Course subject: Social Work (SWK)

This course offers critical analysis of health policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation related to population health initiatives and health care delivery. The course includes discussion of the role of various regional, provincial, and national agencies in health care policy formation. It examines various health care systems, and their funding as well as investigates how the Canadian healthcare system compares with systems in other countries. (Note: This is an intensive on campus course with an online component).

This course examines effective leadership in a tumultuous health care environment characterized by changing patient populations, health care technologies, professional practices, community needs/expectations, and rapid shifts in service delivery modalities. In this environment, health care professions are increasingly challenged to develop and oversee staff capable of delivering contemporary benchmark professional practice. Competent supervision requires practice knowledge, keen perspective, and the ability to support, guide, educate and direct practitioners of varying skill and experience. This course provides inquiry-based opportunities for students to critically examine their leadership styles, developing foundational knowledge and skills for effective involvement in organizational change, staff management, coaching and supervision, coordination of inter-professional teams and development of policies to address the social determinants of health. (Note: This is an online course).

The goal of knowledge mobilization is to make research in health and social science more useful to policy, practice, and the public. In this course students can learn how to gather, evaluate, synthesize and summarize scholarly knowledge in ways that meet the needs, timeframes, cultures, and realities of stakeholders. Activities include framing academic research in the context of public issues and creating knowledge products for practitioners and policy-makers in the students' areas of interest. (Note: This is an online course).

This course aims to equip students to provide sensitive and effective help to clients by presenting material concerning a range of mental health problems and their treatment. The course considers social work practice across the continuum of mental health care services. Attention is focused on how social workers assess, support and intervene with consideration of both the client and his or her environment. (Note: This is an online course).

This elective course provides graduate students with an introduction to the field of psychosocial oncology. Emphasis will be placed on understanding and interpreting the experience of cancer informed by theory, evidence and illness narratives. Case based learning in small interprofessional groups will allow students to explore a variety of key learning themes relevant to psychosocial oncology including distress assessment, depression, anxiety, adjustment and coping, sexuality, loss and grief. Small group work will allow students to develop a rich understanding of the cancer experience and competency in psychosocial oncology assessment, interprofessional collaboration, and cultural safety. Attention to diversity will be integrated throughout the course.

Cancer causes wide-ranging impacts on sexual health and well-being and numerous studies have identified that people affected by cancer want support, education and counseling in this area. While health professionals consistently acknowledge that sexuality is within their scope of practice, few health professionals consistently assess or intervene in sexual health problems in cancer settings. This course is designed to provide graduate students in the health professions with the knowledge and skills to intervene with the sexual problems that arise in cancer.

This course provides a framework for understanding a developing country through a comparative study with Canada. The collective responses of citizens in meeting community needs in the context of colonial legacies and contemporary global influences are highlighted in both settings. The international learning experience usually takes place during Reading Week and is complemented by two days of pre-trip learning focusing on Canadian realities and on post-trip day to reflect upon the comparative analysis. (Note: this is international experience with an on campus component)