Type of courses
Elective courses
Course Outline
The course is aimed to introduce important concepts and frameworks of mental health and suicide prevention in global settings. It will provide the students an opportunity to understand critical issues in mental health, mental illness, suicidal behaviour, and suicide prevention, with a focus on major differences in settings with low and high levels of resources and their implications for prevention and intervention. Emphasis will be put on public health, population-based, life course, and social ecological perspectives to address the substantial global health burden from mental disorders and suicidal behaviour. The content of this course will be separated into five parts. First, the students will learn from selective readings such as peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, or other references on various issues of global mental health, wellbeing, and suicide prevention before the course. Second, the course will introduce the aspects of global mental health such as historical perspectives, current situations, determinants, and existing promotion / prevention / intervention strategies on population mental health, mental disorders, and suicidal behaviour thru classroom based lectures and activities. Third, the students will attend the two talks on global mental health and suicide prevention given by the two overseas instructors in the global mental health section of the 2019 Taiwan Global Health Forum in Taipei on Oct 20. Fourth, the course will describe context-specific issues around mental health and suicidal prevention thru classroom based lectures and activities. Fifth, students will have an opportunity to immerse themselves in different hospital and community-based settings where mental disorders are treated and suicide prevention efforts are made thru field trips to department of psychiatry in general hospital, psychiatric hospital, psychiatric clinic, community family support group, and helpline organization.
Course Objectives:
Students in this class are expected to:
1. To correctly describe the current global situation and major determinants of mental disorders and suicidal behaviors.
2. To apply the population-based, life course, and social ecological perspectives to appraise contemporary issues of mental health and suicide prevention at the individual and community levels.
3. Learn the historical foundations of contemporary Taiwanese and Chinese psycho-social-political cultures, with a focus on the perspectives, presentations, and need for mental health.
4. Learn the current state of knowledge in Taiwanese and Chinese psychological practice.
5. Examine personal attitudes, experiences, and beliefs as they relate to the component and ethical delivery of mental health services to Taiwanese and Chinese populations.
6. Learn the potentials and principles of applying knowledge and skills in the area of mental health in a culturally, socially, and politically sensitive way to promote mental health in global health settings, including but not restricted to Taiwanese and Chinese communities.
Course Requirements:
Students are expected to:
• Be curious about learning the subject and participating in lecture and discussions.
• No prior knowledge is required.
1. read assigned readings
2. actively participate in small group discussions
3. submit written assignments (journals and the final paper) by the deadlines