Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance: A Social Science Approach (FutureLearn)

Are you a health professional new to social science research? Find out how you can fight antimicrobial resistance on this course. Learn the key aspects of successful antimicrobial stewardship. Antimicrobial resistance is a complex problem in today’s medicine that requires a unique approach. On this course, you will build your knowledge of how a social science perspective can fight the problem of antimicrobial resistance.

You will gain insights into antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in different contexts and how to apply a social science research approach. You will also be introduced to different fields of study and social science theory.

What topics will you cover?

– What is social science and why do we need a social science perspective for tackling AMR?

– Insights on implementing AMS to tackle AMR across different settings

– Introduction to realist review

– Introduction to ethnography

– Introduction to implementation science

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you’ll be able to…

– Demonstrate a basic understanding of what social science is

– Explore examples of using different social science research methods for tackling antimicrobial resistance in primary and secondary care, and in high-income and lower-middle income countries

– Explore the application of a realist review to inform recommendations for developing and/or improving antimicrobial stewardship

– Identify examples of using ethnography to gain novel insights into current delivery of antimicrobial stewardship activities

– Describe how implementation science can help to improve implementation of antimicrobial stewardship activities

– Identify potential research questions or improvement project ideas for your practice setting that can be investigated in future studies using social science methods