THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO LONDON CANADA Department of Psychology 2011-2012 Psychology 2301A (formerly 260A) Section 001 Introduction to Clinical Psychology 1.0 CALENDAR DESCRIPTION This course offers a survey of major topics in clinical psychology, including assessment and intervention approaches; experimental psychopathology; ethical, professional and theoretical issues; and emerging trends. Prerequisite: At least 60% in a 1000 level Psychology course 3 lecture hours, 0.5 course Unless you have either the requisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enroll in it, you may be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites. 2.0 COURSE INFORMATION Instructor: Paul Frewen, PhD, C.Psych. Office and Phone Number: University Hospital A10-222, 519-685-8500 x77760 Office Hours: By Appointment Email: pfrewen@uwo.ca Teaching Assistant: Kyleigh Schraeder Office: 363 Windermere Rd Office Hours: Wed 12-2pm Email: kschraed@uwo.ca Time and Location of Lectures: MON 1:30-4:30, SEB-1200 (Spencer Engineering Building-1200) Please contact the course instructor if you require material in an alternate format or if you require any other arrangements to make this course more accessible to you. You may also wish to contact Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) at 519-661-2111 ext 82147 for any specific question regarding an accommodation. 3.0 TEXTBOOK Hunsley, J., & Lee, C.M. (2010) Introduction to Clinical Psychology: An Evidence Based Approach (2 nd Ed.). Mississauga, ON: John Wiley & Sons Canada.
4.0 COURSE OBJECTIVES This course will provide an overview of the field of clinical psychology covering: Scientific and Ethical Foundations of Practice, Brief History of the Field Issues in Diagnosis and Classification Clinical Psychology Research with UWO Focus Clinical Assessment, including interviews, cognitive, affective, personality, and behavioural assessment Clinical Interventions, including an overview of the major approaches to intervention Participation in Assessment-Research Protocols 5.0 EVALUATION The Psychology Department follows the University of Western Ontario grading guidelines, which are as follows (see http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/general/grades_undergrad.pdf): A+ 90-100 One could scarcely expect better from a student at this level A 80-89 Superior work that is clearly above average B 70-79 Good work, meeting all requirements, and eminently satisfactory C 60-69 Competent work, meeting requirements D 50-59 Fair work, minimally acceptable F below 50 Fail 6.0 TEST AND EXAMINATION SCHEDULE EXAMS WHEN WEIGHT 1. Profession, History, Ethics, Diagnostic Classification, Assessment & Psychometrics --- Mon Oct 3 During Class Time, EC 2168A&B 33.3% (1/3) 2. Methods of Psychological Assessment --- Mon Nov 7 During Class Time, EC 2168A&B 33.3% (1/3) 3. Methods of Psychological Treatment --- During final exam period (scheduled by registrar) 33.3% (1/3) The exams will be 150 minutes in length including time for instructions. Any material from the textbook or lectures may be selected for the exams. The first exam will cover all material from the textbook (Ch 1-3,5) and class lectures up to and including the date of that exam, the second exam will cover all material from the textbook (Ch 6-9) and class lectures presented between the date of first exam and the date of the second exam, while the final exam will textbook chapters 10-14 and class lectures presented between the second exam Nov 28 but will not include Text Ch 4 or material presented in lecture on Dec 5 regarding the topic of Clinical Psychology Research. Note the exams are therefore not cumulative.
OPTIONAL: Students have the opportunity to participate in assessment-research protocols for up to a 5% bonus on their final course grade. This opportunity is intended to foster students interest in clinical psychology research, enhance learning of material presented in lectures, and encourage students healthy self-monitoring and introspection. The assessment-research protocols will include 1) practicing mindfulness meditation and reporting about your experiences and related personality traits, 2) completion of a survey about family characteristics and the occurrence of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, 3) completion of a survey about psychological symptoms (e.g., depression, anxiety), and 4) completion of a cognitive task involving facial expression processing and reading of positive and negative words. This is described in greater detail in the appended letter of information titled "HANDS- ON LEARNING ABOUT ASSESSMENT & RESEARCH METHODS IN CLINCAL PSYCHOLOGY". Students who wish to receive bonus marks but do not wish to participate in an assessment-research task(s) will have the option of completing a 500 word essay that discusses the personal relevance to the student of a journal article published in 2011 in any of the following journals that are related to the subject of the course: J of Abnormal Psychology, J of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, J of Clinical Psychology, and Clinical Psychology: Science & Practice. Completion of one essay would take the place of participation in one of the four assessment-research protocols, thus four essays would need to be completed to obtain the full 5% bonus on a student s final grade. The essay format will require the reference to be noted, a brief summary of the study findings provided, and a statement regarding why the findings of that particular journal article were considered relevant to the student s own life included. 7.0 LECTURE SCHEDULE DATE TOPICS READING EXAM / DUE DATE Sept 12 Contemporary Practice of Clinical Text Ch: 1 & 2 --- Psychology: Science & Ethics Sept 19 Case Conceptualization, Classification & Text Ch: 3 --- Diagnosis Sept 26 Introduction to Assessment, & Basics of Text Ch: 5 --- Psychometric Theory Oct 3 Exam #1 in class Exam 1 Worth 33.3% Oct 10 Thanksgiving Class Cancelled --- --- Oct 17 Interviews & Observation Text Ch: 6,9 After class Meditation Oct 24 Cognitive Assessment Text Ch: 7,9 After class Meditation Oct 31 Self-Report & Projective Assessment Text Ch: 8,9 After class Meditation, * Last week to complete Hands-on Learning Exercise #4 Nov 7 Exam #2 in class Exam 2 Worth 33.3% Nov 14 Introduction to Intervention & Therapeutic Text Ch: 11,14 After class Meditation Mechanisms of Change Nov 21 Specific Interventions Adults & Children Text Ch: 12,13 After class Meditation Nov 28 Prevention Text Ch: 10 After class Meditation Dec 5 Research Text Ch: 4 * Due date for Hands-on Learning Exercises #2 & #3 (Both Online) Exam Period Exam #3 --- Exam 3 Worth 33.3%
8.0 STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC OFFENCES Students are responsible for understanding the nature and avoiding the occurrence of plagiarism and other scholastic offenses. Plagiarism and cheating are considered very serious offenses because they undermine the integrity of research and education. Actions constituting a scholastic offense are described at the following link: http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/appeals/scholoff.pdf As of Sept. 1, 2009, the Department of Psychology will take the following steps to detect scholastic offenses. All multiple-choice tests and exams will be checked for similarities in the pattern of responses using reliable software, and records will be made of student seating locations in all tests and exams. All written assignments will be submitted to TurnItIn, a service designed to detect and deter plagiarism by comparing written material to over 5 billion pages of content located on the Internet or in TurnItIn s databases. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between The University of Western Ontario and Turnitin.com (http://www.turnitin.com). Possible penalties for a scholastic offense include failure of the assignment, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University. 9.0 OTHER INFORMATION No electronic devices, including cell phones, will be allowed during exams. Office of the Registrar web site: http://www.registrar.uwo.ca/index.cfm Student Development Services web site: http://www.sdc.uwo.ca Please see the Psychology Undergraduate web site for information on the following: http://psychology.uwo.ca/undergradresponsibilities.htm - Policy on Cheating and Academic Misconduct - Procedures for Appealing Academic Evaluations - Policy on Attendance - Policy Regarding Makeup Exams and Extensions of Deadlines - Policy for Assignments - Short Absences - Extended Absences - Documentation - Academic Concerns - 2011 Calendar References No electronic devices, including cell phones, will be allowed during exams.
LETTER OF INFORMATION HANDS-ON LEARNING ABOUT CLINCAL PSYCHOLOGY ASSESSMENT, INTERVENTION & RESEARCH METHODS Principal Investigator & Course Instructor: Dr. Paul Frewen, Ph.D., C.Psych. INTRODUCTION This document describes assessment-research protocols that you are invited to voluntarily participate in, and what you will be asked to do if you choose to participate. Please read this document carefully. You should also feel free to ask Dr. Frewen any questions you may have about the procedure, before participating and anytime in the future. Dr. Frewen is available for contact by Phone (519) 685-8500 x 77760 and by Email pfrewen@uwo.ca. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY In order to foster students interest in clinical psychology research, enhance learning of material presented in lectures, and encourage students healthy self-monitoring and introspection, the appointed lecturer for the course Introduction to Clinical Psychology (2301) proposes including as part of the course curriculum opportunities for student handson optional participation in assessment-related research protocols for bonus marks of up to a maximum of 5% of their course grade. Students have the option of completing various surveys and psychological tasks as described below for course credit, and feedback regarding responses to the surveys and tasks would be overviewed in subsequent lectures. Students will also be asked for their consent to publish their responses in scientific journals and presentations. Finally, the instructor also wishes to evaluate students feedback regarding this particular hands-on approach to education about clinical psychology. PROCEDURES AND HOW TO PARTICIPATE As a student enrolled in Introduction to Clinical Psychology (2301), you are invited to learn and practice mindfulness meditation, and assess your attentional functioning and mood via completion of surveys during class time. Specifically, following instructions, you
will be asked to silently sit with your eyes closed and attempt to focus your attention on the experience and sensation of your own breathing for 15-minutes after up to 5 of the lectures (dates to be decided). Most students will find that their attention wanders; it is difficult for most people to maintain their attention on their breathing without distraction for as long as 15-minutes. Five times (about every 3-minutes) during the 15-minute meditation, a chiming sound (meditation bell) will be played, at which point you will be asked to indicate whether your attention was directed toward your breathing or otherwise by making a 'tick' mark on a sheet of paper. At the end of the 15-minute meditation, you will be asked to complete a short survey about your experiences during the meditation. You will also be asked to complete short internet surveys of personality traits relevant to mindfulness meditation and dysphoric mood. You will be provided all materials you will need to participate during class time. Students who complete all procedures related to the mindfulness meditation protocol will receive a bonus 1% toward their final grade. Participants who are not interested to take part, however, are not required to. On a separate occasion, students will be asked to report on their family relationship history and reflect on its impact on aspects of their personality and emotional disposition by completing a simple computerized survey on their own time via the internet (secure web link will be provided; typically requiring less than 1 hour to complete). This will involve being presented with survey items that may or may not describe one s relationship with particular members of one s family at the time one was a child and/or adolescent (e.g., This person was supportive to me. ), and deciding to whom, if anyone, the item applies as a description of that person(s) and/or the students relationship with that person(s). An additional 1% bonus to students' final grade may be earned by completion of this survey. On a third occasion, students will be asked to report the frequency with which they have experienced different psychological symptoms often associated with mood and anxiety disorders, and for those symptoms which may be present, reflect on whether they believe causal interrelationships exist among symptom co-occurrences. For example, if a student reports he/she has recently experienced both anxiety and depressed mood, he/she will be asked to what extent he/she thinks the anxiety causes him/her to feel depressed, and vice versa. Such questions will also be asked via a simple computerized survey that students can complete on their own time via the internet (secure web link will be provided; typically requiring less than 1 hour to complete). An additional 1% bonus to students' final grade may be earned by completion of this survey. Finally, students will be asked to complete a simple cognitive task involving visual self-recognition and evaluation of the self-descriptiveness of negative and positive words. Students will be asked to rate 10 positive and 10 negative words in terms of how much they describe how they think about themselves, and how much they describe how they think about other people, in general. Students will then view a picture of themselves (the same one used on their student identification card) and a picture of a stranger, intermixed with the positive and negative words. When students see the picture of themselves, they will be
asked to silently rehearse "I am", and when they see the picture of the other person, they will be asked to silently rehearse "He/She is". Finally, when students see the words, they will be asked to silently read them. After either saying "I am" or "He/She is and reading the words, students will be asked to press a response button. Students will also be asked to pay attention to how they are feeling emotionally during this task, and to answer a brief survey regarding this after the task is done. Finally, students will be asked to complete a number of short surveys related to their mood and personality traits. An additional 1% bonus to students' final grade may be earned by completion of this task, which will take place in a psychology undergraduate computer lab with the aid of a teaching assistant and require less than one hour to complete. A more detailed description of the procedures that will be required in order to take part in these learning activities will be provided during lectures. Students who complete all 4 of the assessment tasks described above will receive an additional bonus percentage point on their final grade, thus a 5% bonus in total. RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS You may become emotionally upset while completing the assessment tasks. There may also be other unforeseeable risks involved in participating in these tasks. If you have any injury, bad effect, or any other unusual health experience attributable to these tasks, please contact the study s principal investigator Dr. Paul Frewen, by phone at (519) 685-8500 ext 77760 or by email at pfrewen@uwo.ca. If Dr. Frewen or a research staff member is not in the office: first leave a message about your experience; second, to get immediate help, consider calling your family physician or a hospital emergency service. You may also wish to contact the Psychological Services Department located in the Student Services Building at 519-661-3031. POTENTIAL BENEFITS There are no guaranteed personal benefits to you from participating in these tasks. However, many of the tasks have been developed for application in assessment services associated with mental health, and therefore may benefit others in the future. Furthermore, several participants who have completed the tasks previously have remarked that doing so has been personally meaningful, such as meditation practice benefitting their attention and mood, and completion of survey assessments and cognitive tasks encouraging them to reflect upon the determinants of their mental health and wellbeing, and take action to improve it when necessary. Finally, the explicit intention of inviting you to participate is indeed that you might benefit in terms of learning something about clinical psychology research, enhancing the learning provided by lectures, and perhaps learning something about yourself by encouraging healthy self-monitoring and introspection.
CONFIDENTIALITY Your responses will be saved to a secure server operated by the University of Western Ontario and/or the principal investigator. The instructor will need to collect the student numbers of participants as a means of allocating bonus percentage points for participation; however, student numbers will be saved in files that are separate from those containing students responses to surveys and tasks, and therefore the instructor will not be able to identify individual students responses to the surveys and tasks. Representatives of The University of Western Ontario Ethics Boards may require access to your study-related records or may follow up with you to monitor the conduct of the research. All study data will remain confidential, except where disclosure is mandated by principles of ethical research or by federal or provincial law. The results of the tasks will be presented in class for feedback and learning purposes. With your consent, the results may also be submitted for publication in journals concerning scientific, clinical, and/or teaching methods. Should the results of these studies be published, only group-averaged results will be published; your personal results or any identifying information that you provide will not be published. VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION & RIGHT TO WITHDRAW Participation in these tasks is voluntary. You may refuse to participate, refuse to answer any questions or withdraw from participating at any time without penalty or loss of course credit. Written informed consent will not be required to take part in these tasks. Students consent to take part in these activities will be implied by receipt of responses to the surveys and tasks from them. Students will be asked for their consent to analyze the responses they provide for use in future scientific publications; students may withhold such consent while still taking part in the exercises strictly for their own educational value without any loss of their course credit (i.e., bonus percentage points on their grade). FURTHER QUESTIONS If you have any further questions you may contact: Dr. Paul Frewen at 519-685-8500 x77760 or by email at pfrewen@uwo.ca. If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant or the conduct of this study you may contact: The Director of the Office of Research Ethics of the University of Western Ontario at (519) 661-3036, email ethics@uwo.ca. LEGAL RIGHTS You do not waive any legal rights by agreeing to participate.