SCW4302

Models of Family-Centred Practice: Critical Perspectives ( 12 points, SCA Band 1, 0.250 EFTSL)

Leader: Margaret Lynn and Barbara Fraser

Offered:
Gippsland Second semester 2006 (OCL)

Synopsis: This unit provides a close study of the mainstream, contemporary and emerging appoaches to practice in family therapy that inform family-centred practice in social welfare and human services. It introduces students to three main approaches, selected for their impact on the field, their empirical support and their recognition of issues of social justice, power and gender relations in their application. The unit explores the conceptual origins of each approach, its contemporary applications, and the beliefs and values from which practitoners operate. This unit also emphasises the development of practice skills at the beginning level of competence in each of the three approaches.

Objectives: On successful completion of this subject, students will be able to: 1. Use professional knowledge in their practice, using specific conceptual skills to identify, evaluate and apply 3 approaches to family-centred practice: brief systems, structural and systemic, and psychodynamic; 2. Demonstrate perceptual and executive skills at a beginning level of competence with the 3 approaches; identify professional values, specifically the conceptual skills to identify ethical practice in the 3 approaches, address issues of social justice through the use of the 3 approaches. 3. Students will develop a family-centred practice model consistent with their workplace setting, based on a critical evaluation of the approaches.

Assessment: Literature review (2000 words): 30% + Videotape of an interview (30 minutes) and Report (1000 words): 20% + Project (4500 words): 50%