Review several of your colleagues’ posts, and respond to at least two of your peers by 11:59 p.m. on Day 7 of the week.

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Week 3 – Discussion

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Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Case Studies in Assessment

Prior to beginning work on this discussion, read the assigned chapters from the text. It is highly recommended that you review each of the brief Blumenfeld (2012) video clips demonstrating the administration of a mental status examination. These are listed in the recommended resources and may require that you download Quicktime in order to view them. Although not required, these videos show the administration of a mental status exam and may prove helpful in this discussion.

Access the Barnhill (2014) DSM-5 Clinical Cases e-book in the DSM-5 library, and select one of the case studies. The case study you select must be one in which the client could be assessed using one or more of the assessment instruments discussed in this week’s reading.

For this discussion, you will take on the role of a psychology intern at a mental health facility working under the supervision of a licensed psychologist. In this role, you will conduct a psychological evaluation of a client referred to you for a second opinion using valid psychological tests and assessment procedures. The case study you select from the textbook will serve as the information provided to you from the professional who previously evaluated the client (e.g., the psychologist or psychiatrist).

In your initial post, begin with a paragraph briefly summarizing the main information about the case you selected. Evaluate and describe the ethical and professional interpretation of any assessment information presented in the case study. Devise an assessment battery for a psychological evaluation that minimally includes a clinical interview, mental status exam, intellectual assessment, observations of the client, and at least two assessment instruments specific to the diagnostic impressions (e.g., attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, autism spectrum disorder, etc.). The assessment battery must include at least one approach to assessing your client which is different from the assessments previously administered. The assessment plan must be presented as a list of recommended psychological tests and assessment procedures with a brief sentence explaining the purpose of each test or procedure. Following the list of tests and assessment procedures you recommend for your client, compare the assessment instruments that fall within the same categories (e.g., intellectual or achievement), and debate the pros of cons of the instruments and procedures you selected versus the instruments and procedures reported by the referring professional.

Guided Response: Review several of your colleagues’ posts, and respond to at least two of your peers by 11:59 p.m. on Day 7 of the week. You are encouraged to post your required replies earlier in the week to promote more meaningful interactive discourse in this discussion. Was your colleague’s proposed assessment battery appropriate for the case they were referred? Evaluate the instrument(s) suggested by your colleague. Would these measures provide reliable, valid, and culturally appropriate results for the given scenario? Use your research to support your assertions. What other measure(s) would you suggest your colleague use in this situation? Continue to monitor the discussion forum until 5:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (MST) on Day 7 of the week and respond to anyone who replies to your initial post.

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explain how one factor in each category (family, peers, culture) has affected you personally, whether you feel it is positive or negative, and why.

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DISCUSSION 1

In this module, you learned how family, peers, and cultural influences affect a person’s development. In this journal assignment, explain how one factor in each category (family, peers, culture) has affected you personally, whether you feel it is positive or negative, and why.

DISCUSSION 2

In the text, you studied concepts such as emotional development and attachment theory. Choose the section of the text readings that you were most interested in and apply the concepts to a real-world situation. For example, if you are the parent of a young child and you choose attachment, briefly summarize the text material that you are addressing and apply it to an example related to parenting your toddler. Devote one section to discussing the text material and one section to the real-life application.

DISCUSSION 3

 

Based on the readings in the text and the supplemental article for this module, what factors may or may not influence on a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation? You may choose from the factors discussed in the text and any other research-based factors you would like to include. Discuss the factors in a short journal assignment and give a real or hypothetical example of how they apply in real life. Devote one section to stating your opinion and describing how it is supported by the text or reading material, and devote one section to your real or hypothetical example.

TEXTBOOK

A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development J. W. Santrock McGraw-Hill Education Ninth Edition 2018 ISBN: 978-1-2608-7002-2

What did you learn about this topic in relation to addressing the problem that you researched? What new knowledge, recommendations, or proposed solutions have you uncovered?

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Unit VII Research Paper

This research paper will be submitted in this unit and will be the basis for the final assignment in Unit VIII. Critical analysis is a central process in all academic work. It involves thinking critically, which is applying rational and logical thinking, while deconstructing the information that you research/study. When we think critically, we are thinking actively. This means that we do not passively accept everything we read and hear, so that we can question, evaluate, make judgments, find connections, and categorize information. It means we remain open to other points of view and are not blinded by our own biases.

1. Begin by selecting a topic to research. The research paper requires a public administration topic selection that focuses on an ethical scenario that confronts you in public administration.

2. What is the problem that you want to investigate? State the problem as a question.

3. Why does this problem interest you?

4. What does the literature say? Find three to five research-based articles about the topic as a literature review.

5. What did you learn about this topic in relation to addressing the problem that you researched? What new knowledge, recommendations, or proposed solutions have you uncovered?

6. Develop your conclusions. As you have completed the work in this course, you have noticed themes in the unit lessons, the assigned readings, and the assignments. Now, you will combine that knowledge with your personal examples and previous experiences to construct your research paper.

Describe how you incorporated assessment information and the client’s diagnosis into your choice of appropriate goals for counseling.

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· Initial Case Conceptualization

In this assignment, you will discuss the theoretical approach you selected for working with a specific client during your fieldwork experience, and how you used this perspective as you collected information about the client and developed counseling goals.

As you begin your work on this assignment, refer to what you have learned about counseling theories from:

· The material that you covered in previous courses you’ve taken during your program.

· Experiences during the Master’s Residencies.

· The discussions you have had with your site supervisor and fieldwork course instructor during practicum and Internship 1.

Complete this assignment by addressing the following topics in four-part format.

Part 1: Client Information

Select a client with whom you have worked in individual counseling sessions over several weeks during your fieldwork experience. As you present information about the client in this assignment, be sure to use a pseudonym and omit or change all identifying material.

Present a brief description (no more than two pages) of the client, including the following:

· Demographic information (such as age, gender, race/ethnicity/country of origin, religion, sexual orientation, ability or disability, and social-economic status).

· Current situation (including living situation, support systems, work and employment, and health).

· The client’s presenting issues or concerns.

· Relevant history. Include a brief description of key events from the client’s past that have some impact on the presenting issues or that you believed were important to consider during your work with the client.

Part 2: Theoretical Approach

Describe the specific theoretical approach you used to conceptualize this client’s case. Identify a single theory as your main approach; if you integrated a second perspective into your work (such as integrating reality therapy into a cognitive therapy approach), you will need to identify how each theory contributed to your work with the client. Do not present more than two approaches or identify your work simply as being eclectic.

Discuss your rationale for selecting this theoretical perspective, and why you believed it was the most appropriate and effective approach to use. Support your statements with a minimum of 3 articles from current journals in the professional counseling literature that provide evidence for the use of this theory with the types of issues your client presented, and/or with clients similar to yours (in age, gender, ethnicity, background, or in other ways).

Describe how using this theoretical approach influenced the information you collected about the client during the first sessions. (For example, was it important for you to take a detailed history that included information about the client’s parents and early childhood experiences?) Again, support your ideas with references to the professional literature.

Part 3: Assessment and Diagnosis

Write out the diagnosis you developed for the client, using the definitions and format in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and identify the related ICD 10 code.

Discuss the process you used to formulate your assessment and diagnosis for this client.

· How did you incorporate information collected from the client during the first sessions to reach this diagnosis?

· Did you utilize any self-report instruments (such as symptom checklists, anxiety inventories, depression scales or other assessment processes)? If so how did this information help you to formulate a diagnosis?

· Did you consult with any other persons about the client (with his or her written permission) such as parents, teachers, physicians, and past therapists?

· What social-cultural factors did you need to consider when conceptualizing your client’s case and formulating your diagnosis?

Describe how the assessment and diagnosis process was integrated into your theoretical approach for working with the client. Did the information you gathered, and the diagnosis you formulated, assist you in working from this theoretical perspective more effectively? If so, provide examples; if not, discuss the reasons why.

Part 4: Counseling Goals

List three specific goals that you developed for working with this client. These should be goals that are related to the client’s presenting issues and the focus of therapy. Each goal should be measurable – meaning both you and the client have a clear way for assessing whether the goal has been reached.

· Describe how you incorporated assessment information and the client’s diagnosis into your choice of appropriate goals for counseling.

· Discuss how you considered your client’s social-cultural background and unique personal history when selecting these goals.

· How is each goal reflective of your theoretical approach, drawing from the key concepts and assumptions of that theory?

Assignment Specifications

Your Unit 5 assignment should be between 8–10 pages long and include a minimum of 4 references from current articles (no more than 10 years old) in professional journals. You can also include books and Web sites from professional organizations in your references. Please use direct quotations sparingly; you should paraphrase most of the information drawn from outside sources and present ideas in your own words. Remember to follow APA format for your citations.

Resources

· Initial Case Conceptualization Scoring Guide.

· APA Style and Format.