Description This subject enables students to gain an understanding of the political and social constructions that underpin health care services such as social determinants of health. It also provides students with the opportunity to explore and critically analyse issues related to the development, implementation and outcomes of health and aged care policies.
School Nursing & Midwifery
Discipline Public Health
Student Contribution Band HECS Band 2 10cp
Level Postgraduate Coursework Level 7 subject
Pre-requisite(s) Students enrolled in program 4673 Master of Mental Health Nursing (Nurse Practitioner) must have passed the following three subjects before they can enrol in this subjects - NURS 7018 Contemporary Professional Practice in Mental Health Nursing and NURS 7023 Evidence-based Nursing and NURS 7028 Leadership in Clinical Practice
Equivalent Subjects LGYB 9177 - Policy Power and Politics in Health Care Provision
Restrictions
Students must be enrolled in a postgraduate program.
On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
Critique social ideologies and theories which shape public expenditure on health and aged-care services
Utilise insight to reveal the relationships between politics and power in the construction of health and aged-care policies
Critically examine the power and influence of interest groups associated with health and aged-care policy formulation.
Critique the impact of the significant historical, structural, and environmental factors which affect health and aged-care policies’ development and translation.
Evaluate ethical and legal considerations involved in enacting health and aged-care policies
Critically appraise the impact of health and aged-care policies on culturally diverse and disadvantaged populations
Module 1: Introduction to the Foundations of Health Policy
- What is Policy
- The Policy Cycle
- Social Theory and Social Policy
- Ethics and distributive justice in health resourcing
- Legislation
- The New Public Health
Module 2: Policy Analysis in the Context of Social Complexity
- Definitions of Power and policy development
- Approaches to policy analysis
- Critique of macro and micro health policies
- Methods of analysis and evaluation
Module 3: The global economy and the future of health care
- Ageing
- Obesity and wellbeing
- End-of-life and living at home
- Technology
- Global economic variations and health care
Module 4: Politics and Public Opinion in Setting the Health Care Agenda
- Federalism and health
- Role of 'unofficial actors' in the development of policy
- Quality and Safety in health care (adverse events, crisis management
Assessment
The following table summarises the standard assessment tasks for this subject. Please note this is a guide only. Assessment tasks are regularly updated, where there is a difference your Learning Guide takes precedence.
Type
Length
Percent
Threshold
Individual/Group Task
Short Answer
2,000 words (4x500 words each)
50
N
Individual
Essay
2,000 words
50
N
Individual
Prescribed Texts
Althaus, C., Bridgeman, P., & Davis, G. (2013). The Australian Policy Handbook: (5th ed.) Crows Nest NSW: Allen & Unwin.
