MSc in Mental Health: Cultural and Global Perspectives in Mental Health Care

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About the course

This course is also available as a Distance Learning Option

There is a growing recognition that mental health, mental illness and treatment/care are situated within socio-cultural contexts. Cultural factors such as belief systems, values, RELIGION norms, practices and traditions impact on the risk and resilience towards developing mental health problems and suicidal behaviours. Furthermore, current phenomena such as globalisation and large scale displacements of populations create new strengths and vulnerabilities in mental health.

Stigma, discrimination, social injustice, health inequalities and resource availability all prevent access to appropriate mental health care. Mental health services must reflect the cultural diversity of populations and improve cultural competence and responsiveness to address these issues.

This MSc is for students who are interested in understanding the impact of socio-cultural factors in mental health, mental illness and mental health care.  It suits those who wish to pursue careers in research and clinical practice worldwide as well as those already working in this area.

There are three overall learning objectives for students:

  1. Learn about assessing mental health problems and understanding their origins and how to help recovery
  2. Obtain a global perspective on mental health including recognition of the importance and challenges in working with culturally-diverse populations as well as approaches and practices relevant to addressing these challenges.
  3. Learn about research methods and deliver an original research project.

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