Major Overview
- Description
In order to be effective, health care professionals need to understand not only the workings of the body from a scientific perspective, but also to know how people and societies function, and the art and science of caring for people. A caring health professional is assisted by interpretive ability and insight, applies ethical sensitivity and has an awareness of their own values and attitudes. The aim of this major is to prepare individuals working across the health professions for caring for poeple through bringing together the traditions of humanities, inquiry, compassion, and judgment to bear on the management and on the promotion of health and the treatment of illness. Those traditions include the many ways cultures have of representing, narrating, analyzing, knowing, and organizing health, illness, treatment and human interactions.
Students should be aware that this major does not provide a pathway to an Honours.- Outcomes
Students are able to:
- Demonstrate understanding of the historical, cultural, religious and political contexts of theories and practices related to health and medicine
- Demonstrate utility of perspectives derived from the humanities in analyzing approaches and practices related to health and medicine
- Explore and understand connections among health and medicine with the arts including literature, music and visual arts, and the use of the arts as a tool for healing
- Review, analyse, consolidate and synthesize knowledge from a variety of sources about what it means to be human and its translation into the optimal care of people
- Demonstrate ability to self-reflect on values and unconscious biases that impact on health and health care
- Apply effective communication skills using written, visual and verbal forms in demonstrating understanding of learning outcomes and in the potential care of others.
- Broadening guidelines
All students studying towards a Bachelor's Degree at UWA are required to Broaden their studies by completing a minimum of four units (24 points) of study outside their degree specific major. Broadening is your opportunity to explore other areas of interest, investigate new disciplines and knowledge paradigms and to shape your degree to suit your own aspirations and interests. Many of you will be able to undertake more than this minimum amount of broadening study and we encourage you to do so if this suits your aspirations. Over the next few months you will find here some broadening suggestions related to your degree-specific major. While we know that many students value guidance of this sort, these are only suggestions and students should not lose sight of the opportunity to explore that is afforded by your Broadening Choices. Advice can also be sought from your Allocated Student Advising Office.
- Prerequisites
Students who have not achieved a scaled mark of at least 50 in ATAR Mathematics Applications or equivalent or higher, will need to successfully complete MATH1720 Mathematics Fundamentals in their first 48 points of study in this course.
- Corequisite
- None
- Incompatibilities
- None
- Courses
Humanities in Health and Medicine can be taken as a degree-specific major in the following degree courses:
Example Study Plan
See study plans for more information.
Units
Key to availability of units:
- S1
- Semester 1
- S2
- Semester 2
- SS
- summer teaching period
- N/A
- not available in 2025 – may be available in 2026 or 2027
- NS
- non-standard teaching period
Students who do not have ATAR Mathematics Applications or equivalent or higher, are required to successfully complete MATH1720 in their first year.
Level 1
Bridging units
Take units if applicable:
Students who do not have ATAR Mathematics Applications or equivalent or higher, are required to successfully complete MATH1720 in their first year.
| Availability | Unit code | Unit name | unit requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1, S2 | MATH1720 | Mathematics Fundamentals |
|
Degree-specific major units
Level One—take unit(s) to the value of 12 points:
| Availability | Unit code | Unit name | unit requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | ANTH1001 | Being Human: Culture, Identity and Society |
|
| S2 | ENGL1902 | Reading Bodies | None |
| S2 | HART1003 | Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art | None |
| S1 | INDG1150 | Aboriginal Encounters: Strangers in our Backyard |
|
| S1 | LAWS1111 | Law in Context | None |
| S2 | NEUR1001 | Neuroscience in Society | None |
| S1, SS | PHIL1002 | Introduction to Critical Thinking |
|
| S2 | PSYC1102 | Psychology: Behaviour in Context | None |
| S1 | PUBH1101 | Health and Illness in Human Populations | None |
| S2 | PUBH1102 | Foundations of Global Health | None |
Level 2
Degree-specific major units
Level 2—take the following unit:
| Availability | Unit code | Unit name | unit requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| S2 | BMED2001 | Humanities in Health and Medicine |
|
Degree-specific major units
Level 2 Options—take unit(s) to the value of 12 points:
| Availability | Unit code | Unit name | unit requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | AHEA2201 | Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing |
|
| N/A | ARTF2031 | Living Art | |
| N/A | IMED2200 | Mental Wellbeing for Today's World | None |
| S2 | LAWS2220 | Birth, Life and Death: Health and Medical Law |
|
| S1 | PHIL2001 | Bioethics |
|
| S1 | PUBH2204 | Disease Prevention and Control |
|
Level 3
Degree-specific major units
Take all units (18 points):
| Availability | Unit code | Unit name | unit requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | BMED3001 | Narrative Medicine for research, education and practice |
|
| S1 | BMED3002 | Application of Humanities to Health care |
|
| S2 | BMED3003 | Building the bridge while walking over it: the journey to person centred health care |
Degree-specific major units
Take unit(s) to the value of 6 points:
SVLG3003 may meet the WIL placement requirements for BMED3003