Essence of Humanities and Social Sciences23:Contemporary Society Viewed from Medical Care

Academic unit or major

Humanities and social science courses

Instructor(s)

Emi Furukawa

Class Format

Lecture

Media-enhanced courses

-

Day of week/Period
(Classrooms)

Class

-

Course Code

LAH.S501

Number of credits

100

Course offered

2025

Offered quarter

3Q

Syllabus updated

Mar 19, 2025

Language

Japanese

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

■Course description
We experience encounters with healthcare at different stages of our lives, and healthcare is deeply connected to the society and culture surrounding us. This course focuses on social issues behind health and medicine at the individual (health behaviors and health literacy), interpersonal (patient-clinician relationships), and organizational/group (health systems and health disparities) levels.

■Aims
Students will examine the issues through a combination of lectures and group work.
The lectures in this course will introduce interdisciplinary knowledge surrounding healthcare, including medicine, public health, health behavior, medical sociology, and medical communication, so that students will be able to examine the topic from various perspectives.
The aims of this course are:
1) to learn that there are various viewpoints and opinions when considering a single issue and to acquire the ability to grasp things from a bird's eye view
2) to acquire communication skills to convey what one thinks in one's own words to others
3) to acquire problem-solving skills to explore the essence of issues through group discussions.

Course description and aims

By the end of the course, students will be able to:
1) Understand contemporary social challenges viewed from medical care.
2) Discuss about social challenges in a logical way and propose plural solutions.
3) Explain one’s own opinion logically to others
4) Understand others’ way of seeing, communicate and facilitate consensus-building
5) Understand the process of “consensus-building” and “value-creation”, and learn how to apply the skills to other topics.

Student learning outcomes

実務経験と講義内容との関連 (又は実践的教育内容)

As a nephrologist and occupational physician, I have extensive experience in patient care within clinical settings. Additionally, my role as an industrial physician involves health promotion and disease prevention beyond the clinical environment. This course aims to provide insights from a healthcare professional’s perspective and explore various facets of medical care.

Keywords

healthcare, social issues, medicine, public health, health behavior, social medicine, health communication

Competencies

• Specialist skills
• Intercultural skills
• Communication skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

This class will be conducted face-to-face (in Japanese). During the first four classes, students will attend lectures. In Classes 5 and 6, students will engage in group work, which will follow presentations by their peers in Class 7. Each group will consist of 5-6 students who will collaborate to share information and discuss relevant issues. To actively participate in group work, students can choose a topic related to the content covered in classes 1-4. The instructor will organize groups based on students’ interests in specific topics.

Course schedule/Objectives

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to course material.

Textbook(s)

None required

Reference books, course materials, etc.

Reference books: Please refer to the Japanese description column.
Course materials: course materials are uploaded on T2SCHOLA.

Evaluation methods and criteria

(1) Comprehension of lectures: Students are required to submit a reaction paper and answer a quiz to check their understanding of the lectures in Classes 1-4 (40% of the total grade).
(2) Contribution to the group work: Students will self-evaluate their participation in group work in Classes 5 and 6 (20% of the total grade).
(3) Presentation: Students are required to submit a presentation on the group work (one ppt/pdf file for each group) will be checked (20% of the total grade).
(4) Final report (20% of the total grade)
Presentations and final reports will be evaluated comprehensively from the following perspectives.
・Logic and originality of ideas on the subject
・Contribution to the group members
・Academic/practical significance of questions/comments

Related courses

• LAH.T406 ： Transdisciplinary studies 6:Longevity Society and Life
• LAH.S410 ： Essence of Humanities and Social Sciences10:Science Visualization

Prerequisites

There is no particular medical expertise or skill that students should have acquired in advance.
Japanese will be used in class and group discussions. Reports will be accepted in English.

Contact information (e-mail and phone) Notice : Please replace from ”[at]” to ”@”(half-width character).

efurukawa-tho[at]umin.ac.jp

Office hours

Contact by e-mail in advance to schedule and appointment.

Other

This course is 500-level course.
Science Tokyo (science and engineering fields) provides a wedge-shaped style education that allows students to continuously take liberal arts courses from a Bachelor’s Program to a Doctoral Program. Students are recommended to take liberal arts courses in ascending order of course level. In the semester right after enrollment in the Master’s Degree Program – i.e., 1Q and 2Q for students who enroll in spring, and 3Q or 4Q for students who enroll in fall – students may register only in 400-level Humanities and Social Science Courses.
Students may take 500-level Humanities and Social Science Courses after studying at least six months after enrollment, i.e., in 3Q and 4Q for students who enroll in spring, and in 1Q and 2Q of the following year for students who enroll in fall.