Course Syllabus

GRNS 435 TR1/ HLTH 210

Exploring Health Care and Culture: Learning Through Immersion in Oaxaca

Spring Semester 2016

March 4-13, 2016

Dates with pre- and post- travel sessions

Faculty: Carol Buck-Rolland, EdD, APRN; TA: Madeline Mann, MS, FNP

Credits: 3 Credits

Pre-requisites: Graduate Standing or upperclass undergraduate standingand instructor permission/ Application essay required.

Class size: Maximum: 12

Course Overview:This course will explore, compare, and contrast current concepts of healthstatus and health care delivery,includingcultural health carepractices in Oaxaca, Mexico and the United States. Students will explore and gain an appreciation for cultural diversity by exploring the social, psychological, health practices, and historical trajectories of Oaxacan and U.S. perceptions within the overarching theme of health. Our investigation is collaborative with Mexican expertise, integrating speakers, presentations and discussions throughonline and group field study. Our local community situation and travels to Oaxaca will expose us to teachers, activists, migrants, health care practitioners, and humanitarian enthusiasts with diverse backgrounds enabling collective and individual insight and reflection.By discovering the ideologies, policies, and practices of culture and health carein cross-cultural contexts, we hope to better serve, and enable optimal health care to our current and future patients.

Logistics: The immersion experience willinclude lodging in ahomestayin the city of Oaxaca, permitting close contact with the food and traditions of Oaxaca. Our class days in Oaxaca willfocus on Mexican culture, health, and health care. Observation and participation with health care providersin Oaxaca City will provide active learning and an increased appreciation of the Mexican health care system. Additionally, we will spend an overnight in a rural village to gain first-hand experience with Oaxacan culture and health care practices in remote, rural settings. We will also gain understanding of the cultural importance of foods and various health care beliefs and practices in Mexico. Pre- and post-travel classes will help to prepare and enhance our learning, see below for specifics.

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course the student will be able to:

  1. Examine historical, environmental, social, and political forces that impact the health of people living in Oaxaca.
  2. Compare and contrast health care practices and models of health care delivery in Oaxaca, MX and the U.S.to develop greater awareness and understanding about various practices within the health care system in Mexico.
  3. Explore the physical, mental and spiritual health of Oaxacan people in a cultural context.
  4. Analyze the complexity of the roles of the health care provider in primary care and public health through a variety of experiences in urban and rural settings.
  5. Experience, through active participation,health beliefs and the delivery of health care in urban and rural settings in Oaxaca.
  6. Explore and experience, through active participation, marginalized populations in Oaxaca, reflecting upon their overall health and wellbeing

Attainment of the above course objectives is facilitated through ongoing and active:

  • examination and reflection upon ways of dealing with oppression and domination;
  • exploration of one’s own cultural dilemmas while examining dilemmas of others;
  • development of a greater understanding of one’s role in a world that is increasingly interrelated, complex, and fragile.

Teaching Strategies: The course will utilize lecture and discussion formats for individual classes, both pre-travel and while in Oaxaca. During the pre-travel meetings, language acquisition in Spanish will be incorporated to insure basic communication for students and common terms used in the delivery of health care. Online readings and learning activities will be utilized to enhance the preparatory aspect of the course.

Pre- and Post travel class dates:The pre-travel class meetings are TBA.The post-travel final class/ fiesta will be planned within ~3weeks following our immersion experience.

Required reading:TBA

Good ethnography is an intellectual exorcism in which, forced to take the perspective of the other, we are wrenched out of our self. We transcend ourselves, and for a brief moment we wonder who we are, whether we are animals, barbarians or angels, whether all things are really the same under the sun, whether it would be better if the other were us, or better if we were the other. (Shweder, 1986, New York Times Book Review, 21: 38)

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