FMSC - Family Science
FMSC110 Families and Global Health (3 Credits)
Students will explore, define, and study global health, social determinants of health, health inequalities, gender inequality, family violence, and maternal and child health using a global perspective.
FMSC111 Credit Cards and College Students (1 Credit)
Provides college students with factual information about basic money management skills, emphasizing the responsible use of credit, specifically credit cards. Topics will include financial goals, spending plan, wise use of credit, debt management, consumer credit protection, and ID Theft. Online lessons will include video clips and interactive class activities. Students will learn the basics to build a strong financial future.
Recommended: Moderate level of computer literacy, especially Internet and ELMS. Reliable computer and Internet access.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC111, FMSC341 or FMSC498D.
Formerly: FMSC498D.
FMSC123 Personal Financial Literacy: From Distress to Success (3 Credits)
Exploring strategic thinking, career, education, financial planning during college years as the foundation for success in living a meaningful life. While introducing relevant institutions and tools techniques that are critical for financial planning, this course applies value-based goal setting and strategic planning that inform individuals' paths for a successful career, educational attainment, and optimum (mental, physical and financial) wellbeing throughout their life cycle. The course particularly emphasizes the individual's responsibility of living in an institution rich society, where, continuous learning, understanding institutions, rational decision-making, valuing relationships and networking, early career development, record keeping, budgeting, generating income and wealth, purposeful spending, saving and investing, tax planning, appropriate use of loans, risk taking and insurance, and retirement planning are well rewarded and ensure the optimum use of college years and the rest of life-course.
FMSC170 Modern Families (3 Credits)
Examination of current trends and controversial issues in family life, including issues of marriage, reproductive technologies, adoption, child custody, remarriage, and marital violence.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC170 or FMSC298F.
Formerly: FMSC298F.
FMSC186 Family Law and Ethics in Assisted Reproduction (1 Credit)
For students interested in studying the law, public health and/or family science, this course examines the cutting-edge law and ethics of assisted reproduction including the technologies of sperm and egg donation, in vitro fertilization, surrogacy, and reproductive organ transplants, and the impact on families.
FMSC190 Man Up! Where Are The Fathers? (3 Credits)
An examination of changing fatherhood roles, health, and inequality in diverse families. Focus will be on masculinities and disparities among men by race and class; provider role expectations; and trauma and violence faced by men in contemporary society.
FMSC260 Couples, Marriage, and Families: Intimate Relationship Across the Life Course (3 Credits)
Covers the different aspects of couple relationships and family life. This includes common problems in couple relationships, and resources to strengthen couple and family relationships. You will also learn about stages of relationships, theories of love and family, policy related to couples and family formation, and how research is conducted with couples and families. Together, we will discuss and explore issues that couples and families face in modern times and will consider how many of these issues have changed due to policy, technology, attitudes, and a variety of other societal factors that impact relationships in the 21st century. You will also learn important methods of strengthening current and future relationships.
FMSC265 Teaching Menstrual Health: Dispelling Myths and Misconceptions (3 Credits)
Provides a platform to teach UMD undergraduate students and BHU Bachelor of Education students about the intersections of gender, culture, and health. We will explore how menstruation is addressed in different cultures and uncover myths and misconceptions that impact individuals, their families and communities. Furthermore, the course emphasizes the health cost (physical and mental) of not educating youth about this vital process and discusses the need for an intervention. The course provides essential skills to participating students for the development of an intervention. Key concepts include: theoretical understanding of menstrual health and its impact on girls and women's lives from cross cultural perspectives, the importance of deconstructing myths and misconceptions and the importance of educating both girls and boys; cultural taboos and patriarchal power relations that contribute to myths, misconceptions and practices; public health interventions addressing the cost of ignoring adolescent health issues including menstrual health; the impact of providing agency to young girls and boys to challenge the status-quo; and links between knowledge about menstruation, human rights, gender equality and the SDGs.
FMSC270 Sex, Drugs, and Social Media: Adolescent Health and Development (3 Credits)
This course will ask: How can families, schools, communities, and society help adolescents to navigate contemporary stressors and develop into physically and mentally healthy adults? To do this, we will use research, and an understanding of adolescent development, to explore and analyze issues affecting the health and behavior of American adolescents. Such issues include (but are not limited to) sex education, the role of social media in mental health, substance use, policing in schools, dating violence, suicide prevention, access to sexual and reproductive health care, and school start times. We will consider how adolescent well-being is shaped by social contexts, including the role of parents and family members, peers, schools, communities, social media, and culture. We will examine policies and programs that affect adolescents, how effective they are at promoting adolescent health, and how they might be improved to better support healthy adolescent development.
FMSC280 Global, Child & Family Health: Getting There Via E-Communications (3 Credits)
Students will learn about global maternal, child and family health issues and how these issues may affect their lives. Interdisciplinary teams of students will collaborate to develop programs aimed at improving global family health through the use of information and communications technologies.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC280 or FMSC289G.
Formerly: FMSC289G.
FMSC286 Assisted Reproduction Law and Policy in the US and Brazil (3 Credits)
In this Global Classroom, U.S. students will work synchronously online with their international partners in Brazil to critically think about cutting-edge ethical, legal, policy and scientific issues in the field of Assisted Reproduction Technologies (ART) in the two countries. This course looks at conventional families created in unconventional ways to examine such topics as sperm and egg donation, in vitro fertilization, surrogacy, reproductive organ transplants and more - while considering the social, cultural, racial, religious, economic, or socioeconomic contexts that influence each. Students will work with their foreign peers in small groups to compare ART in each country and then create proposed legislation for either the U.S. or Brazil which their international group will present online to their colleges and submit to the country's legislators. In so doing, students will be challenged to think critically and see their place in creating actionable change in a global society.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC186 or FMSC286.
Additional Information: This is a global classroom course where students will learn online, meet once a week in a synchronous class on Webex with their Brazilian classmates, and work individually via Webex in small international groups.
FMSC289 Special Topics in Family Science (3 Credits)
Topics of special interest under the general guidance of the Department of Family Science.
Repeatable to: 9 credits if content differs.
FMSC290 Family Economics (3 Credits)
Application of economic methodology to study families under various economic situations. Examination of how decisions about marriage, divorce, fertility, consumption and time use are influenced by labor/housing markets, tax structure, social welfare benefits and other economic considerations.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC290 or FMST290.
Formerly: FMST290.
FMSC298 Special Topics in Family Science (1-3 Credits)
Topics of special interest under the general guidance of the Department of Family Studies.
Repeatable to: 12 credits if content differs.
Formerly: FMST298.
FMSC302 Research Methods in Family Science (3 Credits)
Introduction to the methods of the social and behavioral sciences employed in family science. The role of theory, the development of hypotheses, measurement, design, and data analysis.
Prerequisite: Must have completed an introductory statistics course.
Restriction: Must be in a major within SPHL-Family Science department.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC302 or FMST302.
Formerly: FMST302.
FMSC310 Maternal, Child and Family Health (3 Credits)
Overview of the major issues in Maternal, Child, and Family Health in the U.S. and the world. The course will cover the social, political, environmental, and economic factors that shape the health of women, children, and families throughout the life course. It will employ the core disciplines of public health -- 1) epidemiology/biostatistics, 2) environmental health, 3) health policy and administration, and 4) social and behavioral health -- to examine these factors. The course introduces specific issues and interventions and places these issues and interventions within their broad sociohistorical context.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC310, FMSC410 or FMSC498A.
Formerly: FMSC498A and FMSC410.
Additional Information: A comprehensive understanding of maternal, child, and family health, with additional emphasis on environmental health, needs assessment and evaluation, enabling students to more effectively address issues in the workplace.
FMSC330 Family Health: Health Happens in Families (3 Credits)
The objective of this gateway course is to help you understand and apply basic theories and empirical data on family health. The course is designed to provide you with skills to think critically about theories including: Life Course Theory, the Bio-Ecological and Social-Ecological Models, and Systems Theory. We will ask questions about the distinct qualities and intersections of contexts and characteristics that impact the functioning of families. We will apply theory and research to topical issues in family health that are impacted by social structures such as conflict, crisis, migration, incarceration and inequalities.
Restriction: Junior standing or higher.
FMSC332 Children in Families (3 Credits)
A family life education approach to the study of children and families. Emphasis on the interaction of children with parents, siblings, extended kin, and the community.
Prerequisite: PSYC100 or FMSC105.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC332 or FMST332.
Formerly: FMST332.
FMSC340 Mental Health and Healing in Families (3 Credits)
Using an interdisciplinary approach to study mental health, mental wellness, and substance use, we will answer questions such as: How has our understanding and treatment of mental health changed throughout history? What are the current prevalence patterns and risk factors associated with mental health conditions? What is the prevention to postvention continuum? What is the role of relationships, families, and communities in addressing mental health? How do we diagnose and treat various mental health disorders using the best available research? And, what are the various mental health disciplines and how do they differ? This course is designed to examine mental health issues across the life course. We will explore the influence of social contexts, including racism and additional forms of othering, on mental health and wellness, and introduce the health systems that support mental health prevention and treatment.
FMSC341 Personal and Family Finance (3 Credits)
Individual and family financial strategies with emphasis on financial planning, savings, investments, insurance, income taxes, housing, and use of credit. Planning, analyzing, and controlling financial resources to resolve personal/family financial problems and to attain financial security.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC341 or FMST341.
Formerly: FMST341.
FMSC374 Working with Diverse Families in Public Health Services (3 Credits)
Focuses on the "doing" and modeling of skills required in navigating diverse social environments with families. These skills are necessary to engage in authentic work as family scientists, public health professionals, and family health practitioners. Using an intersectional framework, we will examine cultural, ethnic, and linguistic diversity for families impacted by challenges to equity and privilege. The course material emphasizes deep knowledge and skill building towards cultural sensitivity, including history, values, language, religion, and communication with families across multiple racial and ethnic backgrounds. Students will also explore differences emerging from experiences of poverty, sexual orientation and gender identity, and disability. The goal of the course is to support students in developing a family/professional alliance for health and well-being.
Prerequisite: FMSC110.
FMSC381 Family Inequality (3 Credits)
Social, political, cultural and economic factors influencing income and wealth in American families.
Prerequisite: SOCY100 or SOCY105.
Restriction: Must be in a major within SPHL-Family Science department.
FMSC382 Family Mediation and Negotiation (3 Credits)
Investigates mediation as a forum of peaceful intervention. It is designed to provide students with an introduction and basic understanding of the essential principles of mediation and opportunities to put those principles to work. In so doing, students will obtain an in-depth knowledge of a practical "hands on" approach to divorce mediation as the conduct mediation skill builders and facilitate a successful mediation. Students will learn major mediation interventions and how such interventions may help establish a new dynamic among family members in their communications and relationships. To assist in understanding, we will discuss family law issues and ethics. The course also includes a focus on negotiation theory and skills and students will conduct a negotiation. We will use multi-media presentations, real life mediation observation, lecture and class discussion, role-play, and academic review and critic to reach the course goals and objectives.
Recommended: FMSC487 and FMSC341.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC498M or FMSC382.
Formerly: FMSC498M.
FMSC383 Health and Human Services Delivery and Evaluation (3 Credits)
Processes of service delivery with special emphasis upon relationships among managers, service providers and clients. The impact of human service systems on families.
Prerequisite: FMSC330.
Restriction: Must be in a major within SPHL-Family Science department.
FMSC386 Experiential Learning (3-6 Credits)
Prerequisite: Permission of SPHL-Family Science department.
Restriction: Junior standing or higher.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC386 or FMST386.
Formerly: FMST386.
FMSC399 Independent Study (1-6 Credits)
Prerequisite: Permission of SPHL-Family Science department.
Repeatable to: 12 credits.
Formerly: FMST399.
FMSC420 African American Families (3 Credits)
Examination of the history, structure, cultural foundation, and diversity of African American family life is the focus of this class. Presentations and discussions enable students to identify, analyze, and assess: (1) the major theoretical perspectives used in the study of African American families; (2) the impact of social policy on African American families; and (3) specific areas of family life (e.g., marriage and divorce, parenting, child development, health disparities).
Recommended: FMSC330.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC420 or FMSC498F.
Formerly: FMSC498F.
FMSC425 Military and Veteran Family Services (3 Credits)
Overview of issues impacting contemporary military families including during times of war. Identification of challenges faced by military families related to deployment/reunion and mental and physical health, as well as support systems available. Examination of skills and strategies for working with service members, veterans, and military families.
Recommended: Moderate level of computer literacy, especially Internet and ELMS. Reliable computer and Internet access.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC425 or FMSC498W.
Formerly: FMSC498W.
FMSC430 Gender Issues in Families (3 Credits)
The development of historical, cultural, developmental, and psychosocial aspects of masculinity and femininity within the context of contemporary families and the implications for interpersonal relations.
FMSC431 Family Crises, Emergencies and Interventions (3 Credits)
Examines the stressors in life that may lead families into a state of crisis or emergency and what can be done to help families when the need arises. Both internal stressors, such as substance abuse, finances, divorce, illness or parent-child conflict, and external stressors, such as community violence and natural disasters, are examined. Using theories and techniques for intervention and enhancement, the course examines factors involved in stressors turning into a family crisis and how factors such as emergency preparedness, social support and public policy can be a source of family resilience or protect families from negative outcomes.
Prerequisite: PSYC100.
FMSC432 Adult Development and Aging in Families (3 Credits)
Theory, research, history, and programming related to adult development and aging in the intergenerational context of family.
Prerequisite: PSYC100; and (SOCY100 or SOCY105). And FMSC332; or must have completed a comparable development course.
Restriction: Must be in a major within SPHL-Family Science department.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC432 or FMST432.
Formerly: FMST432.
FMSC440 Death and Loss in Family Life (3 Credits)
Examination of how families experience grief and loss resulting from the death of a family member, including health and financial consequences. Overview of historical, social, psychological, cultural, medical, and legal dimensions of death in families from diverse backgrounds. Exploration of how the health care system and funeral home industry assist families in managing death and loss.
Recommended: Moderate level of computer literacy, especially Internet and ELMS. Reliable computer and Internet access.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC440 or FMSC498B.
Formerly: FMSC498B.
FMSC445 Sexuality: Issues in Family Therapy and Service Delivery (3 Credits)
Typical, dysfunctional, and pathological sexual functioning, including effects on individuals, couples, and family systems. Sensitizes students to sexual issues, explores how perceptions of such issues affect work with people, and emphasizes implications for marriage and family therapy.
Prerequisite: A basic course in human sexuality; and permission of instructor. Jointly offered with FMSC645.
FMSC460 Violence in Families (3 Credits)
Theories of child, spouse, and elder abuse in the family setting. Emphasis on historical, psychological, sociological and legal trends relating to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Introduction to methods for prevention and remediation.
Prerequisite: SOCY100, SOCY105, or PSYC100.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC460 or FMST460.
Formerly: FMST460.
FMSC477 Internship and Analysis in Family Science (3 Credits)
A supervised internship and a seminar requiring analysis. Opportunities to integrate theory and practice including 120 hours of contracted field experience. Summer or fall internship contracts due May 1; Spring contracts due December 1. See department for application procedures.
Prerequisite: FMSC383; and 9 credits in FMSC courses; and permission of SPHL-Family Science department.
Restriction: Must be in a major within SPHL-Family Science department.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC477, FMST347, or FMST477.
Formerly: FMST477.
FMSC485 Introduction to Family Therapy (3 Credits)
The fundamental theoretical concepts and clinical procedures of marital and family therapy including premarital and divorce therapy issues.
Prerequisite: FMSC330; or 1 course from PSYC300-499 course range.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC485 or FMST485.
Formerly: FMST485.
FMSC486 Law, Public Health and the Cuban Family (4 Credits)
A short-term summer study abroad course that is a comparative law and public health course. Students travel to Havana, Cuba to compare family problems in a capitalist versus socialist society within the context of legal, public health, social, cultural and economic changes.
Recommended: FMSC487. Jointly offered with: FMSC686.
Credit Only Granted for: FMSC486, FMSC686 or MIEH698B.
Additional Information: This is a study abroad course which will primarily occur in Cuba. Additionally, the course involves an online component prior to and following the trip.
FMSC487 Family Law (3 Credits)
Designed for students interested in studying the law, public health, and family science, this course provides students with a general overview of family law and the impact on healthy families. The course also includes the study of cutting-edge issues such as marriage equality, assisted reproduction and ethical issues that may arise.
FMSC498 Special Topics: Family Science (1-3 Credits)
Special course topics in family studies.
Prerequisite: Permission of SPHL-Family Science department.
Repeatable to: 6 credits if content differs.
Formerly: FMST498.