aVLMH011 Essentials of Mental Health and Effective Studying Support for Medical Faculty Students

Faculty of Medicine
autumn 2021
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Pavel Humpolíček, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Mgr. Tatiana Malatincová, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
doc. PhDr. Alena Slezáčková, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
doc. PhDr. Miroslav Světlák, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
MUDr. Rastislav Šumec, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Blanka Suchá (assistant)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Miroslav Světlák, Ph.D.
Department of Medical Psychology and Psychosomatics – Theoretical Departments – Faculty of Medicine
Contact Person: doc. PhDr. Miroslav Světlák, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Medical Psychology and Psychosomatics – Theoretical Departments – Faculty of Medicine
Timetable
Mon 13. 9. to Fri 17. 12. Mon 18:00–19:15 B11/334
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives (in Czech)
The main aim of the course is to introduce students to the scientific essentials of health psychology and its practical application for mental health and effective study support. Students will be presented in the science of mental health support, stress management, and effective learning strategies. At the end of the course, students will be able to understand not only the relationships among stress, mental health, and well being but also understand the importance of the mindset and to its influence on the memory and learning processes. Students will have a repertoire of essential knowledge and skills on how to deal with stress during the examination and how to prepare for it
Syllabus (in Czech)
  • Syllabus 1. Well-being is a skill: Basic components of well being and mental health support during study at the faculty of medicine 2. Mindfulness in life and study 3. Study-life balance 4. From a problem-oriented to solution-oriented approach to life and study 5. Increasing Your Learning Efficiency I 6. Increasing Your Learning Efficiency II 7. Increasing Your Learning Efficiency III 8. Self-compassion and its relationship to mental health and effective study 9. The power of positive emotions: How positivity is related to health and effective study 10. Stress Management and Effective Learning Strategies 11. Character strengths: How to reveal the inner potential and become a better version of yourself 12. The fundamental components of self-support before and during the oral examination 13. Optimism and hope in relation to mental and physical health 14. Practical interventions for enhancing mental health and well-being 15. Practical interventions for enhancing mental health and well-being II
Assessment methods (in Czech)
Active participation of students during lectures and final Seminar paper (essay, max. 500 words) with students´ reflection of their own progress in mental health and effective study support.

INSTRUCTIONS:
The final paper (essay, approx. 1,500 words) should consist of your reflection of a selected topic from the course. You can choose to reflect on multiple issues more broadly or focus on one or two topics in depth, depending on what you consider most relevant for you personally. For inspiration, here are some sample questions you might consider addressing in your essay, but you can choose any of the topics that were covered in the course:
How do I cope with stress? What kind of coping strategies do I use in the stressful situations, and how can I do better? How can mindfulness support our wellbeing? What mindfulness teaches us about how our minds work and how we can use this to live more content and flourishing life? In what ways was I able to use mindfulness in my life and study and what have I learned from it? What is well-being to me? What are my character strengths, and how can I use them? What is the importance of positive emotions in my life? What is the role of optimism and hope in my life? How can relaxation techniques improve my well-being? Which practical interventions for enhancing mental health and well-being I have used and how they affected my wellbeing? Which strategies for improving memory for difficult materials work best for me, and how do they work? Which strategies of improving attention focus work best for me, and how do they work? What are the strongest “enemies” of my study motivation, and how do I fight them? How can I make studying more motivating and enjoyable? What have I learned from attempts to change my functioning for the better – which strategies worked and which did not? What have I learned about myself thanks to these attempts? Have my study habits changed during my university studies, and what were the causes and mechanisms of the change? What is the major issue in my study behaviour I’m currently working on, and what could I do to tackle it? How is/was my study behaviour affected by other people (models, expectations, etc.) and situational factors, and what were the greatest positive influences? Is there anything I want to try out to improve my study behaviour but was not successful yet – and if so, what might be holding me back?
Please include an introductory paragraph in your essay in which you will briefly describe which questions of issues you are addressing in the text.
Finally, let us emphasize that your essay should contain your own thoughts and experiences, discussed in the perspective of the topics we’ve discussed in the course. Please keep in mind that plagiarism in any form will not be tolerated. Essays containing plagiarized content will be automatically rejected.
You can find the overview of the content of all lectures as well as other related materials in the study materials for this course in the Interactive Syllabus in the IS.
Kindly upload your essay into the Homework Vault (Information system of MU - Study materials for aVLMH011 - Homework Vault) until February 21, 2021.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: 30.
The course is also listed under the following terms autumn 2020, autumn 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (autumn 2021, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/med/autumn2021/aVLMH011