Course Title: Psychopathology
Part A: Course Overview
Course Title: Psychopathology
Credit Points: 12.00
Terms
Course Code |
Campus |
Career |
School |
Learning Mode |
Teaching Period(s) |
BESC1423 |
Bundoora Campus |
Undergraduate |
150H Health Sciences |
Face-to-Face |
Sem 2 2007, Sem 2 2008, Sem 2 2009, Sem 2 2010, Sem 2 2011, Sem 2 2012, Sem 2 2013, Sem 2 2014, Sem 2 2015 |
BESC1423 |
Bundoora Campus |
Undergraduate |
173H School of Health and Biomed |
Face-to-Face |
Sem 2 2017, Sem 2 2018, Sem 2 2019, Sem 2 2020, Sem 2 2021, Sem 2 2022 |
BESC1424 |
Bundoora Campus |
Postgraduate |
150H Health Sciences |
Face-to-Face |
Sem 2 2007, Sem 2 2008, Sem 2 2009, Sem 2 2010, Sem 2 2011, Sem 2 2012, Sem 2 2013, Sem 2 2014 |
Course Coordinator: Dr Nikos Thomacos
Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 0288
Course Coordinator Email: nikos.thomacos@rmit.edu.au
Course Coordinator Location: 12.07.16
Course Coordinator Availability: Via appointment
Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities
None
Course Description
The course is designed to examine the lives and psychological needs, wants, and challenges when working with range of different communities as well as psychological work in a range of settings. Both theory and evidence will be used to examine and understand how psychology and psychologists can effectively respond to the opportunities and challenges inherent in working with these communities and in such settings. As part of this course students will participate in several practical sessions focusing on counselling, self-care, and health communication and literacy.
Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development
This course contributes to the development of the Program Learning Outcomes:
- PLO 1: Understand appropriate and relevant fundamental and applied evidence-based knowledge and undertake lifelong learning to improve personal and professional practice
- PLO 2: Demonstrate a capacity to employ a variety of approaches and procedures to research to permit judgements and decisions to be supported by appropriate evidence that places practice within a global and local context.
- PLO 3: Applies knowledge to diagnose and solve problems in a wide range of diverse situations, with an ability to work independently or with others and incorporate the analysis of evidence based scientific literature to solve psychological problems.
- PLO 4: Engage in dialogue with a diverse range of people and communicate in a broad range of forms (written, electronic, graphic, oral) to meet the circumstances of the situation and the capabilities of the audience.
- PLO 5: Maintains tolerance and respect for individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds, holding diverse values, adhering to professional expectations and demonstrating ethical behaviour.
On successful completion of this course you should be able to:
- Demonstrate an organised and coherent knowledge of the psychological profession informed by reading and discussion.
- Consider the impact of psychological problems on the individual, communities, and the wider social context.
- Provide examples of the applied implications of existing research on the topics covered to domains where psychologists work.
- Critically analyse different counselling orientations in terms of their similarities, differences, and applications.
- Demonstrate and understand a selection of counselling micro-skills.
- Critically analyse research literature in areas of psychology relevant to these topics.
Overview of Learning Activities
Your learning activities associated with this course will be designed to meet the requirements of the course content being discussed. This may include lectures, seminars, videos, debates, and discussion to enable in-depth exploration of the topics offered. You will be expected to do any prescribed preparatory reading or other activities, to attend class, and to actively participate in discussion or debate or other activities as directed. You will also be required to reflect on the learning achieved for each topic and demonstrate an ability to synthesise key issues. An ability to think critically about the reporting of psychological research, to develop their literacy and communication skills, and to contribute to group discussion is an integral component of this course.
The learning activities represent real world activities that psychologists are involved in when working with individuals, communities, and populations. Accordingly, the knowledge and skills developed will support students’ future work in such settings. Collectively, the learning activities are also intended to provide students with an understanding of where they may possibly work in the future (e.g., in the health, disability, aged care sectors, etc.), while also developing of the challenges and opportunities inherent in working is such settings. The course is structured around three themes: the context of practice; key skills in practice; and an application of skills.
Overview of Learning Resources
RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through myRMIT Studies Course.
There are services available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the myRMIT student portal.
Overview of Assessment
This course has no hurdle requirements.
The assessment associated with this course will comprise formative and summative assessment.
Assessment Tasks
Assessment Task 1: Counselling skills reflection
Weighting 40%
This assessment task supports CLOs 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6.
Assessment Task 2: Community program design
Weighting 40%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2, 3, & 6.
Assessment Task 3: Quiz
Weighting 20%
This assessment task supports CLOs 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6
These assessments may include use of online technology and are designed to require students to demonstrate a critical analysis of the core principles presented in the course.