Faculty of Behavioural and Cultural Studies Gerontology, Health, and Care
Students enrolled in the Gerontology, Health and Care degree programme apply multidisciplinary approaches to dealing with general and specialised issues related to ageing and old age, as well as the ethically and professionally sound care of people in need of care.
The Gerontology, Health and Care degree programme includes the interdisciplinary professional and methodological examination of the disciplines and related sciences of gerontology (science of age and ageing), nursing science and care, geriatrics and (geronto-)psychiatry (geriatric medicine) as well as health promotion, prevention and rehabilitation. Against the background of legal, social and health policy framework conditions and developments, the subject deals with the fields of work of gerontology and the professional field of rehabilitative, curative and palliative care, support and care of people with care needs and people with chronic illnesses in different phases of life.
Special Features and Characteristics
The Bachelor's degree programme B.A. Gerontology, Health and Care can be studied in the teacher training-related variant with 67% subject content or without teacher training as an accompanying subject with 25% subject content. It can also be studied as part of the Master of Education (M.Ed.) programme for the higher teaching profession at vocational schools with the vocational specialisations of gerontology, health and care.
The range of courses is modular and comprises the following in the Bachelor's degree programme
1. in the teacher training-related variant with a 67% subject share, the subject Gerontology, Health and Care with a scope of 95 CP, a second subject with a scope of 59 CP including 2 CP of subject didactics, studies in educational science, vocational education and subject didactics in the professional field of nursing as interdisciplinary competences (ÜK) with a total of 20 CP (teacher training option) as well as a Bachelor's thesis with a scope of 6 credit points, which must be completed in the subject Gerontology, Health and Care. Any subject can be chosen as a second subject for which there is a corresponding offer (33% subject share, 59 CP including 2 CP in specialised didactics).
2. in the variant with a 25% subject component, the subject Gerontology, Health and Care as an accompanying subject with a scope of 35 credit points in combination with another subject as the major subject as well as interdisciplinary competences (ÜK) and a Bachelor's thesis to be completed in the main subject.
The total scope of the Master's degree programme is 120 CP, which is divided into 47 CP in the subject Gerontology, Health and Care; 31 CP in the second subject; 11 CP in the educational science study components; 16 CP in the school internship semester and 15 CP in the Master's thesis.
The Bachelor's degree programme in the teacher training variant has an integrated practical module consisting of various specialist internships in the professional field of nursing. If you have successfully completed three years of specialist nursing training or a professional licence in accordance with the Nursing Professions Act, this can be credited as an equivalent module.
The Master's degree programme in Gerontology, Health and Care requires, among other things, three years of successfully completed specialist nursing training or a professional licence in accordance with the Nursing Professions Act.
The Institute of Gerontology has an comprehensive library. Students also have access to a well-equipped PC pool for research and PC work.
Research
Research at the Institute of Gerontology focusses in particular on topics associated with demographic change and our ageing societies, and applies a wide range of social-scientific methods:
- age-related potentials and resources for societal and cultural development, for solidarity between generations and generational equity,
- interactions between physical, mental and social ageing processes to achieve a more in-depth understanding of ageing and age and to develop a comprehensive system for intervention strategies,
- quality of life of people who suffer from (physical and mental) diseases,
- development of intervention strategies that are based on objective and subjective criteria of quality of life.
The various projects all have strong ties to real-life situations due to the involvement of geriatric care institutions, nursing homes, health insurance providers, town councils and political parties.
Occupational Areas
The Bachelor's degree in Gerontology, Health and Care qualifies students for further qualification as part of a Master's degree programme, such as the Master of Education in Gerontology, Health and Care at Heidelberg University, which enables entry into the preparatory service (‘Referendariat’) and thus into the teaching profession at vocational schools.
Provided that a professional licence in accordance with the Nursing Professions Act or a valid professional licence recognised as equivalent can be proven prior to the Bachelor's degree, the course qualifies students to plan, organise and carry out practical instruction as part of practical training in nursing professions as well as to assess and determine individual nursing needs. In this case, the degree programme also qualifies students to organise, design, manage, evaluate and document complex and highly complex care processes using various methods.
The degree programme also qualifies students to work in numerous professional fields in science, in the management of the care and health sector, in the public sector, e.g. in the areas of urban and neighbourhood development or sport and exercise in old age, as well as in the private sector, e.g. in the context of teaching and lecturing in adult education or in training and further education in the professional field of care.
Insights
I am a trained health care specialist and nurse and would like to teach in this area. Gerontology, Health and Care is the ideal complement to my Bachelor’s degree in psychology.
Claudia Wolff, 28, Gerontology, Health and Care, 1st semester Bachelor
