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Spring 2003
Goals and Objectives
This course seeks to accomplish the following:
Identify and analyze medical issues that affect the female population.
Critically analyze the biases and rhetoric employed by authors of previous generations.
Examine the myth that holds that woman, by virtue of their comparative longevity, are generally healthier than men.
Discuss key issues and developments with the evolution of medical protocols throughout the centuries.
Compare and contrast treatment modalities past and present.
Improve our understanding of the physiological and psychological impact that certain diseases have had upon women.
Specifically analyze several diseases which usually and/or uniquely affect women, i.e. specific cancers, osteoporosis, HIV/AIDS, heart disease, etc.
Suggest alternatives and improvements that might benefit the delivery of health care services to women.
Examine the possibility of gender bias within the health care system.
Upon completion of the course, students will have:
Learned (or had reinforced) the proper method of scientific inquiry into specific topics areas.
Demonstrated the ability to prepare an independent research project of modest scope.
Learned to avail themselves of current electronic and library media sources.
Identified and explained a current study in a reputable medical journal.
Prepared a one page abstract listing the most significant points of their research.
Enhanced their understanding of issues that will likely affect them in later years.
Become comfortable in peer interactions that will be facilitated by class discussions and individual presentations.
Improved their understanding of the gender dynamics as it affected the practice of medicine from the past to the present.
Identified and evaluated possible approaches to long-term solutions in feminine medical issues, and recognized the historical obstacles which needed to be overcome at this point in time.
Professor Sheila Barry, Science 113 (508) 565-1491, sbarry@stonehill.edu
Topical Syllabus and Reading Assignments
Textbook: Annual Editions: Women's Health 99/00, Dushkin McGraw-Hill
The following is intended to be reasonably flexible depending on issues
raised and length of discussions. The reading assignments should be read
prior to class discussions. Handouts will also be distributed.
I. Introduction
Research project/ Grading policy
True/False quiz
II. Women's health policy and research issues Articles 1,2,3,5,6,7
Why a course on women's health?
Gender bias in past medical research
Past and present women's health studies
Notable female contributors in medical history
Managed care
III. Cancer Articles 4, 36, 37, 38
Breast, lung, ovarian, colorectal, cervical
Treatment options
Current controversies
IV. Domestic violence Unit 7
What every woman needs to know
V. Nutrition Unit 2, Article 24
Pros and cons of popular diets
VI. Chronic diseases Articles 32, 33, 34, 39
Osteoporosis, diabetes, inc.
VII. Infectious diseases Articles 15, 16, 17, 18
The invisible epidemic: Women and AIDS
Other STD's: Chlamydia, Herpes, HPV
VIII. Alternative medicine
Environmental impact of diseases
Treatment options
IX. Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases Article 35
Men's diseases???? Myths vs. mortality
X. Eating disorders Articles 8, 12, 13