Second Year Placements

Code

PSTY5018

School

Psychiatry and Applied Psychology

Level

5

Credits

100

Semesters

Full Year UK

Summary

The focus of this module is acquiring skills and applying clinical psychology expertise across the human life span and spectrum of diversity, thereby complementing the taught LSD module. During second year placements students normally work in two different service settings and extend the knowledge and competences acquired in the Foundation Placement modules through work with services dedicated to different age groups, clients with divergent developmental pathways and those with disabilities. In addition, students develop competences in relation to people who present with more complex clinical problems and/or circumstances where greater consideration has to be given to intervening with couples, families, groups and indirectly through others. Students are encouraged to contemplate client groups, service settings and EBP approaches alternative to CBT that interest them, for which the taught ISO module provides the theoretical foundations. This module provides students with opportunities for working in the NHS and in other complex organisations, such as schools, social services, residential care and institutions to develop proficient knowledge of specialised interventions for targeted client groups.

Module comprises 2 different, separately assessed placements, which can occur in any order, in 2 separate service settings with 2 different client groups (eg children, learning difficulties, older adults), spending sufficient time to achieve competences for each client group.

Target Students

DClinPsy trainees

Classes

Supervised clinical practice 3 days/week, supplemented by placement review meetings, private study, case studies, reflective practice groups and peer support. Two placements over the year with 2 different client groups (eg children, people with learning difficulties, older adults).Please see DClinPsy online learning systems at Nottingham and Lincoln for the Year Planner.

Assessment

• 25% Coursework 1: Portfolio of Proficiences (Pass/Fail). All components must be passed to pass this module with no internal compensation.NB This module contains 2 Practice Learning Placements, which count separately for calculating the max no. of permitted resubmissions
• 25% Report: Written Clinical Practice Report (5,000 words) or equivalent. All components must be passed to pass this module with no internal compensation. Final overall grade on transcript should be average percentage recorded for the 2 clinical practice reports.
• 25% Coursework 2: Portfolio of Proficiencies (Pass/Fail). All components must be passed to pass this module with no internal compensation. NB This module contains 2 Practice Learning Placements, which count separately for calculating the max no of permitted resubmissions
• 25% Report 2: Written Clinical Practice Report (5,000 words). All components must be passed to pass this module with no internal compensation. Final overall grade on transcript should be average percentage recorded for the 2 clinical practice reports.

Assessed by end of summer vacation

Educational Aims

Learning Outcomes

All learning outcomes are met whilst acting to the highest professional standards consistent with guidelines and codes of practice set by the HCPC, BPS and employing Trusts.

Knowledge and understanding of: 
Clinical psychology across the life span and abilities range;
the influence of partners, families, and wider social groups on the presentation of individual problems;
group dynamics and their role in the work of multi-disciplinary teams;
the contributions made by other professions to client care;
ethical and moral dilemmas generated by moving beyond the individual client remit;
the institutional, social, political and cultural context of Clinical Psychology services;
change processes in institutions and their impact on psychological practice;
how to adapt a service evaluation or audit protocol to meet the constraints of organisational realities; 
the differences between research and audit/service evaluation and the consequent implications for ethics and informed consent;
what influences systems and organisations to recognise or resist the need for structured enquiry into their practice;
what influences systems and organisations to accept or reject the results of a structured enquiry into their practice. 

Intellectual skills – the ability to: 
organise complex information for use in assessment, formulation, intervention and evaluation in relation to couples, families, groups and larger systems;
translate complex psychological concepts into everyday language to more than one person;
think in terms of prevention as well as intervention;
choose a small scale study design appropriate to the clinical setting;
critically appraise one’s own service evaluation/audit methodology;
interpret service evaluation/audit findings and evaluate their significance.

Professional and Practical skills – the ability to: 
assess, formulate, intervene and evaluate in relation to two- and multi-person systems;
communicate effectively with multi-person systems, such as couples, families, groups and teams, statutory and voluntary services, and systems led by service users;
facilitate the involvement of service users and carers in the planning, delivery and evaluation of services;
be effective in empowering service users and carers;
promote psychological understanding through consultancy and indirect work;
build, maintain, and manage triangular and multi-person alliances;
build, maintain, and manage institutional alliances;
terminate professional relationships appropriately;
influence systems and organisations to recognise rather than resist the need for structured enquiry into their practice; 
influence systems and organisations to accept rather than reject the results of a structured enquiry into their practice; 
communicate to services the possibilities and limitations of scientific enquiry in a specific setting; 
identify and refine and negotiate questions, which are answerable within service and methodological constraints; 
analyse, edit and present results of small scale research for a mixed audience. 
 

Transferable skills – the ability to: 
balance developing autonomy with awareness of limitations, appropriate to the stage of training;
critique, synthesise and generalise prior expertise and experience in order to create new knowledge and techniques to be applied in different settings and novel situations;
where appropriate, consider problem formulations as processes rather than events;
integrate psychological, biological and sociological knowledge bases and diverse forms of evidence;
be effective in empowering others;
identify and refine and negotiate questions, which are answerable within service and methodological constraints; 
analyse, edit and present results of small scale research for a mixed audience; 
acquire the habit of a reflective scientist-practitioner of challenging existing practice through continuous enquiry and the application of scientific principles to meet the ever changing needs of evolving service.

Conveners

• Professor Thomas Schroder