[jamescw1234]

This class is a political and social context of social work class, students in the program must complete 12 units of these courses including 4J03. Students in other programs can take these courses as well as long as they have completed Social Work 1A06 and are in a level III or above program.

This class examines health and illness through the social work and social science lens. We look at social determinants of health, caregiving, health policy, hospital social work, mental health and addiction, death and dying, just to name a few topics. The class was taught by Janice Chaplain, Janice is a session instructor who also works full time at Hamilton General Hospital as a medical social worker, it was great having a current perspective on the issues. Janice is a wealth of knowledge. She is also very understanding when it comes to course flexibility. We also had numerous guest speakers as well, it was great hearing different perspectives.

Course Breakdown:
So there are three assignments in this course, Janice suggested you pick the same topic and carry it on throughout the assignments, however you are welcome to change it if you like. The topic can be anything you want as long as it's related to health and illness.

Annotated Bibliography: 25%
For five sources, you are to summarize the articles and provide a short evaluation, Janice provides an outline of how to do an annotated bibliography if you have not done one before.

Critical Analysis: 30%
Pick two articles and do a three page critical analysis of the article. You are to highlight the strengths and weaknesses and use outside sources.

Final Paper: 45%
This is a complex paper, about 10-12 pages where you are to review the literature, identify ethical issues, highlight social issues and how the topic affects marginalized groups, ethical issues, and your own professional/personal values. I felt this paper was very hard to write as there was no clear thesis and a multitude of different topics to cover

Attendance:
You must attend 80% of the classes or receive an automatic F grade. Normally I am okay with this, however my one critique of the class would be that class content was not related to the assignments, making it hard to feel motivated to attend class sometimes. However, I can see Janice's reasoning as she wants it to be a very integrative experience. I would suggest this class to anyone interested in healthcare as you learn a lot of different topics.