Postgraduate - UnitCMH5005 - Mental health of the elderly

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 3, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational Unit	School of Psychological Sciences
Offered	Clayton Second semester 2014 (Off-campus)
Coordinator(s)	Barbara Eppingstall

Synopsis

This unit encompasses a broad range of topics within the area of aged mental health, including depression, anxiety, dementia, delirium, delusional disorders as well as other conditions. The central elements to psychiatric assessment are covered including presentation and history taking, symptom recognition, cognitive and neuropsychological testing as well as treatment and management principles. Various case scenarios provide examples of key issues that can arise, the course of an illness as well as the application of appropriate therapeutic strategies. This unit also draws attention to aspects of successful ageing, as well as indigenous mental health, service delivery, psychopharmacology and protection issues surrounding the vulnerable elderly person.

Outcomes

Upon completion of this unit, student will be able to:

Demonstrate a basic understading of aged mental health;
Demonstrate a knowledge of recent developments in this area;
Identify service delivery, examining treatments and management issues in the mental health of the elderly; and
Demonstrate an understanding of research findings in the literature.

Assessment

Hurdle requirement: Participation in a minimum of 5 Moodle discussions
Essay (3000 words) (45%)
Applied Learning Exercise (3000 words) (45%)
On-Campus Workshop/Alternative Assessment (10%)
All assessments must be passed to pass the unit

Chief examiner(s)

Barbara Eppingstall

Off-campus attendance requirements

Two day on campus workshop