Psychological Science: Intro to Clinical Psychology (A)

About PSYS 3500 A

Study of basic principles of interviewing, testing, assessment from life situations, and report writing. Examination of the most common approaches to psychotherapy. Prerequisites: PSYS 2000 or PSYS 2002; PSYS 2500.

Notes

Prereqs enforced by the system: PSYS 2000 or PSYS 2002, and PSYS 2500. PSYS majors and minors only; Junior and Senior standing only PACE students by permission and override. System waitlisting enabled for this section.

Section Description

This course is designed to introduce you to the science and profession of clinical psychology. You will be introduced to the ways that clinical psychologists conceptualize, assess, diagnose, and treat clinical problems. Throughout the course, we will focus on the scientist-practitioner model; this is the idea that clinical psychologists need to use evidence-based practice and be aware of research in the field in order to be a good practitioner. Upon successful completion of this course, students will have an understanding of the variety of activities clinical psychologists engage in and the settings they work in. You should also be prepared to be a better consumer of psychological science and will be aware of steps that you need to take if you would like to gain additional training in this field.

Learning objectives:
1) Understand the importance of the scientist-practitioner model of clinical psychology.
2) Describe the types of questions clinical psychologists ask and the appropriate research methods used to answer them.
3) Explain how clinical psychologists approach clinical problems using empirically-based approaches.
4) Identify the major tasks and responsibilities of clinical psychologists as mental health professionals.
5) Engage with the ethical framework for the practice of psychology.
6) Demonstrate a basic understanding the different specialties in clinical psychology.
7) Articulate the steps to pursuing graduate education in clinical psychology.

Section Expectation

At UVM, you are expected to complete 3 hours of work per credit hour per week over a 14 week semester. This equates to a total of 135 hours spent on the course. As such, you should plan to spend approximately 9 hours per week on this course for 14 weeks (including class time).

This course will be a flipped classroom approach. That means that BEFORE class you will watch videos and read articles/textbook. DURING class we will dive deeper into topics and be able to engage with the material via small and large group discussions, group projects, writing activities, etc. A flipped classroom means that we will be able to spend our class time engaging, instead of spending our precious in-person time listening to me lecturing!

Evaluation

1. Class Preparation Videos (10% [0.66% each for 15 days]):

Each class there will be videos on Blackboard for you to watch PRIOR to coming to class (see “Class Preparation Videos & Quizzes”). I will be tracking that you watched the videos before each class (you must watch ALL videos and the entirety of each video to get credit for a class). There will be 18 classes for which you will have videos to watch.

I will count 15 of these classes toward your final grade, meaning you are able to miss three out of the 18 days you need to watch videos and still get full credit.

This assignment meets the following learning goal for the B.A. and B.S. in Psychological Science at UVM : Goal 1: Students should understand core concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and historical trends in most of the subdisciplines of psychology (social, developmental, clinical, biobehavioral, learning and memory, and history of psychology).

2. Weekly Quizzes (20% [2% each for 10 quizzes]):

You will be graded on 10 of the 12 weekly quizzes (i.e., you can drop your two lowest grades).

There will be a quiz each week of the course on Blackboard. Each quiz will consist of questions 20 questions in a number of response formats (e.g., multiple choice, matching, true/false, short answer, brief essay questions). Quizzes will cover topics presented in the textbook, videos, and supplemental readings. Please note that your viewing of videos is essential to strong performance on the quizzes, as some topics discussed in videos will not necessarily be found in the text or assigned readings.

Quizzes will be due by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday evenings.

This assignment meets the following learning goal for the B.A. and B.S. in Psychological Science at UVM: Goal 1: Students should understand core concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and historical trends in most of the subdisciplines of psychology (social, developmental, clinical, biobehavioral, learning and memory, and history of psychology)
3. In-Class Activities (20% total [2% each for 10 assignments]):
Individual and small group activities will be assigned in class each week and will be completed during class time. Assignments are not limited to but may include brief writing assignments done at the start of class to reflect on the assigned readings for the day, mini-reports done during the middle of class based on group work or lecture, or comments and questions on the day’s topic turned in at the end of class. These will be unannounced, so please bring paper and a writing utensil to every class. Legible, well-written responses are expected.

Attendance for the entire class period is required to receive credit for the ICA on that day. Please note that if you arrive late to class, you may miss the ICA for the day.

How will these assignments be graded? Grades for each response paper will range from 0-100. A 0 corresponds to an inadequate or illegible response. A 75 corresponds to a sufficient, but not well-formulated, response. A 100 corresponds to a strong response that clearly demonstrates critical thinking. ICAs are NOT attendance points – they will be graded based on the quality of your answers. To earn high scores on ICAs you should complete assigned readings before class and take notes during lecture and class discussions.
4. Group Presentation of a Clinical Psychology Approach (25%):

Purpose: A big part of being in the world of clinical psychology is presenting ideas clearly to an audience of your peers, experts, or clients. As psychologists we may do this in the classroom, in session, or at a research conference. For this assignment, you will teach a full class session on one of the follow topics with a group of 4-5 of your peers:
- Psychodynamic psychotherapy
- Humanistic psychotherapy
- Group therapy
- Family therapy
- Forensic clinical psychology
- Clinical health psychology/behavioral medicine

With your group, you should prepare to present for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Using whatever teaching tools you prefer (handouts, Powerpoint presentation, interactive activity, a brief video, lecture, demonstrations, activities, etc.), design and deliver a lesson about the topic you are assigned. You are responsible for reading the assigned chapter, finding at least five additional peer-reviewed sources to discuss and cite in your presentation, preparing a presentation of the topic (30 – 40 minutes), developing a list of discussion questions, and facilitating a class discussion/activity that students will be graded on [aka create the ICA for the class] (15-25 minutes).

Your presentation on the topic should include (but not necessarily in this order):
- a definition and description of the topic area;
- a brief history of this area of psychology;
- an overview of the therapeutic approach taken in this type of therapy (aka, what do they do?);
- A brief demonstration or video showing one technique in this area of clinical psychology “in action” in therapy;
- the types of psychological issues that this therapy is used for;
- the pros and cons of using this type of therapy;
- the research related to this type of therapy (aka, it is an empirically supported treatment?; is the research well-conducted?; etc.)
- any controversies surrounding this area of clinical psychology

Presenters should distribute PowerPoint slides to all class members.

5. Intake Report (25%):

Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to practice thinking and writing like a scientist-practitioner. Clinical psychologists conduct thorough assessments of their patients prior to starting formal treatment. Before beginning treatment, they commonly write an “intake report” to consolidate information about the case and make treatment recommendations. You will write an intake report that contains each of the sections described below for a fictional character you have identified in the popular media (e.g. Batman; Hannah from “Girls”). For this assignment, you will consolidate information about your chosen character into a clear, fact-based narrative that will help determine next steps for treatment. You may not choose any real person (e.g., someone from reality television).

Skills: This assignment will help you practice the following skills that are essential to understanding clinical psychology:
• Understand the importance of the scientist-practitioner model of clinical psychology
• Approach clinical problems using an empirically-based approach
• Learn to write a clinical intake report in a clear, succinct manner
• Apply course concepts to understanding a character to practice clinical psychology skills

Knowledge: This assignment will also help you become familiar with the following important content knowledge in clinical psychology:
• DSM-5 diagnoses
• Assessment tools and strategies
• Empirically-based treatments

Important Dates

Note: These dates may change before registration begins.

Courses may be cancelled due to low enrollment. Show your interest by enrolling.

Resources

• Parking
• PACE Course Pricing
• Textbooks