Health Humanities

Why Health Humanities?

As the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed, training in humanities-based thinking and methodologies is vital both for policy-development and health-related communications. Being able to contextualize the present through lessons of the past, to consider the ethics of one’s strategies, to form strong arguments, to communicate clearly, and to inspire trust are skills that can help both health clinicians and public health practitioners to serve the public and, more broadly, can ease social discord and save lives. Furthermore, post-graduate programs in health-related disciplines, including medical school, increasingly expect candidates to show facility with humanities-related skills (including those related to effective reasoning and communication, narrative interpretation, and ethics).

Hosted at St. Jerome’s University, and offered in conjunction with the University of Waterloo, the Health Humanities diploma offers current undergraduate students and non-degree/post-degree community members, health clinicians, and public health practitioners a means of developing these competencies, so that they can grow as responsible leaders able to respond holistically to health-related questions and to guide and nurture action. The program enables students to distinguish themselves by providing them with a credential to showcase their training in humanities related to health. As a diploma, the program requires a relatively small number of courses (5), making it accessible to both current undergraduates and non-degree or post-degree students.

Health Humanities program details

Health Humanities is a five-course diploma program that can be added to the academic plan of any University of Waterloo student or completed as an independent diploma without enrolling in any other program at UW. The diploma is very flexible – although students must take HHUM 101 (Foundations of Health Humanities) at some point, they can get started with any of the courses that are part of the program.

See below for further details about the plan requirements and suggested pathways through the program.

Program description

The diploma in Health Humanities is an interdisciplinary program, drawing on multiple humanities and social sciences disciplines to help students appreciate the human, subjective, qualitative side of health and whole person care. The courses included in the diploma train students in narrative competencies such as engaging authentically with others’ points of view and formulating and communicating one’s own thoughts, feelings, and values. Through dialogue, discussion, and written analysis, students explore the representation and lived experience of health, illness, the body, and the patient-caregiver relationship. Candidates for the diploma will learn the importance of a historical perspective, develop their abilities to think critically and reflectively and engage in ethical deliberation, acquire a range of interpretive skills (e.g. close readings of texts, artworks, discourses, etc.), and increase sensitivity to cultural difference and inequalities.

Core humanities disciplines contributing to the program include English, Philosophy and History. Courses are also offered by faculty from Religious Studies, Psychology, and Sexuality, Marriage, and Family Studies.

Program requirements

To obtain the diploma in Health Humanities, students must successfully complete five courses, including HHUM 101: Foundations of Health Humanities, and four others from the following list. At least one of the four elective courses must be at the 300 level. Students must achieve a minimum cumulative diploma average of 65%. 

For details on which courses count toward the Health Humanities diploma, please visit the Diploma of Health Humanities on the Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar.

Courses

Students can choose from any of the courses included in the diploma. However, students who want a broad exposure to the disciplines contributing to the diploma may consider taking a course from each of the core Humanities areas (Literature, Philosophy, History) in addition to a course from a Social Science area or the Seminar in Health Humanities (HHUM 391).

Interdisciplinary

  • HHUM 101: Foundations of Health Humanities
  • HHUM 312: Cross-Cultural Care Traditions
  • HHUM 391: Seminar in Health Humanities

Literature

  • ENGL 108X: Literature and Medicine
  • HHUM 221/ENGL 221: Monstrous Hunger
  • HHUM 222/ENGL 222: Health, Illness, and Narrative
  • HHUM 263/ITALST 263: Representations of Contagion, Disease, and Illness in Italian Literature and Film
  • HHUM 372/ENGL 372: Women and Medicine in Literature
  • HHUM 373/ENGL 381: Early Modern Bodies

Philosophy / Religious Studies

  • RS 387: Aging and the Spiritual Life
  • PHIL 321J: Philosophy of Palliative Care
  • PHIL 319J: Ethics of End-of-Life Care
  • HHUM 288/RS 288: Health, Medicine, and Spirituality
  • RS 266: Death and Dying

History

  • HHUM 307/MEDVL 307: Concepts of Health and Disease in Western Medical History
  • HHUM 306/MEDVL 306: Public Health in Medieval Society
  • MEDVL 305: Medieval Death and Dying
  • HIST 209: Canadian Medical History

Social Science

  • HHUM 311: Culture, Mental Health, and Wellness
  • HHUM 218/SMF 218: Sexual Health and Well-being in Comics
  • HHUM 241/SMF 241: Caregiving, Illness, and Relationships

For course descriptions and details, please visit Health Humanities in the Courses section of the Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar.

The Health Humanities courses offered by St. Jerome's University are listed below.

How to enroll

Interested in doing the Health Humanities diploma? Whether you are a UW student wishing to add this to your plan, or you are simply interested in getting the diploma without a degree, you are welcome in Health Humanities.

Current University of Waterloo students

You can begin the diploma simply by enrolling in one of the courses. As you progress through your program, make sure you take five approved HHUM courses, including HHUM 101 and at least one course at the 300-level. When you are ready to graduate, you will declare the diploma on your Application to Graduate form. If you have successfully met the diploma requirements, the Health Humanities diploma will appear on your official UW transcript .

Non-degree

You do not need to be enrolled in a University of Waterloo program to do the Health Humanities diploma. Visit Part-time and online degrees on Waterloo's future students website, and following the instructions to apply online as a non-degree or post-degree student. Once completed, you will receive a diploma at the University of Waterloo convocation.

Health Humanities diploma request form

This section contains the Health Humanities Diploma request form. For information about the Health Humanities diploma and its requirements, please visit the Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar page. Students interested in the Health Humanities diploma should submit this form prior to their 3B term.

Please note: the Waterloo Counting of Courses does apply, and courses taken for the diploma are subject to Waterloo's 50% rule, which means that at least 2.0 units (four credit courses) must have numeric grades and the overall cumulative average of courses presented in the diploma must be equal or greater than 65%. For more information on the 50% Rule, please visit the Academic Regulations on the Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar.

Health Humanities diploma request form

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Faculty

Carol Acton, Professor

Veronica Austen, Associate Dean, Associate Professor

Andrew Deman, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream

Maureen Drysdale, Professor

Scott Kline, Professor

Alysia Kolentsis, Associate Professor

Yuri Sangalli, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream (Definitely Term)

Sylvia Terzian, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream

Denise Whitehead, Associate Professor

Contract academic staff

Caley McCarthy

Affiliated instructors

Jane Kuepfer, Schlegel Specialist in Spirituality and Aging

Sahver Kuzucuoglu, Lecturer

Heather Love, Assistant Professor

Matthew Wiseman, Lecturer

Courses

The following courses are offered for Health Humanities in the 2024-2025 academic year.

Winter 2025

Course Course tutle Campus Instructor
HHUM 101 Foundations of Health Humanities STJ Stumpf
HHUM 222/ENGL 222 Health, Illness, and Narrative UW Chouinard
HHUM 263/ITALST 263 Contagion, Disease, and Illness in Italian Literature and Film ONLNJ Sangalli
HHUM 288/RS 288 Health, Medicine, and Spirituality STJ Kline
HHUM 311 Culture, Mental Health, and Wellness STJ Drysdale
HHUM 312/COMMST 491 Cross-Cultural Care Traditions STJ McCrary
PHIL 319J Ethics of End-of-Life Care STJ Stumpf
HHUM 372/ENGL 372 Women and Medicine in Literature STJ Acton

Fall 2024
Course Course title Campus Instructor
ENGL 108X Literature and Medicine STJ Acton
HIST 209 Smallpox to Medicare: Canadian Medical History UW Wiseman
HHUM 241/SMF 241 Caregiving, Illness, and Relationships STJ Whitehead
HHUM 307/MEDVL 307 Concepts of Health and Disease in Western Medical History ONLNJ McCarthy

View the complete listing of HHUM courses in the Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar