Singapore University of Social Sciences

Medical Family Therapy

Medical Family Therapy (COU572)

Synopsis

The medical family therapy course introduces students to work collaboratively with medical and mental health professionals within a medical setting. It uses a common systemic language to address psychosocial problems of individuals, couples and families with acute and chronic medical related concerns from a systemic family therapy perspective. The course will also assess the role of the medical family therapist as he/she navigates relational conflicts that can arise in couples and families dealing with childhood developmental problems and medical related issues.

Level: 5
Credit Units: 5
Presentation Pattern: EVERY JULY

Topics

  • An Overview of Medical Family Therapy
  • Clinical Strategies for Medical Family Therapy
  • Collaboration with other Health Professionals
  • The Shared Emotional Themes of Illness
  • The Self of the Medical Family Therapist
  • Community Engagement
  • Health Behaviours that Harm
  • Couples and Illnesses
  • Pregnancy Loss, Infertility and Reproductive Technology
  • Medical Family Therapy with Children
  • Somatising Patients and their Families
  • The Experience of Genomic Medicine: The New Frontier
  • Care-giving, End of Life Care, and Loss

Learning Outcome

  • Critique theoretical and conceptual framework underlying medical family therapy.
  • Appraise the key ideas/ concepts including common systemic language in working collaboratively with medical and mental health professionals within a medical setting.
  • Organise salient ideas and concepts with that of the person-of-the-therapist in a given clinical context.
  • Assemble the collaborative skills needed to work with medical and mental health professionals within a medical setting from the medical family therapy perspective.
  • Prepare one’s teaching ability to present systemic family therapy concepts and ideas to other health professionals within the medical setting.
  • Formulate the medical family therapy concepts and technique(s) for application in one’s collaborative work with medical/ mental health professionals.
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