REQUIRED COURSES

WH 701 Sociology of Women’s Health
This course offers an overview of sociological issues relating to women’s health and illness. The topics include: how social forces construct women’s corporeal experiences, medicalization of women’s bodies, the politics of reproductive agency, economic and racial disparities in health status and access to health care, the valuation of caring work/caregivers, women as patients, and women as health care providers. Attention to diversity among women, in the U.S. and abroad, will be integrated throughout. 3 credits

WH 702 Female Physiology and Gynecology
This course provides students with a solid introductory understanding of female physiology and gynecology. It familiarizes students with basic anatomy and with standard medical terminology. In addition, students receive more substantial information regarding important women’s health issues including heart disease, obesity, breast cancer, the female reproductive system, childbirth, menopause, contraception and reproductive technologies, common gynecological pathologies and common gynecological procedures. 3 credits

WH 703 Women and the U.S. Health Care System
Women use and work in the health care system at higher rates than men, yet men predominate as its leaders and decision-makers. This course introduces students to the U.S. health system, emphasizing components that are most significant for women. Topics include the (gendered) role of professions, institutions, consumers, and government; landmark legislation; and Medicaid and Medicare. Students also learn how to use a gender perspective to analyze health care policies and legislation. 3 credits

WH 704 Research Methods in Women’s Health
This required course trains students in practical strategies for women’s health research. Topics to be covered include community mapping, needs assessment and program evaluation. In addition to becoming acquainted with the key literature in these areas, students will learn the rudiments of how epidemiologists work, what commonly used statistical terms and tests mean, and how to read and interpret statistical tables and charts. Students also will be introduced to a range of qualitative research methods. 3 credits

WH 705 Diversity in Women’s Health and Illness
This course delves more deeply into the sociology of women’s health through careful attention to diversity and difference both nationally and internationally. We address health differences among women by race, ethnicity, class, disability, and sexual orientation, as well as by national and immigrant status. In addition, the course explores the health and health care realities of women in developing countries and introduces students to ethnographic approaches to studying women’s health. 3 credits

WH 706 Advocacy for Women’s Health
This course is structured as a practical introduction to advocacy skills. The skill set students receive includes lobbying, communications, media relations, and community organizing. Students practice writing press releases, contacting media outlets, presenting in public, and leading focus groups. In addition, students learn how to develop outreach strategies, and they will be exposed to a variety of assessment tools that are used to map and measure community needs and evaluate programmatic success. 3 credits

WH 707 and WH 708 constitute the internship requirement for MAWH students. These courses may be taken sequentially (707 followed by 708) or consecutively. WH 707 and WH 708 are open only to MAWH students who have completed the core sequence of required MAWH courses.

WH 707 Practicum Planning and Field Experience
Each student will work 16 hours/week with a local organization or agency, under the dual supervision of a Suffolk faculty member and a staff member at the host institution. At the start of the internship, students prepare a document, together with faculty and staff members, detailing goals for the internship period. These goals include specific skills to be acquired or practiced, as well as programmatic contributions. Weekly class meetings encourage students to apply relevant frameworks and skills, as well as providing group support, strategizing, and problem solving. Students must meet with the practicum instructor during the semester prior to the practicum, and permission of the instructor must be obtained prior to arranging a practicum. 3 credits

WH 708 Practicum Assessment and Evaluation
At the end of the internship period, students write a paper assessing both their own experience and the work of the host institution. This paper must have a clear thesis that demonstrates an in-depth understanding of the relationship between the project, learning objectives and women’s health theories and knowledge. Students may be asked to present this paper to relevant colleagues in the host institution as well as to a committee of Suffolk University faculty and students. 3 credits

WH 710 Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Women’s Health
All MAWH students attend this seminar held every two weeks, which exposes them to a wide range of topics and approaches to women’s health, and to develop professional networks and community. The core MAWH faculty lead the seminar, together with guest lecturers drawn both from academia and from a variety of organizations and agencies that provide health care to women or engage in women’s health research or advocacy in local, national, or international arenas. This ongoing seminar is open to the greater Suffolk University community. No credit

ELECTIVES

WH 725 Alternative and Complementary Medicines: Gender Perspectives
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices and products have become multi-billion dollar industries in the United States and other wealthy countries; women are the largest consumers. This course uses a sociological perspective to explore the dimensions and impact of CAM today. We cover the identities of CAM users and practitioners, the cultural and social forces that contribute to the prevalence of CAM in differing cultural contexts, efforts to license and regulate CAM practitioners, integration of CAM into conventional hospitals, and the belief systems that various CAM modalities build upon. We place this exploration in the context of women’s use of, and access to, various modes of healthcare internationally. 3 credits

WH 740 Women, Substance Abuse, and the Criminal Justice System
The majority of incarcerated women are substance abusers. Many of these women have also been diagnosed with major mental illness. Many of these women have been victims of violence and continue to experience symptoms of PTSD. This course explores the life and legal trajectories, as well as the policies that result in the incarceration of women suffering from addiction or mental illness. We also explore alternatives to both authoritarian “treatment” and incarceration. 3 credits

WH 728 Gender and HIV/AIDS
This course follows the spread of the AIDS pandemic, investigating how women internationally have become infected, affected, and vulnerable to HIV infection. Through readings and films we explore relevant issues including violence against women, prostitution, substance abuse, stigma, access to education and treatment, women’s negotiating power in sexual relationships, and the impact of poverty. We also investigate the successes and failures of a range of prevention and treatment approaches. 3 credits

WH 731 Reproductive Health and Rights
This course explores relationships between women’s reproductive health and women’s rights both nationally and internationally. We address contraception and abortion, access to pre-natal care and trained childbirth professionals, the sociology of breastfeeding, and the politics of women’s sexual and reproductive autonomy. Students study the medical and epidemiological significance of reproductive rights in enabling women to maintain reproductive health. 3 credits

WH 734 Sexuality, Medicine, and Social Control
Throughout much of history powerful institutions have sought to control women’s autonomy through the control of their sexuality. Over the course of the past one hundred and fifty years, biomedical science has become increasingly influential in the lives of women around the world. This course looks at the role of medicine in women’s private and public sexual lives. We explore questions including: How has medical authority helped to define and control acceptable sexual behavior? What do medical interventions reveal about social and cultural ideas of sex, sexuality, and gender? How do campaigns against sexual disease and sexual “deviance” illuminate issues of power and of social status? And how have women, lesbians, HIV-positive people, and/or others challenged medical social control? 3 credits

WH 737 Women, Population, and the Environment
Who sets the international agendas, policies and goals regarding population and the environment? What are the health concerns for women? How are women’s status and reproductive rights limited or enhanced by various policies? In recent decades, feminist activists have challenged the “overpopulation” paradigm as sexist and harmful to the global poor, instead championing women’s rights and environmental sustainability. Issues that exist at these intersections and that may be addressed in this course include: family planning versus population control, environmental racism, nuclear proliferation, global warming, militarism and war, and agribusiness. Case studies are drawn from Africa, Asia, and the Americas. 3 credits

WH 743 Women’s Health and Human Rights
How do violations of women’s human rights affect their health? What are the physical and psychological consequences of human rights abuses? Global human rights standards assert that not only is health a human right, but that health care must be available, accessible, and acceptable. This course explores cases that demonstrate the inseparability of health and rights for women, whether regarding HIV/AIDS, violence against women, maternal health care, or health insurance. Among topics to be covered are the ethical obligations of health professionals to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights, and the centrality of health and human rights education for women and girls. 3 credits

WH 746  Women’s Health, Wealth and Poverty
The global feminization of poverty has profoundly disturbing impacts on women’s health. Around the world, poverty is associated with higher rates of illness and with lower life expectancies. How does poverty create ill health, and how can its alleviation improve health? This course looks at how global, national and local economic institutions and policies affect the health status of women and their families. Students also learn the gendered effects of how economic policies affect the organization, financing and delivery of health care services. 3 credits

Courses in other departments that may be taken to fulfill MAWH elective requirements

CJ 688             Restorative Justice
CJ 691             Intimate Violence and Sexual Assault
CJN 703          Presentation Skills
CJN 737          Intecultural Communication  
CJN 769          Introduction to Marketing Communication
EHS 729          Human Sexuality Seminar
GVT 606         Women and Public Policy
GVT 707         Gender and Globalization
GVT 634         Social Welfare Policy
HLTH 702       Healthcare Systems II
HLTH 832       Health Policy
HLTH 860       Leadership and Ethics in Health
P. AD 815       Non-Profit Organizations in Communities