This module consists of five blocks, each designed to help you understand contemporary issues related to mental health.
This module places a strong emphasis on the voices and lived experiences of people with mental ill-health. To support your learning, you'll hear narratives from real people via multimedia formats such as videos and audio clips. Some of the blocks will explore sensitive or emotionally challenging topics. Where this is the case, clear content warnings will be provided in advance. These will outline the nature of the material and offer guidance and signposting. Before registering for this module, we encourage you to review the module topics below and consider whether this is the right time for you to study this module. If you have any doubt about the suitability of the module, please speak to an adviser.
The five blocks are:
Block 1
The opening block aims to help you get started and provides information for you to refer back to throughout your studies. It is a short but important foundation. You'll explore the terminology used in contemporary mental health and be introduced to concepts that underpin mental health and mental ill health, as well as the language used throughout this module. You'll also further develop study skills such as taking notes online and dealing with emotive content. Lastly, you'll explore what is meant by lived experience, a perspective which underpins this module, in which people have been willing to share their real-life experiences.
Block 2
This block will help you to understand the various models and perspectives that underpin mental health. You'll start with the social model and move into the medical model, followed by an exploration of the psychological and spiritual. The block closes with an examination of models when integrated, and will allow an opportunity to consider the advantages and disadvantages of each. This block is slightly longer than block 1 and is a good basis for understanding different approaches to mental health.
Block 3
This block considers the challenges associated with mental health, starting with a critique of the perspectives that you explored in block 2. You'll then go on to study challenges that can occur when mental health and physical health occur together building on the terminology and concepts you were introduced to in block 1. Challenges then continue when you consider what it is like to be old and young and how these different periods of a person’s life can impact on mental health. You'll conclude by focussing on challenges through doing, which means exploring areas such as caring and activism.
Block 4
In this block, you'll move on to study mental health in terms of concepts and theories, which can be more abstract in their nature but are intended to build on the knowledge you have learned so far, and to consider their impact. Topics include poverty, race, gender, sexuality, technology, and global issues, examined through a legal perspective. You'll be asked to consider what the future may mean for mental health.
Block 5
The final block aims to help you reflect upon the materials you have been studying throughout and to do so from the perspective of lived experience. The intention is for you to have the time to do so and then to prepare for the end-of-module assessment through which you'll be guided by the content.
You’ll get help and support from an assigned tutor throughout your module.
They’ll help by:
Online tutorials run throughout the module. While they’re not compulsory, we strongly encourage you to participate. Where possible, we’ll make recordings available.
We also offer the option of 'relaxed tutorials’ on this module. In a relaxed tutorial, you will not be recorded, expected to use a microphone, asked to switch on your webcam, put on the spot, called upon by name or placed in a breakout room. This option may be attractive to students who prefer not to attend the traditional format of live online classes.
Course work includes:
This module uses a wide range of rich online resources, each designed to enable students to learn in a way that suits them. In addition a printed Reader supplements the module and includes a number of short articles exploring various aspects of mental health.
You can study this module on its own or use the credits you gain towards an Open University qualification.
K243 is an option module in our:
Critical perspectives on mental health in society (K243) starts once a year – in October.
This page describes the module that will start in October 2026.
We expect it to start for the last time in October 2029.
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations, which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.
There are no entry requirements for this module. This is an OU level 2 module and you need to have the study skills required for both higher education and distance learning, obtained either through OU level 1 study or from equivalent study elsewhere.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the module, please speak to an adviser.
If you are studying for a Health and Social Care qualification, our OU level 1 module Introducing health and social care (K102) is ideal preparation. However, you don’t need any prior knowledge as the study material for this module is designed to be accessible if you are new to this subject.
Whilst there are no preparatory resources that you must read before studying this module, you may wish to look at the book series Foundations of Mental Health Practice, especially the text on Models of Mental Health by Gavin Davidson, Jim Campbell, Ciaran Shannon and Ciarin Mulholland published by Macmillan International in 2019. You may also want to look at the BBC documentary Psychosis and Me which details the experience of the actor David Harewood.
Topics that you may wish to revise include terminology that is used in mental health, perspectives of mental health and lived experience.
The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone, and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying K243 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our Disability support website.
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