauty affect women’s health
• To explore women’s reproductive health across the life cycle
• To consider women’s experience of illness
• To understand the politics of women’s health
• To consider women’s health activism

 

Required Texts

Ratcliff, Kathryn Strother.   2002.  Women and Health: Power, Technology, Inequality, and Conflict in a Gendered World.  Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

 

Kasper, Anne S. and Susan J. Ferguson (eds.).  2000.  Breast Cancer: Society Shapes an Epidemic. New York: Palgrave.

 

Course Requirements and Evaluation Criteria

Midterm                       30%

Group Presentation       20%    

Paper                           30%    

Events  (2)                    10%

Participation                 10%

 

Midterm Exam (30%)

There will be a mid-term exam covering all course material including readings, lectures, guest lectures and films.  The exam may include short-answer and short essays. 

 

Group projects and presentations with individual papers: (presentation 20%; paper 30%)

·        Two groups will complete two different projects (described below).  Each group will give a class presentation.  Each individual will write her or his own paper based on the research conducted by the group. 
Group 1: Compare three editions of Our Bodies, Ourselves (available in library) for the presentation of heart disease in women.  Also look at National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for research on women and heart disease over time.  Our Bodies, Ourselves is published by a grassroots, feminist organization, while the NIH is tied to the US federal government.  Are there differences between the two organizations in terms of attention to and prioritizing of heart disease in women?  How has attention to and prioritizing of this issue changed over time? Is it likely that feminist activism has influenced/shaped the public/governmental women’s health care agenda over time?

·        Group 2: Compare and contrast popular women’s health advice literature over time with information in scientific health journals over time [for example, Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)].  How do you explain any differences in what women’s health issues are given attention in these two arenas?

 

Events (10%)

You will be expected to attend two campus or community lectures/events related to women’s health (and/or women’s studies) and write a one-page paper relating the experience to the concepts from this course.  I will provide a list of events that may be updated throughout the semester as I learn of new events.

 

Participation

Participation is a small percentage of the overall grade, but can make a big difference.  Participation will be based on attendance, completing reading assignments, actively listening in class, participating in discussion, and completing mini-assignments outside of class. 

 

Grade translations

A:  Outstanding, Superior, the Best that there is. Written work is presented at the college level, using standard English, with the very minimum of spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors. Shows clear grasp of concepts and demonstrates ability to synthesize material from both inside and outside the classroom. Uses consistent bibliographic style (for papers). Meets deadlines. Goes beyond description to analysis. A papers are both creative and logical.

B:  Very Good. Clearly above average. Written work is presented at the college level, but might have an occasional confusing spot, sentence or spelling mistake, and a somewhat less developed or less creative analysis.

C:  Good. Average. These papers might reveal that the writer probably understand the concepts, but the quality of writing is confusing or underdeveloped so that these essays would not teach concepts to an uneducated audience. These are essays that offer only the author’s opinion or summarize the readings with no attempt at analysis.

D/F:  Below expectations. Below what one would normally expect from a student at their level. Writing marred by mechanical problems. Papers will fail if the level of writing is so confusing, underdeveloped, or error ridden that the reader cannot tell what the writer knows or means.