DEPARTMENT OF BIOETHICS

BETH 315/415: International Women's Health Issues: Focus on Netherlands

International Bioethics Education Program

Instructor: Michelle McGowan, Ph.D.

This 3-credit course allows students to familiarize themselves with social policies and practices related to women's health in the United States and the Netherlands. Issues covered in the course include birth control and family planning, abortion, prenatal testing, childbirth, health care disparities, cosmetic surgery, prostitution, and trafficking in women. This course also addresses the US and Dutch national policies regarding the public provision of health care for women. The course places an emphasis on the ways in which social norms shape policies over time, which political actors are involved in shaping women's health policy, and the balance between women's health as a matter of the public good or individual responsibility. This course will help students develop the analytical skills necessary for evaluating social policy and ethical issues related to women's health.

The course includes a ten-day trip to the Netherlands over Spring Break 2010, where students are taught by instructors and faculty from universities in the Netherlands. The trip also includes guided tours of health care facilities, clinics, and social institutions. Prior to the trip, students will attend an orientation with the Director of International Programs, and two two-hour pre-trip seminars with the instructor at Case Western Reserve University (or via a web-based tutorial). Students will be expected to familiarize themselves with the literature in both countries on social policy and ethics concepts that are relevant to course topics prior to the trip. After the trip, students will meet with the instructor for a wrap-up session to compare policies and practices in the United States and the Netherlands. Attendance and active participation in the pre-trip seminar, all didactics and observational experiences during the trip to the Netherlands, and the post-trip wrap-up seminar make up 25% of the final grade. Writing assignments make up the remaining 75% of the final grade, and consist of a short pre-trip paper based on the course readings, and a more substantial final paper that synthesizes the course readings, lectures, and site visits to compare and contrast US and Dutch approaches to one particular women's health issue.

Administrative Information:

REQUIRED PRE-TRIP Classes:

Wednesday, February 10, 6:00-8:00 pm, School of Medicine, Room T503.
Wednesday, February 24, 6:00-8:00 pm, School of Medicine, Room T503.

REQUIRED POST-TRIP Class:

Wednesday, March 31, 6:00-8:00 pm, School of Medicine, Room T503.