Minor in Health and Social Sciences

Minor in Health and Social Sciences

Overview

Trends in the 21st century such as the prominence of health and illness in everyday life, the increasing rates of illnesses associated with people's lifestyles, occupations, individual choices, governments' decisions and the relevance of ecological factors, all accentuate the importance of analysing health and illness systematically from the perspectives of the social sciences and humanities.

The objective of the Minor in HSS is to introduce students to the rich and varied expertise from the social sciences and humanities on health phenomena. The Minor in HSS focuses on three areas of health knowledge contributed by social sciences, and based on these areas of health knowledge, the Minor in HSS is designed to attain three learning outcomes.

The first two are knowledge outcomes:

  1. Students will obtain basic knowledge on the influence of psychological, social, economic, cultural, historical, and environmental factors on health-related behavior and attitudes as well as on illness and disability patterns in society and their consequences.
  2. Students will be acquainted with the application of social science research approaches to the analysis of three areas of health knowledge:
    1. the impact of the psychological dimensions of individual behaviour and attitudes;
    2. the socio-economic, and cultural dimensions of individual and collective health-related behavior, attitudes, and beliefs including the structure, dynamics and roles of health organisations and social support network;
    3. the relevance of the economic and physical environment to the population’s health.

The third learning outcome is on ability:

  1. Students will be able to search for and identify evidence-based social science research on health-related behaviour and attitudes as well as on illness and disability issues and patterns in society.
Assoc Prof Kriti Vikram

Academic Convenor

Assoc Prof Kriti Vikram

Requirements

  • Cohort 2024 will be the last cohort allowed to declare this minor
  • All courses read in fulfillment of the minor requirements should be graded. Courses taken on Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis may not be counted towards the minor requirements. (Cohort 2013 and before)
  • Courses taken on Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis may be counted towards the minor requirements. (Cohort 2014 and after)
  • Up to 8 units (40% of the unit requirements for a Minor) may be double counted and used to meet (i) the Minor requirement and (ii) another requirement, e.g., General Education (Cohort 2021 onwards), College (e.g., Common Curriculum), Faculty, Major, Second Major, Minor, Specialisation or other requirement, i.e., at least 12 units of the Minor must be distinct and not overlapping.
  • Students are not allowed to count the new coded GET/GEH/GES/GER/GEQ courses towards both the Major or Minor requirements. (Cohort 2015 onwards)
  • A minimum of 60% of the Minor requirements must be earned from courses read at NUS. Courses read at NUS include all courses taught, co-taught, supervised or co-supervised by NUS faculty member(s). These consist of graded courses or courses with an ‘S' or ‘CS' grade. The remaining units may be earned through credit transfers, advanced placement and exemptions, from courses deemed relevant to the particular Minor. For students on overseas exchange, unit transfer of up to 8 Units of relevant courses for the Minor may be accepted. (All cohorts)

Courses Offered

Courses Offered in AY2026/2027
(courses for Semester 2 are subjected to changes)

Course Type

Note:

*GEH1049 for cohort 2020 and before; GEC1015 for cohort 2021 and after

**Subject to changes and availability

Last updated: 13 July 2026

Courses Description

To view the courses description and timetable, please visit https://nusmods.com/courses.

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