49335 - Medical Anthropology (A-K)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student will acquire the theoretical and methodological tools to adequately consider the socio-cultural dynamics recorded in the experience of illness and forms of care. Starting from the consideration that the process of translating signs of malaise in disease symptoms is mediated by cultural frames of reference, taking no account of the patient's perspective involves the risk of not understanding the meaning of his experience and hampers his participation in the therapeutic process. These themes emerge as central not only in the case of foreign patients, whose cultural context may be very different from that of the medical staff, but in every experience of illness. Through long-established tools, a higher efficiency of the services provided (by reducing the drop out, the non-compliance and barriers to access) and a greater therapeutic effectiveness (thus promoting the health of the population) can be achieved on these issues.

In particular, the student advance her/his knowledge of:

- Cultural moulding of  the illness experience;

- Doctor-patient communication;

- The impact of socio-economic processes on the production of risk factors and diseases;

- Implementation of models for operationalising these problems in the context of the doctor-patient encounter and the more general process of health promotion.

Course contents

In the international context, the course of medical anthropology within the curricula of medicine has long been perceived as an indispensable contribution to a more precise and careful training to effective clinical practice. The contribution of this discipline makes it possible to recognize the limitations of an exclusively biomedical vision of illness, forms of care, and the organization of health services, in respect of which it provides broader interpretive tools, methodological and practical.

 

The topics addressed by the course will be:

·      The role of social sciences in the reconfiguration of clinical practice.

·      The training of doctors: the construction of "a" gaze on the body.

·      The moulding of socio-cultural experience of illness.

·      Disease, illness, sickness: a complex perspective.

·      Social determinants of health and the impact of socio-economic processes on the production of risk factors and diseases.

·      Inequalities in health.

·      The implementation of operational models in the context of health promotion: primary care and strategies for Primary Health Care.

·      Participation and equity in health.

·      The relationships in the space of care: institutional representatives, health professionals, patients.

·      Case studies and evidence of effectiveness.

Readings/Bibliography

The materials will be given during the lessons.

Teaching methods

The teaching methods include the integration of lectures and interactive participation through group exercises.

Assessment methods

The course includes a final oral examination which will be integrated with assessment activities carried out during the lessons.

Office hours

See the website of Angelo Stefanini