Public Health: Global Mental Health (OL1)

About PH 6330 OL1

Provides a firm grounding in what is known about mental health issues affecting global populations. Examines a wide range of issues, ranging from how mental illness is identified to innovative treatment approaches and how cultural considerations influence mental health promotion efforts.

Notes

Open to all graduate-level students; all other students require instructor permission. Must submit the request at http://go.uvm.edu/phcourses. Contact Pallas.Ziporyn@uvm.edu for questions. Asynchronous, online.

Section Description

Global Mental Health (PH 6330) is a graduate-level course that examines mental health challenges, systems, and interventions across diverse cultural, geographic, and socioeconomic contexts. The course explores the global burden of mental illness and substance use disorders, emphasizing the complex interplay between culture, social determinants of health, health systems, policy environments, and human rights. While particular attention is given to mental health challenges and service delivery in low- and middle-income countries, students also critically examine similarities and differences across high-income settings.

Drawing upon interdisciplinary perspectives from public health, psychology, psychiatry, anthropology, and global health, students investigate how mental health conditions are defined, diagnosed, and treated around the world. Topics include epidemiology of mental illness, cultural influences on mental health and help-seeking behaviors, stigma and discrimination, mental health promotion and prevention, child and adolescent mental health, women’s mental health, humanitarian crises, policy development, and strategies for scaling up services in resource-limited settings.

The course emphasizes critical analysis, cultural humility, and the application of evidence to real-world challenges. Through interactive discussions, literature reviews, a brief scholarly research paper, and a student-directed presentation on a topic of personal and professional interest, students develop the skills necessary to evaluate global mental health evidence and communicate complex issues to diverse audiences. A culminating PhotoVoice-inspired reflection project invites students to connect global mental health concepts to observations within their own communities, fostering deeper understanding of the relationship between local experiences and global mental health priorities.

By the end of the course, students will be able to critically evaluate mental health systems and interventions across cultures, analyze the social and structural factors that shape mental health outcomes, and identify evidence-informed strategies to advance mental health equity worldwide.

Course Objectives:
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
• Demonstrate an understanding of the burden of mental health challenges in geographically and culturally diverse settings
• Explain mental health-related epidemiological variations across populations and geographies
• Describe different systems used to diagnose and classify different disorders
• Explain treatment approaches and their relationship to resources and cultural factors
• Describe interventions to improve health and mental health in global settings
• Analyze issues around policies, stigma and media portrayals of mental health issues, and how they impact different cultures

Section Expectation

• Credit Hours: 3
• Asynchronous course, fully on-line
• There are no course pre-requisites
• All learners must have devices with speakers, headphones, camera, or cell phone to hear audio recordings and to create and post their audio/video recordings .

Evaluation

Grades will be based on completion of weekly quizzes, participation in YellowDig discussions, short written assignments, a PhotoVoice Reflection project, and an asynchronous presentation assignment on a topic of interest.

Important Dates

Courses may be cancelled due to low enrollment. Show your interest by enrolling.

Resources

• Parking
• PACE Course Pricing
• Textbooks
• Summer University Pricing
• Summer Housing