CQUniversity Unit Profile.

This assessment provides you with the opportunity to prepare for the completion of your Internship Program Plan. The assessment will consist of two parts:

Part A requires you to respond to questions/considerations taken from the Psychology Board of Australia Guidelines for the 5+1 internship program.
Part B requires you to respond to criteria that will be found in Section F of the Internship Program Plan (INPP-76) which relates to the core competencies to be achieved throughout your internship.

Both documents can be located on the Psychology Board of Australia website for your reference. A more detailed Information Sheet will be found under the Assessment tab on Moodle in week 1.

To achieve a Pass grade, you need to achieve a minimum of 35 marks out of 50 in total. Assessment criteria will be based on the following.

Part A:
•    Clear description of placement type
•    Needs and goals clearly expressed
•    Consideration of supervision requirements
•    Clear discussion of your expectation and desires of supervision
•    Consideration rights and responsibilities of all parties in supervision
•    Payment arrangements clearly discussed
•    Consideration of record keeping and documentation
•    Consideration of secondary supervisor
•    How to deal with ethical issues discussed 

Part B:
•    Knowledge of discipline
•    Ethical legal and professional issues
•    Psychological assessments
•    Intervention strategies
•    Research and Evaluation
•    Communication
•    Working with diverse groups
•    Discussion of supervision needs and delegation
•    Evidence of critical thought given to the placement
•    Evidence of self reflection
•    Professional writing style, within word limit
•    Adherence to APA formatting and referencing conventions

Students will complete an online test comprising written responses to a case study. You will identify any personal needs, sources of information, and responsibility, as well as the ethical dilemma, action and alternatives, and negatives and positives of each action. You will also indicate your chosen action and provide a rationale for why this was chosen over other alternatives.

The test will be completed within class time as part of the online residential school. Students who do not pass this test will be offered an opportunity to re-sit this assessment but will not be permitted to commence simulated direct client contact until the test has been passed.

Your test responses will be assessed according to the following criteria:
•    Identification of any personal needs, sources of information, and responsibility
•    Clear description and identification of ethical dilemma
•    Clear discussion of factors involved in the ethical dilemma
•    Identification and evaluation of action and alternatives
•    The negatives and positives of each action described
•    Description of your choice of action
•    Explanation of why you chose this action over the others 

Inter-professional Education (IPE) involves the collaboration between different health professions to learn about, from, and with, other disciplines, to enhance treatment and improve health outcomes for patient/client care. The IPE process will involve collaboration across the disciplines of Psychology, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, and Speech Pathology, to provide assessment and intervention recommendations for a mutual patient/client.

You will work collaboratively as part of a multi-disciplinary team through a dedicated Moodle site to develop:
1. An assessment plan for your client
2. An intervention plan for your client

After each multi-disciplinary team meeting, you will also write a 250-word reflection using the provided checklist for team meeting observations as a guide. You will submit one (1) reflection for the assessment plan meeting and one (1) reflection for the intervention plan meeting; two (2) reflections in total. In both reflections, you will critically reflect on your observations within the multi-disciplinary team meeting, and consider how you might adjust your future practice, based on your experience and learnings.

Please ensure you submit both plans and reflections on Moodle by the relevant due dates:
Assessment plan and reflection due week 9 (Friday 10 May 2024).
Intervention plan and reflection due week 11 (Friday 24 May 2024).

You will submit your IPE group's assessment plan and intervention plan to Moodle, along with a reflection for each. To achieve a Pass grade, you need to achieve a minimum of 28 marks out of 40 in total. Assessment criteria will be based on the following.

Assessment Plan (10 marks):
•    All relevant sections of plan are completed
•    Presenting problems clearly outlined
•    Client/Family goals are clearly outlined
•    Assessment goals and plan are clearly outlined
•    Assessment plan links to family and care team goals

Intervention Plan (10 marks): 
•    All relevant sections of the plan completed
•    Presenting problems clearly outlined
•    Client/Family goals are clearly outlined
•    Intervention goals and plan are clearly outlined
•    Intervention plan links to family and care team goals

Reflections - 250 words x 2 (10 marks each):
•    Meeting observations are succinctly described
•    Demonstrated critical reflection, including reflexivity
•    Clear connection between reflections and future practice
•    Professional writing style, within word limit 
•    Adherence to APA formatting and referencing conventions 

You will be required to facilitate one (1) 45-minute presentation in class to your fellow group supervision members on a topic of applied psychological practice.

Possible topics may include the following:
•    How you resolved a practice issue from your own simulated practice
•    Working with couples or families
•    Program development and/or evaluation
•    An ethical problem you encountered and how you managed it
•    LGBTIQ+ inclusive practice
•    Working with sensory-impaired clients
•    Skills-training with clients (e.g., communication, assertiveness, sleep hygiene)
•    Describe and deliver a brief intervention to your group

Group membership and presentation timing will be decided in class in week 1. 

You are encouraged to deliver your presentation in a way that is appropriate for the content, and the key learnings that you would like to impart to your fellow group members. This may take the form of a PowerPoint slide deck, interactive activities, viewing video material, facilitating class discussions, or any other relevant modality or activity. You may also ask your colleagues to engage in pre-reading or other preparatory activities for your presentation however, this must be provided to the Unit Coordinator via email by the Monday of the week prior to your presentation so that the information can be included on the Moodle site and your peers have time to complete these tasks.

Please upload your in-class presentation materials and/or planned session structure to the Moodle site by 8:59am of the Wednesday in the week that you are presenting.

To achieve a Pass grade, you need to achieve a minimum of 17.5 marks out of 25 in total.

Assessment criteria will be based on the following: 
•    Quality of the content provided 
•    Usefulness for target audience 
•    Clarity of content 
•    Evidence of critical thinking and synthesis of information 
•    Timing and pacing 
•    Appropriate referencing 

As part of the Master of Professional Psychology course, you are required to complete a psychology practicum. This psychology practicum will be completed across two units, this unit (PSYC20056 Professional Practice in Psychology 1), and the partner unit (PSYC29002 Professional Practice in Psychology 2). The psychology practicum must be at least 300 hours of psychological practice comprising at least 90 hours of simulated direct client contact, with the remainder including client-related activities, and individual and group supervision. The practicum portfolio assessment for this unit comprises the first component of your psychology practicum.

Students will be assigned an individual supervisor in week 1 to support professional growth and development. You will meet with your supervisor on a regular basis throughout the term to review your progress towards and obtain feedback about your competency development. There are two formal review milestones: 
1. Mid-term review: Due week 6 (Friday 19 April).
2. End-term review: Due week 14 (Monday 10 June).

At these formal review milestones, students will collaboratively review their progress and competency development with their supervisor and complete the documentation provided on the unit Moodle site (i.e., the mid-term review must be completed at the mid-term milestone and the end-term review must be completed at the end of term milestone). This documentation must be signed by yourself and your individual supervisor before being uploaded to Moodle. These milestones also give you an opportunity to reflect on your own growth and progress towards your professional competencies and broader career goals. The mid-term review can be used to inform Part A of the Internship Program Plan (Assessment 2), and the end-term review includes a reflection on your learnings throughout Term 1, based on the end-term review conducted with your supervisor. This reflection will follow the Gibbs model and must include an action plan for the psychology practicum in Term 2. This reflection may also link to your Internship Program Plan (Assessment 2). More information about this reflection and the Gibbs model will be provided in week 1.

The end-term practicum review document must also indicate that you have achieved sufficient competencies to pass the first component of the practicum.

You will be required to record all simulated practice that is conducted online and complete all documentation in preparation for and to reflect upon your experiences both as client and practitioner. These recordings and documents must be stored as a practicum portfolio in a OneDrive folder that is accessible to your individual supervisor and the Head of Course.  Only the material inside your OneDrive practicum portfolio can be counted towards completion of your psychology practicum and therefore towards completion of your practicum hours and it is student's responsibility to ensure that the documentation and recordings are complete and correct (role-play recordings, roleplay records, supervision records, logbook, end-term reflection, and both mid-term and end-term practicum reviews). The end-term review must include a link to your practicum portfolio on OneDrive, for validation by the Head of Course at the end of the term.

To pass this assessment item you will be required to maintain the OneDrive practicum portfolio throughout the term for review at your individual supervision sessions and by the Head of Course. Only the material inside your OneDrive practicum portfolio can be counted towards completion of your psychology practicum, and this material must match the information in the supervision records, logbook, and practicum review documents.

The criteria are set out in the end-term practicum review document and cover the competency areas which define the critical capabilities and attributes deemed necessary to ensure that graduates are equipped to practice psychology safely and effectively subsequent to graduation. It is expected that across the entire Master of Professional Psychology course, students will demonstrate incremental development across these competency areas. In addition to these core competencies, the student and individual supervisor are asked to reflect on the student’s response to supervision and course-wide learnings.

Your final practicum review will be assessed according to the following criteria. More detail will be provided in the psychology practicum handbook and the practicum review document.

Professional, Legal, and Ethical Duties:
•    Written and verbal communication
•    Psychological documentation
•    Relationship-building
•    Ethical disclosures and considerations
•    Evidence-based practice
•    Reflectivity
•    Adherence to professional standards 

Psychological Assessment and Intervention:
•    Observation and history-taking skills
•    Formulation
•    Diagnosis and differential diagnosis
•    Micro-counselling skills
•    Goal-setting skills
•    Intervention techniques
•    Intervention and session planning
•    Integration of key models and guidelines
•    Practice across the lifespan
•    Cultural competency 
•    Risk assessment
•    Professional reasoning
•    Safe practice

Practicum Components:
•    Progress within individual and group supervision
•    Feedback
•    Reflectivity and reflective practice
•    Competent simulated practice
•    Completion of adequate progress towards psychological practicum completion

Reflection of practice:
•    Clear consideration of each stage of reflective practice
•    Tied reflections to practice framework
•    Demonstrated critical reflection, including reflexivity
•    Professional writing style, within word limit 
•    Adherence to APA formatting and referencing conventions