The MA Health Communication provides you with a unique and exciting opportunity to investigate language and communication in health care contexts.
The course content offers a detailed and comprehensive coverage of the main areas of health care communication, with the opportunity to specialise in areas according to your own interests and research.
The course examines the role of language in a comprehensive and diverse range of health care settings and focuses on established approaches used to analyse and interrogate health care interaction, ranging from narratology and corpus linguistics to conversation and discourse analysis.
With such a particular focus on research methodology, this programme also offers a unique opportunity for investigating language and communication from interdisciplinary perspectives.
The following modules currently make up the taught component of the programme:
Research Methodologies for Health Care Communication
The Language of Compliance
Health Care Narratives
Health Care Documentation
Dissertation
The first module - Research Methodologies for Health Care Communication - is compulsory and must be completed before undertaking further modules. This core research module is designed to provide you with the necessary research and methodological skills to pursue further postgraduate research in this area.
Please note that all module details are subject to change.
The MA is completed by distance learning, part-time over 24 to 48 months. You can commence the programme in either September or February.
The course is made up of two components – the taught component and the research component. You need to complete 120 credits – i.e. all four core modules - before proceeding to the dissertation.
The dissertation is a major piece of advanced independent research, which you complete under the supervision of a specialist in your chosen area. We will provide you with advice and guidance while you select and refine your area of study, and offer close supervision and support as you complete your research and your MA.
The dissertation module is assessed by written work of 12,000 - 15,000 words.
You will have access to many online resources, as well as your own personal tutor for each module that you take. Particular features of the programme include
- a theoretical grounding in research methodology and linguistic description
- one-to-one tuition with expert members of staff
- an online discussion board and forum
- innovative and engaging teaching methods
- access to many online resources
- great flexibility in course content, optionality, and changes in direction.
All MA students in the School of English Studies join a lively and thriving postgraduate community. As such, you will be invited to attend a voluntary `Summer School` each year, giving you a chance to meet other students in the school face-to-face.
Instead of completing the entire MA programme, students who have less time for study may wish to take fewer modules, leading to the awards of: Advanced Certificate (60 credits) and Advanced Diploma (120 credits).
This module introduces students to 4 different methodological approaches that can be used to study interpersonal and written communication in health care:
i) Discourse Analysis
ii) Critical Discourse Analysis
iii) Conversation Analysis
iv) Corpus Linguistics.
Students will be introduced to the assumptions and techniques of these kinds of analysis and will be familiarised with examples of the methods in action in research on health care. Differences and similarities between the approaches will be highlighted. Issues around choice of method, choice of method to suit the research question, and the application of findings will be explored. Throughout the module students will experience what work using these different approaches might involve and consider the practical and theoretical issues raised by these activities. Students will also be encouraged to develop a critical appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of each method and the circumstances in which each is most appropriate.
This module is intended to familiarise students with theories and applications of narrative in health care contexts. The module will address the following key areas:
i) Narratology: Theories of narrative
ii) Personal narratives of illness
iii) Professional narratives
iv) Organisation and policy narratives
v) Narrative as therapeutic intervention
The module will provide students with an opportunity to examine what narrative is and how this knowledge can be deployed to help understand a variety of phenomena encountered in health care.
The module will equip students with a high level knowledge of narrative theory and how much of what takes place in health care exchanges are governed by the kinds of narratives that are used. Students will also develop and practice skills in identifying and analysing narratives of patients, professionals and policy makers. Students will also understand how knowledge of narratives can be used to enhance therapeutic interventions and practices across a range of health care disciplines. Students will appreciate how health care environments, structures and practices are informed by broader, macro-level organisational and governmental narratives
This module addresses the issue of compliance in healthcare from a communications perspective. It begins by examining the terminology from a sociological perspective, considering to what extent alternative terms such as adherence and concordance represent a paradigm shift in either policy or practice. The remainder of the module is divided into two sections: macro or structural issues affecting compliance, such as age, gender, cultural background and educational level; and micro level or interactional issues, such as the differences in design and receipt between advice, information or instruction.