Background and Intervention Approach (500 words)

Based on a case scenario provided in class, work with other group members to produce a plan for an appropriate psychosocial/clinical intervention approach. In the plan you should describe and justify the intervention approach you would provide. In the group meetings each member will take responsibility for researching and developing one of the parts of the task.

Group submission of background and case formulation (10%)

In the plan briefly outline basic details about your client including:

Briefly outline basic details about your client including their goals and preferences for intervention (one paragraph) and general background details about their main physical health problem: Symptoms, Diagnosis, Prevalence, Typical Course, Mortality and Disability (one paragraph).

Individual submission of Evidence Based Treatment Plan

Based on a case scenario provided in class and the background and preliminary  formulation from the previous step, produce a treatment plan in which you describe and justify the treatment you would provide in no more than 2000 words.

Use the background information and a preliminary formulation that you have worked up with your group as the basis for the following steps.  The assignment is submitted individually.

1. Critically review the literature about psychological mechanisms that may influence the health problem or its treatment. Pay careful attention to the quality of the research and its applicability to the client in the case scenario. Come to a definite conclusion;

2. Critically review the literature about the effectiveness of psychological interventions for this health problem paying careful attention to the quality of evidence and its applicability to the client. Come to a definite conclusion about the best treatment for this client. .

3. Critically review existing programs, treatment manuals, and self help materials that might assist the clinical psychologist to deliver the intervention. Again come to a definite conclusion about the materials to use for this client.  You are encouraged to check relevant Wikipedia entries, make edits as supported by the literature and submit the changes you made with your assignment (see http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/members/aps-wikipedia-initiative ).

4. Critically review assessment tools that measure the psychological processes related to the health problem and measure the client’s progress toward their goals. Make a definite conclusion about the assessments to be used for this client.

Overall points

A.  Critical review means your assignment contains:

a) a clear and explicit statement about the source of the information (eg a psycinfo or pubmed search using specified subject headings and the clinical queries filters),

b) a critical appraisal of the quality of the research methods and a judgement about how much you trust the study findings, and

c) an explicit critical appraisal of the generalisability of those findings to your client.

Class presentations must not exceed the set time limit minutes. Marks will be deducted for exceeding the time limit.

Class presentations will be assessed on presentation skills, clarity, conciseness, and enthusiasm, as well as content, logical flow, and critical analysis displayed in the presentation.  5% of marks are allocated to the presentation and 5% to the handout or clinician toolkit.  The handout is marked on its ability to provide a concise “clinical tool kit” resource list for colleagues.

Funding application arguing for a new service for example an additional clinician,  sessional funding for a group, client information materials, an internet intervention.  Please choose a health problem or illness that you are unfamiliar with and was not the topic of your first assignment.

Main Points

Make sure you present

1. a concise description of what you plan to do,

2. an argument or justification for why your intervention is a good idea, is practical, and should be funded for a trial period, and

3. describe an evaluation that should lead to results that would convince your administrators to continue funding in the future

Format

Please submit your assignment in the format of a funding proposal: a Synopsis (Abstract of research plan), Aims and Objectives, Background literature review, Implementation Plan, Evaluation Plan, References. For this assignment I am not interested in your ability to develop a budget, you can assume that a large budget of up to $1 million is available. A sample template form will be provided later in the semester via iLearn for completing each section of the grant.

Synopsis: An abstract or brief overview of the aims, background, and methods you propose. This needs to include the main features of each of these areas and is marked for conciseness.

Aims and Objectives: What specifically does your project aim to achieve? Remember methods are not aims!  (“The aim is to run a support group for Spina Bifida” no! that’s a proposed method of achieving an aim such as improved quality of life or increased social connections). These need to be achievable and to match what it is you measure in your evaluation plan.

Background Literature Review: A review of existing literature on the target problem leading to a justification for your specific program. This section should include: i) brief discussion of the medical aspects (facts and figures) of the problem, ii) brief theoretical coverage of the psychological factors involved in the problem, iii) discussion and brief review of programs (especially Australian) that have been established to address the problem.  Show that there are important gaps that your proposal will fill.  Refer to state and federal health goals, targets & priority areas to reinforce your case. Remember you are presenting an argument for why this intervention is important and worthy of funding.

Implementation plan: A specific plan of what you are going to do and how you will implement the intervention. You need to explain the rationale for each aspect of your intervention. That is, you need to address why that sample was targeted, how you propose accessing the target group (if applicable), specific methods used for the intervention (e.g. the types of issues to be addressed, type of medium to convey intervention), and why each component was included. Ensure that all aspects of intervention design are covered.

Evaluation Plan: A specific plan for how you would evaluate the intervention you are proposing. As this is not a course on evaluation you don't have to develop anything fancy here but what you propose should be in keeping with the literature you review. It is unlikely that a randomised controlled trial is appropriate.  Remember this is not a research proposal or grant application.  Be sure that you measure progress towards the aims you set.

References: Use APA 6th formatting style.