Type of Teaching Material: Syllabus

Literature and medicine: A short course for medical students

This article describes an informal course on literature and medicine for medical students. A wide range of books, plays and poems were used with medical and non-medical themes. Students enjoyed the course and particularly welcomed the non-medical components. Several book lists are provided with an emphasis on classic authors (e.g. Jane Austen, Harper Lee, Lewis Carroll, although The Color Purple is also included in one). Description focuses on general structure and students' reactions rather than details of discussions. The author urges informality for this kind of literary discussion and suggests even calling it a "club" rather than a "course." Could be useful to discuss ethics of care or as a starting place for a more diverse reading list.

Health Humanities syllabus repository

The Health Humanities Consortium's Syllabus Repository is a searchable database of syllabi from academic, professional development, and public education programs with a connection to health humanities. Not all of the syllabi are focused on health narratives, but many are, and many of the syllabi on broader health humanities-related topics include narrative readings, assignments, and other material. For example, a search for the topic, "narrative," brought up numerous results, including courses on narrative medicine, illness stories, medicine and literature, autobiography, media, writing, social history, and gender and race. The site is searchable by course topic, discipline, level of course, and modality. Users are also invited to share their own syllabi.

Syllabus Spanish Health Narratives

This 3000-level course is of particular interest to Spanish majors and minors with health professions interests, although readings and assignments are aimed at any Spanish student with intermediate level proficiency. Creative writing majors from English, students interested in editing and publishing, International Studies and Global Health Studies majors, Communication Studies majors with general interests in health, all have succeeded. Readings are from Latinx and Latin American authors; some in English, many in Spanish. Assignments are four creative writing projects, one that becomes a digital video.

Health Narratives syllabus

This is a syllabus for an undergraduate junior/senior level semester-long course at Lewis & Clark College. The course focuses on how stories of health and illness are a place to explore the rhetoric of identities, relationships, health care, and public policy. For example: How do we use narratives to (re)construct identities altered by illness? How can narratives (re)shape interactions between patients and health care providers? What narratives capture public attention and with what implications for health care decision-making and policy? The course covers theories and research on health narratives and narrative research methods. It serves as an overview to this area of research as well as a training ground for doing your narrative research. The course is an elective for students in the Rhetoric & Media Studies major but also draws students from sociology, English, and pre-health. The course is a 25 person seminar-style course for juniors and seniors.