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EDAC312 Physical and Mental Health Issues

10 cp

The unit is designed to provide students with an awareness and understanding of physical, medical and mental health issues relating to people with a disability. With the movement of people into the community and the move away from the Medical Model as the paradigm for understanding disability, many people have experienced worsening health status. This unit aims to equip the student with a general knowledge of major medical issues confronting people with a disability. This will enable the student to assist a person with a disability and their health professionals to provide good service and proper treatment for conditions specific to the disability or general medical conditions. An overview of types of disability will be provided. Classification systems and epidemiology will be presented. The common medical issues relating to specific disorders will be described. The unit also looks at the health and medical practices that would be considered necessary for all members of the community to maintain good health. Mental illness will be examined in detail, with attention to aetiology and treatment practices, and the incidence of mental illness in people with intellectual disability. The unit covers issues to do with the role of the human service in assisting people to obtain good health care and the role of the service worker in carrying this out in community living settings. Systems for documenting and maintaining health records will be examined.

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