Overview
This unit will prepare you for rural practice by providing an overview of rural Australia and its social, cultural, geographic, environmental and economic influences. Guided by a sociological perspective, you will gain an understanding of the historical transformation of rural Australia, and the social structures and cultural processes underpinning problems that characterise rural communities. The meaning of ‘rurality’ and the implications of ‘rurality’ for health and social service delivery and practice is covered from a range of viewpoints and experiences. You will develop an understanding of your role as professionals, and of rural health issues, including the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. You will gain an appreciation of the unique features of rural service delivery in relation to the use of communication technology, rural practice models, and responses to natural disasters. This unit would be of particular interest to those planning to live and work in rural and remote Australia; including allied health practitioners, community development officers, nurses, paramedics and teachers.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Students are required to have completed 24 units of credit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2018
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Moodle unit evaluation
Students felt the assessment feedback did no specifically show where each mark was lost and required clearer instruction on how to do the written assignments.
The marking guide will be revised to further clarify assessment requirements and standards of performance for different grades (Fail to High Distinction) . This will guide the student in what is expected for each assessment. Each marking criterion will explain what is being sought of the student and how marks will be allocated. A specific session will be undertaken with students to explain the marking guide and each of these criterion, to show students exactly how assignments will be marked.
Feedback from Moodle unit evaluation
A useful unit for anyone wanting to work in regional and remote areas.
The content will continue to be updated to reflect the social, cultural and health issues in regional and remote communities
Feedback from Moodle unit evaluation
A useful unit for anyone wanting to work in regional and remote areas
Further resources for students to help them develop a sociological perspective will be added to the unit. The emphasis will be on supporting the different learning styles of students taking the unit.
Feedback from Moodle unit evaluation
The timing of assessments across the teaching term and the portfolio written assessment were positive features.
The portfolio assessment will continue to be used as a way for students to apply their learning, source evidence on topics and issues, and demonstrate originality and knowledge.
Feedback from Moodle unit evaluation
Concern by students about their more conservative views and values when topics examined social issues (DV, family violence), gender relations, etc., and when different perspectives put forward (e.g., Feminism).
Support students when discussions cover topics around family, gender, and race, and better explain material covering sociological perspectives. The aim is to create inviting discussion spaces and to focus on perspectives covered by the literature and supported by evidence.
- Use a sociological perspective to discuss the impacts of global forces, historical changes and rural culture on the social organisation of Australian rural communities
- Identify the social-structural characteristics of rural areas and the factors (social, economic, cultural) that influence the health of rural Australians, and delivery of health care to rural and remote areas
- Describe the health issues experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other social groups (e.g. new migrants, people living with disability) living in rural and remote communities
- Explain the role of the health professional working and living in rural and remote Australia, and the rewards and challenges this provides
- Compare and contrast the various health service delivery models used in rural and remote communities.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
1 - Written Assessment - 50% | |||||
2 - Written Assessment - 50% |
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
1 - Communication | |||||
2 - Problem Solving | |||||
3 - Critical Thinking | |||||
4 - Information Literacy | |||||
5 - Team Work | |||||
6 - Information Technology Competence | |||||
7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||||
8 - Ethical practice | |||||
9 - Social Innovation | |||||
10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures |
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
1 - Written Assessment - 50% | ||||||||||
2 - Written Assessment - 50% |
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
Additional Textbook Information
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing styles below:
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
w.hillman@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Sociology, the sociological imagination & identity
Chapter
Willis (2011) – CRO
Yuill, Gibson & Thorpe (2011) - CRO
Sullivan & Lane West-Newman (2007) - CRO
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Botterill (2006) e-journal
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Rural culture & social conditions AND the global forces and politics in rural communities
Chapter
Bryant & Garnham (2015) e-journal
Hogan & Lockie (2013) e-journal
Woods (2006) e-journal
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Bourke et al. (2010) e-journal
Bourke et al. (2012) e-journal
Dixon & Welch (2000) e-journal
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
McBain-Rigg & Veitch (2011) e-journal
Smith (2016) - CRO
See the Week 5 block on Moodle for further resources
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Bourke (2003) e-journal (youth)
Garnham & Bryant (2013) e-journal (ageing)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Rural issues 2: Rural women and DV & family violence
Chapter
Grace & Lennie (1998) e-journal
Wendt (2009) e-journal
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Rural issues 3: Migrant Ethnic minorites - diverse cultures & histories
Chapter
Schech (2014) e-journal
Townsend & Pascal (2012) e-journal
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Living and working in rural, regional & remote Australia
Chapter
Jervis-Tracey et al. (2012) e-journal
Keane, Lincoln &Smith (2012) e-journal
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Bennett, Zubrzycki & Bacon (2011)
Hooper, Thomas & Clarke (2007) e-journal
Walker & Sonn (2010) - internet article
See the Week 10 block on Moodle for further resources
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Professional practice in rural areas
Chapter
Beddoe & Burley (2012) - CRO
Bryant et al. (2015) e-journal
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Opportunities & challenges of professional practice in rural communities
Chapter
Dellemain & Warburton (2013) e-journal
Dew et al. (2012) e-journal
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
To be eligible to pass this unit all assessment items must be submitted for marking.
1 Written Assessment
Week 6 Wednesday (18 Apr 2018) 11:55 pm AEST
WEDNESDAY, 18 April 2018
Week 8 Wednesday (2 May 2018)
As per University policy marked assignments have a 14 day turnaround time.
- Use a sociological perspective to discuss the impacts of global forces, historical changes and rural culture on the social organisation of Australian rural communities
- Identify the social-structural characteristics of rural areas and the factors (social, economic, cultural) that influence the health of rural Australians, and delivery of health care to rural and remote areas
- Describe the health issues experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other social groups (e.g. new migrants, people living with disability) living in rural and remote communities
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
2 Written Assessment
This assignment requires you to write an essay based on two scenarios given to you and using academically credible literature and other associated relevant documents to support your introduction, discussion and conclusion. The essay gets you to engage with two individuals from some of the culturally diverse groups that live and work in rural and remote Australian communities.
The following task is a problem based learning activity that requires you to write an essay on both scenarios. You are encouraged to discuss the two scenarios with other students on the Assessment Discussion Forum and to review the supporting literature in order to treat the person effectively and provide the most appropriate support. Please do not share your written out ideas, or draft assignment with others as this can lead to plagiarism.
The purpose of this task is to prepare you for professional practice in rural and remote communities, and to understand the whole person through a broader lens.
Your essay needs to address the following two areas in the discussion:
1. Historical and contemporary social and cultural issues to accessing health care
2. Action that professionals can take to improve access, health outcomes and delivery of services to people from rural communities and culturally diverse backgrounds.
Scenario 1.
John is a 65 year old second generation livestock farmer in a rural area near Theordore in Queensland. Recently, John sustained serious injuries when a large hay bale fell on him. He has had a period of hospitalisation and is now undergoing rehabilitation. Rehabilitation of his back and neck injury is expected to take several months and during this time he will be unable to undertake everyday farm activities due to his physical incapacity and his need to attend regular therapy sessions and doctor appointments. It is unknown at this stage if John will make a full recovery or have some permanent impairment. John has a 61 year old wife named Beth and two sons, both of whom live in a metropolitan city and have professional jobs away from farm life. The closest health services to John and Beth are a two and a half hour drive away in Gladstone.
Scenario 2.
Penny is an Australian Aboriginal woman aged 54 who has lived all her life on Country in rural Central Queensland. She was part of the Stolen Generations but has been reunited with her family. Recently, Penny was referred to your practice for treatment of suspected broken ribs and a shoulder injury she sustained in a fall at home. She cares for her large family at home, including her elderly father, who has chronic medical issues himself. Penny attended her first appointment but has not returned for further appointments, x-rays and treatment. For Penny to make a full recovery and for her long term health and functionality, she needs to complete this period of treatment.
Based on the material covered in the unit, think about the various barriers and issues, and socio-cultural factors impeding John and Penny’s recovery. Also, think about what may be some of the issues for Penny and her professional health care person that may be impeding her access to services, treatment and recovery to better health and wellbeing. Consider options available for John to access health services and to gain the necessary support to manage the challenges confronting him.
To gain more insight into these two scenarios reflect on the broader social structures (social class, age, gender, ethnicity), cultural norms and expectations, and past history of rural communities and Australian society.
Instructions to Students
The aim of this assessment is for you to demonstrate learning outcomes and facilitate online discussion and interaction amongst other students. You are encouraged to discuss the questions with other students in the Assessment Forum in order to expand your knowledge and learn from your peers. Through use of the Assessment Forum you will receive guidance and input from the unit coordinator on your sociological thinking and academic writing style prior to submission of the assignment. You are asked not to post drafts of your work to the discussion forum but to bring ideas, examples and an inquiring mind. Please do not unsubscribe from the discussion forums or else you risk missing out on useful information.
You are expected to utilise the electronic databases available through the library website to access peer-reviewed sociology journal articles and newspaper articles. Other sources of use include government reports, government and professional protocols/ guidelines and good (reputable) internet sites. Use reputable and quality sources and references to complete your assignment. Look to use references that are: current (less than five years old), objective/unbiased, relevant and from authority sources (e.g. academic journals, Queensland Health, Queensland Health Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Capability Framework 2010-2033).
Failure to use any references in each of your answers will result in zero marks. Correct referencing using one of the two listed referencing styles must be used to acknowledge information sources and any direct quotes. Do not quote or use the lecture notes and study guide. This is a sociology assessment and you are required to source sociological references (not psychology or medical references).
Marks will be deducted for exceeding the set word limit, using bullet points or numbered lists, not using and citing references, not using correctly either the APA or Harvard (author-date) referencing style.
The word count is measured from the first word of the answer to the last word of the answer and includes in-text referencing. The reference list is not included in the word count. A 10% leeway is permitted on either side of the word count. When answering the question you do not need to restate it at the beginning of your answer.
Include a Title page at the front with:
- student name
- student number
- unit code
- unit name
- term date and year
- names of unit coordinator
- name of assignment
- due date for submission (if an approved extension has been given, include the new submission date)
- your final word count.
Within the essay you are required to:
- Write in the third person (e.g. do not use ‘I’, ‘me’)
- Use double-line spacing and Arial 11-point font
- Include a reference list correctly formatted to APA 6th Edition (2010) or Harvard (author-date) (Term 1 2017 Edition) referencing style
Submit your assignment by the due date and allow several minutes for submission to be completed. Contact your unit coordinator if you are in doubt about your submission upload and include a copy of your assignment in the email as proof of completion. Upload with the file named in the following format: Surname_ First name_ Student number_ A1.
Week 11 Friday (25 May 2018) 11:55 pm AEST
FRIDAY, 25 May 2018
Exam Week Monday (11 June 2018)
Monday, 11 June 2018
- Use a sociological perspective to discuss the impacts of global forces, historical changes and rural culture on the social organisation of Australian rural communities
- Identify the social-structural characteristics of rural areas and the factors (social, economic, cultural) that influence the health of rural Australians, and delivery of health care to rural and remote areas
- Describe the health issues experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other social groups (e.g. new migrants, people living with disability) living in rural and remote communities
- Explain the role of the health professional working and living in rural and remote Australia, and the rewards and challenges this provides
- Compare and contrast the various health service delivery models used in rural and remote communities.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.