PSYCHOL 7232 - Psychological Assessment

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2020

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	Honours level knowledge of the purpose for assessment and the basic principles and practices of psychometric testing.
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: Associate Professor Melissa Oxlad

Course Timetable

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

Course Learning Outcomes

1. Apply knowledge and clinical skills in the practice of culturally responsive psychological assessment, including with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, in the area of clinical health psychology 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 to a referral source of a professional standard.
5. Interrogate personal cultural positioning and the implications for competent health service delivery.
6. Draw connections between the impacts of history on contemporary Indigenous health outcomes.
7. Explore the diversity of Indigenous identities in 最新糖心Vlog.
8. Become familiar with basic principles and protocols underpinning ethical practice when working with Indigenous peoples and communities.
9. Develop a personal resource list of relevant policy and protocol documents.

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, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
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 relevant to health psychology.

Workload

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

Seminars: 3 hours each week for 12 weeks = 36 hours
Video assessment: 2 hours (not including preparation time)
Independent test familiarisation and practice administration: 3 hours per week = 36 hours
Independent reading: 3 hours per week = 36 hours
Assignment 1: 26 hours
Assignment 2: 3 hours (not including preparation time)
Assignment 3: 17 hours

Learning Activities Summary

Week	Topic	Lecture
Week 1	Assessment planning and test selection	Assessment principles
Week 2	Introduction to the Wechsler Scales	Assessment of intelligence
Week 3	Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV	Assessment of intelligence
Week 4	Assessment of intellectual ability in children and adolescents	Assessment of intelligence
Week 5	Report writing: Professional standards, legal and ethical implications	Communicating assessments
Week 6	Culturally responsive assessment, including with Aboriginal adn Torres Strait Islander cultures	Culture and assessment
Week 7	Assessment of mental health	Assessment of mental health
Week 8	Personality assessment	Assessment of personality
Week 9	Assessment of memory (focus on WMS-IV)	Assessment of memory
Week 10	Assessment of adaptive behaviours, support needs, systematic observation.	Assessment of adaptive behaviour
Week 11	Assessment of health and health behaviours	Assessment specific to health psychology
Week 12	Organic screens and medically-used measures	Assessment of organic conditions/neuropsychology

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	NGP	1-4
Initial mental health assessment interview Objective Structured Clinical Interview (OSCI)	Summative	NGP	1-4
Satisfactory completion of the online module Yaitya Parunna Indigenous Health and Medical Sciences Curriculum	Summative	NGP	1, 5-9

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 involves student’s videoing themselves administering an intelligence scale, and 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: The assignment then involves an OSCI assessing an initial mental health interview.

Assignment 3: This assignment involves students completing the online module Yaitya Purrana Indigenous Health and Medical Sciences Curriculum.

Further details of assignments will be provided in class.

Submission

Assignments are to be submitted to the Psychology Office (video assignment) or via 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.

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 feedback shows an appreciation for the expertise of our visiting clinical lecturers, but a concern that there is some overlap in content. We have revised the program slightly for 2020 to reduce content overlap and have also introduced a full session focussing on culturally responsive assessment including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Inland cultures. Student also have appreciated the applied focus of the course assessments, and we will continue to use assessments that are relevant to health psychology practice.
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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