PSYCHOL 7232 - Psychological Assessment

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2016

This course aims to introduce students to the principles and practice of psychological assessment. The course will focus on a small number of widely used norm-referenced tests of intellectual abilities as well as diagnostic interview schedules, and both clinician rated and self-report measures used in the assessment of emotional and behavioural problems across the lifespan. Students will become familiar with the strengths, limitations, interpretation and presentation of findings from a variety of assessment instruments and will learn skills in both assessment planning and report writing. Students will learn about the ethical and social implications of assessment in a variety of contexts including socially and linguistically diverse populations. Opportunities for practice administration of assessment tools will be provided.

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Course Details

Course Code	PSYCHOL 7232
Course	Psychological Assessment
Coordinating Unit	Psychology
Term	Semester 1
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	N
Corequisites	PSYCHOL 7233
Assumed Knowledge	Psychology Honours degree and relevant undergraduate instruction in the qualities desirable in psychological tests and the statistical measures of those.
Restrictions	Available to M Psych (Health) and PhD/MPsych(Health) students only or by permission of Head of School
Assessment	Assignments based on practical exercises

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Dr Jane Mortimer

Other Academic Staff: Professor Helen Winefield - Ph 8313 3172; Email helen.winefield@adelaide.edu.au

School Office: Ms Kylie Pollitt - Ph 8313 5738; email kylie.pollitt@adelaide.edu.au

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from .

Course Learning Outcomes

The following learning outcomes are consistent with the APS College Course Approval guidelines for Postgraduate Specialist Courses in Health Psychology (see:

1.   Apply knowledge and clinical skills in the practice of psychological assessment for a variety of assessment tasks, across the lifespan.
2.   Demonstrate competence in the selection, administration, and scoring of assessment measures
3.   Demonstrate competence in drawing inferences from the results within a hypothesis generating and hypothesis testing framework
4.   Demonstrate competence in writing a report and letter to a referral source of a professional standard

最新糖心Vlog Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Deep discipline knowledge informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1 accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)	1
Critical thinking and problem solving steeped in research methods and rigor based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment	2,3,4
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	4
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	1
Intercultural and ethical competency adept at operating in other cultures comfortable with different nationalities and social contexts able to determine and contribute to desirable social outcomes demonstrated by study abroad or with an understanding of indigenous knowledges	1
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate	3,4

Learning & Teaching Modes

Lecturers will support group discussion related to the lecture content. This will include clinical case scenarios to guide the development of psychological assessment practice. Time will also be spent familiarising students with tests, as well as practice and supervision in administration, scoring and interpreting psychological tests.Students will collect and summarise information about tests for specific health-related conditions and present their findings to the class.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

Seminars: 3 hrs each week for 12 weeks = 36 hours
Independent test familiarisation and practice administration: 3 hours per week
Independent reading: 2 hours per week
Assignment 1: 30 hours
Assignment 2: 30 hours

Learning Activities Summary

Week	Topic	Lecture
1	Assessment planning and test selection	Assessment of intelligence
2	Introduction to the Wechsler Scales	Assessment of intelligence
3	Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV	Assessment of intelligence
4	Assessment of intellectual ability in children and adolescents	Assessment of intelligence
5	Report writing 1: Planning, organisation, professional standards	Communicating assessments
6	Report writing 2: Interview content, legal and ethical implications	Communicating assessments
7	Assessment of mental health	Assessment of mental health
8	Personality assessment	Assessment of personality
9	Assessment of memory (focus on WMS-IV)	Assessment of memory
10	Organic screens and medically-used measures	Assessment of organic conditions
11	Assessment of health and quality of life	Health, wellbeing, health beliefs, disability
12	Assessment of other aspects of health and health behaviour	Substance use, pain, sleep, eating and sexual disorders

Disclaimer: This program is provisional and subject to change

Specific Course Requirements

On the initial enrolment into this Master’s program, all students (unless already a Registered Psychologist) MUST apply for and obtain provisional registration with the Psychology Board of 最新糖心Vlog. All students are required to provide a copy of their registration details to the Program Administrator on their first day in the Program: this will be required for the Summer School courses Interviewing & Intervention and Evidence-Based Practice. The application form and details of fees payable are available from the PBA website:

Candidates are required to consent to a police check as part of their application to the Psychology Board of 最新糖心Vlog for Provisional Registration, a requirement of enrolment in the program. A satisfactory current police check is a mandatory requirement for acceptance to and continuation within the program.

Small Group Discovery Experience

Not applicable

The 最新糖心Vlog's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessment Task	Assessment Type	Weighting	Learning outcome(s) being addressed
Administration (video), scoring (test record), and reporting (written report) on a cognitive assessment, with self and peer rating.	Summative	50% (NGP)	1-4
Scoring, hypothesis generation and reporting (letter) a mental health assessment	Summative	50% (NGP)	1-4

Assessment Related Requirements

Attendance is required for 80% of classes, with attendance lists maintained. Failure to meet this attendance requirement (i.e., absence from three or more classes in the course) may lead to exclusion from the course.

Assessment Detail

Assignment 1: This assignment involved students videoing themselves administering an intelligence scale, then scoring the test, interpreting the results and writing a report. Students also complete a self and a peer rating of the administration of the test. The scale is administered to a role played (pseudo) adolescent ‘client’.

Assignment 2: This assignment involves students being provided with test forms, and initial information from which they are required to develop a provisional formulation of a client with a mental health problem and compile this information into a letter to a GP referrer. Further details of both assignments will be provided in class.

For further information re the Assessment Policy please refer to the relevant Master of Psychology Program Handbook at the following link:

Submission

Assignments are to be submitted to the Psychology Office, along with a signed cover sheet (available on MyUni).

Extension of time for an assignment may be granted at the discretion of the Course Coordinator, to whom students should apply in writing (or email) before the due date and time.No requests for extensions will be considered if made after the due date and time.Please refer to the Assessment Policy in the Master of Psychology (Health) Program Handbookhttp://health.adelaide.edu.au./psychology/students/resouce/handboodsforms.html

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

GS8 (Coursework Grade Scheme)
Grade	Description
CN	Continuing
FNS	Fail No Submission
NFE	No Formal Examination
F	Fail
NGP	Non Graded Pass
P	Pass
C	Credit
D	Distinction
HD	High Distinction
RP	Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through .

Student Feedback

The 最新糖心Vlog places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the 最新糖心Vlog to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student鈥檚 disciplinary procedures.

The 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator

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