※Cultivation goals
The Master’s degree program of the Department was approved and established in August 1999, and the first batch of students was officially enrolled in August 2000. This program was the first advanced long-term care academic department in Taiwan. The program aims to cultivate advanced long-term care professionals in medicine, nursing, social work, and other care-related industries, with the aim of realizing the long-term care concept that the World Health Organization is actively promoting, that is, “comprehensive and holistic physical, mental, social, and spiritual health care, whereby patients have excellent activities of daily living and social participation.” Moreover, it aims to strengthen the development of the national health care system and implement professional services for long-term care, support, and protection.
※Educational goals
(1) To cultivate in students comprehensive basic and advanced professional long-term care knowledge.
(2) To cultivate in students the abilities to perform professional services, provide education, and conduct research.
(3) To cultivate in students the abilities to manage long-term care cases and institutional monitoring.
(4) To assist students in understanding and participating in the construction of Taiwan’s long-term care system.
(5) To cultivate in students the spirit of advocacy for long-term care policies and regulations.
※Educational features
The development features of this program are based on the two concepts of caregiving and caring, and they help students to establish linkages and make contributions pertaining to education, training, and academic research in the field of long-term care. The program aims to establish optimal care and management for long-term care recipients and achieve the educational mission and task of improving or maintaining the health functions of care recipients, respecting the lives and ensuring the dignity of care recipients, and reducing the disability level or dependence of long-term care recipients.
(1)Features that cultivate the abilities of students
- Enhance humanistic literacy through classroom discussions and internships.
- Apply holistic teaching to cultivate abilities of students with respect to self-management and research.
- Implement medical care or social work internships to help students cultivate professionalism and self-critical thinking skills.
- Emphasize both theory- and practice-based teaching philosophy and enhance the students’ knowledge of long-term care case management.
(2)Teaching features
- Focus on implementing a diverse teaching model.
- Emphasis on both theory and practice.
- Focus on encouraging interactions and communications between lecturers and students.
- Enhancement of team teaching by industry–academia experts.
(3)Academic research
- Encourage lecturers to participate in local and overseas learning activities and conduct research and practice exchanges related to long-term care.
- Encourage lecturers to undertake research projects commissioned by the industry, academia, and the public sector.
- Emphasize evidence-based care to enhance practical knowledge and expand long-term care expertise.
- Encourage lecturers and students to participate in team research to improve their abilities with respect to research practices.
(4)Lecturer features
- To meet our development needs, our department hires interdisciplinary full-time and part-time teachers to diversify the development of courses.
- The lecturers of the Department are all senior lecturers with expertise in long-term care teaching, research, policy, and practice.
- The lecturers and contacts within the Department constitute rich resources involving communities, cultures, humanities, experience, and platforms.
※Core Competencies
- Ability to apply acquired knowledge in long-term care practice.
- Communication and teamwork skills.
- Professional ethics and care for the society.
- Local and international perspectives.
- Long-term care technology application and knowledge.
- Lifelong self-learning ability.
※Curriculum planning
This master’s degree program strives to achieve complete and coherent learning that balances educational and workplace needs. In addition to emphasizing the six core competencies of the Department in the curriculum design (i.e., professional care management, empirical care teaching and learning, care knowledge combined with practice, interdisciplinary integration, social and humanistic quality, and localization and internationalization), the program is aligned with the future professional development of its students. The total number of course credits required for graduation is 39 (including basic courses, compulsory courses, elective courses, and a thesis). The curriculum design can enhance the depth and breadth of the learning and application experiences of students in the professional field of long-term care.