Syllabus

Master of Social Work

SSWO 597 Advanced Psychosocial Assessment (Spring A 2024)

Credits - 3

Description

APA provides students with advanced knowledge and skills in the assessment of client concerns. The course emphasizes the impact of the structural and personal effects of inequity and cultural oppression on assessment and on psychopathology. APA provides substantial content on understanding psychopathology while placing this understanding within the context of social work’s historical emphasis on the person in environment. Students taking this course will be prepared to understand the major concepts and presentations of psychopathology and have skills in the diagnostic process. They will also be able to exhibit advanced skills in assessing the full psychosocial context and to bring a social work perspective to interventive planning.

Students will explore the DSM as one classification system used in social work settings. Case studies, discussions, and lectures will be used to develop knowledge and skills that integrate social work values, including reflexivity and cultural humility, into the psychosocial assessment process.

NOTE:
This course has been recently updated to provide specific knowledge for students in the use of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual. Psychosocial Assessment skills have been removed from the course and are now presented in SSWO 510, 511 552 and 553. The Course Catalog will soon be updated to reflect these changes, at which time we will update the course description.

Materials

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

School of Social Work Program Outcomes:

Graduates of the UNE SSWO will demonstrate knowledge, skills, and leadership in the following:

1. Practice social inclusion to enable people, populations, and communities to fully participate in society, enhance human bonds in the context of cultural diversity and ensure improved quality of life and equitable resource distribution. EPAS Competencies 2 & 3
2. Engage in culturally-informed relationship building, being respectful of the complexity and diversity of contexts and circumstances. EPAS Competencies 3 & 6
3. Utilize theories of human behavior, social systems and social inclusion when offering interventions with people and their environments. EPAS Competency 8
4. Promote ethical reflection, critical consciousness and shared decision-making based in social work values and with consideration of the broader contexts of the world in which we live. EPAS Competency 1
5. Balance the roles of helpers, activists, and advocates through collaboration with communities to build healthy and sustainable resources. EPAS Competencies 2, 5, & 6
6. Engage as critical consumers and producers of research as it relates to assessment, intervention and evaluation of clinical and community practices. EPAS Competencies 4, 7, 8 & 9
7. Practice person-centered and collaborative community partnerships across diverse settings. EPAS Competency 6

Student Learning Outcomes 

1. Students will become more aware of and reflect on their personal assumptions and biases related to mental illness, culture, race, sexual identity, gender identity and cultural and ethnic diversity when engaged in the diagnostic assessment process. (PROGRAM OBJECTIVE 2; EPAS 2 & 3)  
   • Method of Evaluation: Reflective Journals, Discussion Board Rubrics
2. Students will develop social work skills in the diagnostic process of assessment and selecting a DSM diagnosis while also considering differential  diagnoses. This process of practice is based upon social work knowledge of human behavior and values and is expected to be conducted in a respectful and ethical manner . (PROGRAM OBJECTIVES 2 & 3; EPAS 1,2,3 & 7)
   • Method of Evaluation: Reflective Journals, Discussion Board Rubrics

3. Students will demonstrate their acquired knowledge and professional social work practice skills in aligning presenting symptoms to diagnostic criteria within the DSM. (EPAS 1 & 7)

   • Method of Evaluation: Weeks 4 & 7 Quizzes, Discussion Board Rubrics
4. Students will  consistently communicate with peers in a professional and ethical manner.
   • Method of Evaluation: Discussion Board Rubrics, Reflective Journals
5. Students will include cultural, racial, identity and ethnic diversity when reflecting upon case presentations and self assessment. (PROGRAM OBJECTIVES 1 & 2; EPAS 2 & 3)
   • Method of Evaluation: Discussion Board, Reflective Journals

Assignments

Unless otherwise stated all assignments, discussion posts, and journal entries are due the last day of the week ( Tuesday 11:59 pm EST)

Full-Class Discussions 

Each course week features at least one, sometimes two, full-class discussions. These discussions are most often based on video vignettes of clients representing a specific disorder and will allow students to collaboratively assess for varying diagnoses pertaining to the demonstrated disorders.

Small-Group Discussions

Beginning in Week 2 each week features one small-group discussion. These provide a chance to engage with similar video vignettes to those in full-class discussions but in a more immersive way.

Each week, the group will select somebody to view the case video and to elaborate upon. The lead member will review a video case presentation and write or post a video to the group presenting this case to your peers. The lead is to add additional information that is not present in the video but may promote peer understanding of the case. You have permission to embellish here with demographic information that will support the selected diagnosis. For example, provide a time frame when the symptoms first presented if not present in the video. Add details to a significant event, or who was the primary caretaker if this type of information is not present in the video but needed to determine a diagnosis. The purpose here is to lessen time spent on asking these types of questions and allowing for a greater focus upon the criteria to select a diagnosis.

The members will also watch the case video and read the lead members presentation (or watch their video presentation). The members will address the diagnosis selected and support it from the readings(text/DSM) or critically discuss a differential diagnosis you have selected with support as well.

Individual Reflective Journals

Five weeks feature an individual journal assignment.  The focus of these activities is to reflect on culture, diversity, and our biases. Each week will feature a vignette of a situation dealing with race and culture. Students will reflect on the implications of those topics and personal biases on their social work practice. 

2 Quizzes

Weeks 4 and 7 each contain a 20-question quiz. Taking quizzes like this can help practice for the Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) Exam. You can find some test-taking preparation resources in your Brightspace Course.

Grading Policy

The School of Social Work uses the following grading system for all courses with the exception of field education courses. Students are expected to maintain a “B” (3.0) average over the course of their study. Students with less than a GPA of 3.0 will be placed on academic probation. Students must have an overall GPA of 3.0 in order to receive their Master’s Degree.

Your grade in this course will be determined by the following criteria:

Grade Breakdown

Assignment	Point Value	Total Points
Acknowledgement of Academic Engagement	1 point	1
Introduce Yourself Discussion	0.5	0.5
Full-Class Discussions	3 points each x 14 Forums	42
Small-Group Discussions	4.5 points x 7 Forums	31.5
Journals	3 points each x 5 Journal Submissions	15
Quizzes	5 points x 2 Quizzes	10
Total:		100

Grade Scale

Grade	Points Grade	Point Average (GPA)
A	94 – 100%	4.00
A-	90 – 93%	3.75
B+	87 – 89%	3.50
B	84 – 86%	3.00
B-	80 – 83%	2.75
C+	77 – 79%	2.50
C	74 – 76%	2.00
C-	70 – 73%	1.75
D	64 – 69%	1.00
F	00 – 63%	0.00