Medical Family Therapy

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.

Part-time Programmes / CET Courses

Singapore University of Social Sciences

Medical Family Therapy