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Semester 1

Ethical Values and Challenges in Care (SHSS10003)

Subject

Health in Social Science

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Although this course does not have any pre-requisites, it is designed for students who have studied two full years of Health, Psychology, Social Sciences or other directly related subject areas beforehand. If you have not studied a relevant subject area to that level, it is your responsibility to ensure the course is an appropriate level for you during the first week of teaching, and you must drop this course (before the Course Change Deadline) if you do not have the required background knowledge/skills. **Please see Additional Restrictions below**

Course Summary

Ethical practice forms the bedrock of professional care and this course aims to give students a good grounding in ethical principles, issues, debates, codes and practices, so that the student is sufficiently well-informed to understand and analyse ethical values, challenges and dilemmas that arise in a wide range of professional caring contexts. This is a compulsory course for students in the third year of the MA (Hons) in Health, Science and Society.

Course Description

This course focuses on ethical practice in the caring professions. Compassion in caring will constitute a key theme through the course. Starting from an overview of the philosophical foundations of professional ethics, students will examine key debates around universality and context-dependence in professional ethics. The course will explain how moral reasoning related to professional practice goes beyond the entirely rational and requires the capacity for empathic engagement with others. Students will also apply the concept of professional wisdom to ethical practice. Through this exploration, students will gain an awareness of their personal ethics and values. Particular ethical principles relating to care and treatment will be explored, including beneficence, autonomy, self-determination, informed consent, confidentiality, human rights, dignity, respect and professional fidelity. Students will analyse the strengths and limitations of various professional ethical codes by applying them to complex ethical case studies. Ethical issues relating to the vulnerable service user/patient will be examined, including ethical challenges in relation to capacity and decision-making in the context of mental health, dementia, end of life care, critical care, childhood and intellectual disability. Key research will be introduced to extend discussion and to include a focus on how ethical practice and decision-making may be researched and informed through research. **With its interdisciplinary focus, this course will benefit students from a range of backgrounds and with various career aspirations. While using examples from UK professional codes and contexts, discussion will focus on general principles and values of relevance to both UK and international students. Students will examine their personal ethical values and understand how the personal and the professional are intertwined in ethical caring practice. The course draws on the research and scholarship being undertaken by members of the School of Health in Social Science in relation to ethics in the caring professions.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 80%, Practical Exam 20%

Additional Restrictions

Visiting students are only permitted to enrol in one 3rd year Health course each, per semester, before the start of the relevant semester’s welcome period – and spaces on each course are limited so cannot be guaranteed for any student. Enrolment in a second course from this group will depend on whether there are still spaces available in the September Welcome Period, and cannot be guaranteed. It is NOT appropriate for students to contact staff within this subject area to ask for an exception to be made; all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. This is due to the limited number of spaces available in this very popular subject area.

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