Discover how health, aging and well-being connect in Health & Society I. In a close-knit learning environment with smaller class sizes to foster strong connections with instructors, explore the human side of health care with topics like mental health, community services, housing and aging and breaking down the barriers of the health care system.
You will automatically be admitted into the Health & Society Honours BA program at the end of your first year, or you can apply to any other Health & Society or Social Gerontology degree programs and specializations.
Upper Year Health & Society and Social Gerontology programs include:
Please note, this program is not affiliated with Health Sciences and does not focus on the clinical side of health.
The Faculty of Social Sciences Careers & Experiential Education team offers students many opportunities to connect their academic learning to work experience, career planning and the community around them.
Co-op Opportunities
If you’re looking to gain work experience throughout your degree, the Aging and Society Co-op Option Program or the Health & Society Co-op Option Program is for you! You can apply to this degree program at the end of your first year in Health & Society I. A co-op program means that you will study at McMaster for five years, with three paid co-op work terms and the rest as academic in course studies.
Dive into the world of health care through work experience in community groups and organizations, hospital administration and opportunities in both the private and public sectors.
Common positions for co-op include (but are not limited to):
Sectors where you can find a co-op include (but are not limited to):
Field Experience
In the study of Health & Society, experience in the field is necessary to help our students put theory and methods into practice. Students have the opportunity to take either HLTH AGE 3BB3: Field Experience or HLTH AGE 3EE3: Health, Aging, and the Practice of Everyday Life: Observations from the Field. Both of these courses offer students the opportunity to observe, gain experience, and interact in a community agency or institution, in order to augment their knowledge and understanding of health programs and policies. Alongside these opportunities, there is a focus upon active learning throughout our programs via invited speakers and discussion groups with older adult volunteers.
Explore careers
“The skills I learned in Social Sciences mean that I bring a different perspective and set of skills to my internships that compliment my colleagues from health sciences, biology or computer science. I bring strong communication and teamwork skills, and my academic work helps me look at the work of Skinopathy through a societal lens.”
– Emily, Honours Health & Society, Skinopathy Digital Healthcare Intern
What You’ll Take:
Learn more about Health and Society I requirements here.
The Specialization and Minor in Mental Health and Addiction provides you with the opportunity to develop an in-depth understanding of the relationship between mental health, addiction, and society. It involves examining the links between mental health and wider social processes, including marginalization, the construction of deviance, and the social determinants of health.
You will also gain a solid understanding of mental illness and some of the ways in which social changes and other non-biomedical interventions can be harnessed to address issues related to mental health and addiction and promote well-being.
For a full list of courses that can be available in this program, please consult the academic calendar.