Honoursmodule: Urban Mental Health

Course manual 2023/2024

Course content

Urban living is on the rise: more than 50 percent of the world’s population currently lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to rise to 66 percent by 2050. Urban environments are characterised by features that make city life not only economically attractive and exciting, but also more challenging and stressful than rural environments (‘urban stress’), which influences mental health. The Centre for Urban Mental Health aims to unravel new pathways to improve urban mental health, that considers the full complexities and dynamics of mental health problems and mental health disorders in an urban environment.

In this honours course, we will explore the broad topic of mental health in an urban context and demonstrate why a complexity science approach is warranted to promote the scientific advancement of this field. Secondly, we will explore several urban factors and their interplay with various aspects of mental health. Third, we will provide examples of interdisciplinary approaches that will help better understand urban mental health. 

This course will be taught using the Problem Based Learning approach, an interactive way of learning based on problems identified by the group.Throughout the course, students are encouraged to integrate and debate previously unconnected theories and sources. These discussions should identify new leverage points for interventions and policy making. Students are encouraged to develop their own questions or urban challenges and approaches to resolve them.

Lectures from a range of interdisciplinary scientists are provided (social sciences, natural sciences, complexity science and medicine). Multiple task-driven projects are given to students, who will receive an individual grade at the end of the course.

Objectives

• Provide a brief overview about common mental health conditions (depression, anxiety, addiction), some of the main underlying substrates, psychological domains and environmental risk factors involved, focusing in particular on the urban factors that influence their incidence and disease course
• Describe how complexity science can be used to advance our understanding of mental health in an urban context
• Identify, within a group, target points for future intervention and explain how these could be studied using complexity science which includes developing a research proposal
• Provide an example of the interdisciplinary perspectives available with regards to urban mental health
• Work with the Problem Based Learning approach to formulate own learning objectives

Learning activities

Assessment

Assignments

A prerequisite for obtaining a grade/participate in the final assignment is attendance and active participation during the Wednesday sessions. Students will each individually present a paper/topic and work in interdisciplinary groups together on a Research Proposal including a final presentation.

Individual presentation:

Each student will give an individual presentation on a selected paper/topic. The presentation will be focused on a specific research paper chosen from optional literature provided by one of the expert speakers. Students will be assigned a presentation date during the first class.

Research Proposal and Presentation:

In designated groups of approximately 4 students, a research proposal will be developed, written and ultimately presented. The proposal should apply knowledge gained in the course to a self-chosen urban mental health problem. This problem can be inspired by the obligatory and suggested literature or from small group discussions.

The presentations will take place on the 3rd and 10th of April.

Scheme Examination

*Please note: If due to unforeseen circumstances, a student is unable to do the presentation, the alternative assignment will be an individual reflection on the topic of urban mental health by writing a 1000-word essay on a self-identified problem found in one of the papers from the reading list. The deadline for this essay will be the 10th of April.

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

Course structure

Last year's student feedback

In order to provide students some insight how we use the feedback of student evaluations to enhance the quality of education, we decided to include the table below in all course guides.

Contact information

Coordinator

• dr. Rixt van der Veen