PSYC613 - Practicum A

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

PSYC621 Professional Practice in Psychology ; PSYC622 Practicum Skills ; PSYC630 Psychological Assessment ; PSYC638 Therapeutic Skills

Unit rationale, description and aim

The ability to integrate theoretical knowledge into clinical practice is fundamental to the practice of psychology. This is the first in a series of practicum units designed to provide students (as provisional psychologists) with experience in the delivery of a range of psychological services in a real-world setting to complement the theoretical and simulated learning that takes place in the coursework units. The emphasis is on skill development in a supervised, structured environment. Students are encouraged to approach applied problems and skill based learning from a hypothesis based assessment perspective consistent with a scientist-practitioner model. Students will develop their engagement skills with clients and the ability to develop effective working relationships. Students also take part in a weekly group case conference. The ability to apply ethical standards and behave professionally in a real work setting are an integral part of learning in this unit. The aim of this unit is to facilitate the development of initial psychological practice skills that are required to work effectively and safely with clients and ensure that students are progressing at a level that is consistent with professional standards.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Describe the clinical observation skills, that together with reflective practice facilitated by supervision, enable students to develop effective working relationships with clients characterized by empathy, respect and an awareness of professional behaviour and ethical and legal responsibilities of a provisional psychologist (GA1, GA2, GA3, GA5, GA9). 

LO2 - Explain the link (both verbally and in written form) between assessment, diagnosis, formulation, treatment plans, goals and monitoring of client progress in clinical work with clients (GA3, GA4, GA5, GA8, GA9). 

LO3 - Apply clinical skills (and appropriately document the application of these in accordance with agency record keeping practices) to conduct psychological assessments and treatments, including maintaining client engagement, monitoring treatment progress and behaving in accordance with placement procedures and ethical and professional standards (GA1, GA2, GA3, GA5, GA6, GA7, GA9). 

Graduate attributes

GA1 - demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity 

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA3 - apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

Content

This first practicum is usually carried out in the field placement or the ACU Psychology Clinic under the supervision of a registered psychologist approved as a Supervisor (BAS) by the Psychology Board of Australia and holding the relevant area of practice endorsement. While on placement, students will develop the ability to integrate skills and intervention models with specific clinical material. Attendance at weekly case conferences involves small and large group discussion of issues relevant to professional practice such as diagnosis, formulation, choosing appropriate interventions, ethical dilemmas, record keeping and report writing. Students will complete a supervision contract and goals for their placement in collaboration with their supervisor to guide their development of specific assessment and intervention skills. 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit is offered in attendance mode because face-to-face attendance at the university clinic is required for this placement-based unit. Teaching and learning strategies include supervised field work, workshops, web-based learning, and reflective/critical thinking activities. Teaching and learning strategies will reflect respect for the individual as an independent learner. Students will be expected to take responsibility for their learning and to participate actively within class activities. This unit uses an active learning approach to support students to develop psychological practice skills through client based work. Students are required to attend and participate in facilitated case conferences in order to develop and refine their case formulation skills. 

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment strategy for this unit allows the assessment of the student against the minimum standards for psychological practice and competence in psychological skills as determined by the Psychology Board of Australia and the Australian Psychological Accreditation Council. Supervisors will evaluate competence levels of trainees at both mid and end-placement using a structured assessment tool relevant to the stage of training and program of study (for example, the Clinical Psychology Practicum Competencies Rating Scale).

The Mid-Practicum Review is designed to assess students’ practical performance in a real-life work setting. This review of performance is intended to identify student strengths and areas for growth as provisional psychologists. If through this process concerns are raised regarding the student’s progress towards competence relative to their stage of training, a remediation plan will be developed to address these areas of concern in regards to clinical competence. This remediation plan will include the scheduling of an additional review meeting to assess progress towards improving performance in the areas of concern identified, and is intended to ensure that students are able to progress towards participating in an End-of-Practicum Review. The Mid-Practicum Review may be waived by the Placement Coordinator, with the student proceeding straight to the End-of-Practicum Review, in cases when extenuating circumstances impact the nature or duration of the placement. Students will need to demonstrate a higher level of competence at the End-of-Practicum Review due to increased expectations of their developing skills and independence across time. Students will not be offered the opportunity to repeat the End-of-Practicum review. Failure of an End-of-Practicum review will result in a failure of the unit overall. Unless negotiated in the Placement Contract established at the commencement of the placement, this End-of-Practicum Review should be completed within six months of commencing the placement. Any variation is this timeline or remediation process would need to be approved by the Psychology Clinical Governance Committee whose deliberations would include careful consideration of the resource implications of any extensions. 

The practicum log book is designed to assess students’ ability to develop the skills to maintain appropriate record keeping practices consistent with ethical and professional standards. Log books must be submitted within two weeks of concluding the practicum. If required, students will be given feedback to ensure that the logbooks meet registration standards. Required changes must be submitted within two weeks of the feedback being received in order to meet the requirements of this hurdle. The case presentation is designed to develop the students’ ability to present their clinical thinking in a concise professional manner to their peers, similar to a clinical case review meeting in the field. The case conference report is designed to assess students’ ability to critically evaluate and integrate information gathered during assessment procedures to develop a case formulation and treatment plan consistent with the empirical research literature. This written report requires students’ to critically reflect on their case presentation and incorporate relevant feedback from their peers. Students will be given one opportunity to resubmit this task in response to feedback provided by their case conference facilitator. Students must complete all applicable hurdle tasks successfully and achieve a pass grade in all Pass/Fail tasks to pass this unit, as a failure in any of these assessment tasks is likely to translate to an unacceptable level of risk to clients the student will come into contact with on subsequent practicums. Learning outcomes will be assessed at multiple time points in order to ensure that student progression in developing initial psychological practice skills is adequately assessed.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Australian Psychological Society. (2007). Code of ethics (rev ed). Carlton South, Victoria: the author. 

Australian Psychological Society. (2017). Ethical guidelines (14th ed.). Carlton South, Victoria: the author. 

Baird, B. N. (2010). The internship, practicum, and field placement handbook (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.  

Carr, A. (2016). The handbook of child and adolescent clinical psychology: A contextual approach (3rd Edition). New York: Routledge.  

Carr, A., & McNulty, M. (Eds.) (2016). The handbook of adult clinical psychology: An evidence based practice approach (2nd Ed.). New York: Taylor & Francis Group.  

Flanagan, D. P., & Alfonso, V. C. (2017). Essentials of WISC-V assessment. New Jersey: John Wiley& Sons. 

Lichtenberger, E. O., & Kaufman, A. S. (2013). Essentials of WAIS-IV assessment. (2nd ed.). New Jersey: John Wiley& Sons. 

Sattler, J. M. (2018). Assessment of children: Cognitive foundations and applications (6th ed.). La Mesa CA: Sattler Publisher Inc.