WOMEN AND MENTAL-HEALTH - AUGMENTING UNDERGRADUATES KNOWLEDGE AND CRITICAL THINKING

This article describes a course that introduces undergraduates to important information about women. This course prepares students to articulate controversies related to culture and women's mental health and provides a background for a more gender-balanced view of psychology. Cultural factors that influence mental health and treatment for women are explored in relation to specific mental health topics, such as eating disorders, self-esteem, sexual assault, depression, sex bias in diagnosis, and feminist therapy. Pretest and posttest scores collected on a 25-item true-false measure of relevant information showed a significant gain in knowledge.