MAPSD5400 Family Work in Mental Health Care Course description

Mental health disorders and substance use disorders are increasing, and can have a negative effect on the health and quality of life of patients/users' next of kin. The mental health services have a statutory duty to cooperate with and support families. This course will make a significant contribution in this context by disseminating research-based knowledge about clinical cooperation with families in mental health services. The course comprises theoretical and empirical knowledge about mental health in a family perspective.

After completing the course, the student should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

• has advanced knowledge of their area of specialisation and can analyse academic problems to identify the need for research and professional development
• has in-depth knowledge of the research process

Skills

The student

• can analyse relevant theories and issues to initiate and carry out a limited research,;quality improvement or development work
• can use relevant methods for research,;quality improvement or development work in their own work
• can analyse and deal critically with various sources of information and use them in scholarly arguments in their own research, quality improvement or development work
• can carry out an independent, limited research,;quality improvement or development work;in accordance with the approved project description and the applicable norms for research ethics

General competence

The student

• can communicate relevant issues, analyses and conclusions from their own research,;quality improvement or development work to both the general public and academia
• can contribute to new thinking, innovation processes and evidence-based practice in the health services and in health-promoting work;

Work and teaching methods used in the course are self-study, three to six master’s seminars with presentations, and an offer of 20 hours’ supervision per thesis, regardless of whether it is written individually or in a group.

The seminars are an arena for sharing experience from all stages of the project work. Students will take part in academic discussion and practise structuring and wording academic argumentation and communicating constructive criticism. Presenting their work, giving feedback to fellow students, and receiving feedback from fellow students and teachers, are important parts of the seminars.;

The supervision agreement is signed by the students and supervisors at the start of the supervision.

When a group of students work together, an overview of each student’s individual contribution must be enclosed with the assignment.

The following must have been approved in order for the student to take the examination:

• Three oral presentations (up to 20 minutes) at the master’s seminars

The master’s thesis written by one or two students. Large, interdisciplinary innovation projects can be written in groups of up to four students on application. Individual oral examination where the grade can be adjusted.

The content and scope of different forms of master's theses:

• Monograph: The scope of a monograph thesis is up to 25,000 words.

• Scientific article: The thesis must include a manuscript in the form of at least one article that is in accordance with the author guidelines for a relevant scientific journal, and a supplementary memo/introductory chapter to the article-based thesis ('kappe') that elaborates on the theoretical and methodological considerations underlying the article. The layout, structure and scope of the article must comply with the guidelines of the journal in question, and the introductory chapter to the article-based thesis can be a maximum of 10,000 words.

The thesis can be written in English or a Scandinavian language (Norwegian, Swedish or Danish).

The written thesis must be awarded a grade of A-E (preliminary grade) in order for a student to take the oral examination. The final grade is set after the oral examination. The whole grade scale can be used when setting the final grade.

An individual oral examination lasting up to 40 minutes based on the master’s thesis. The candidate gives a 10 - 15 minutes presentation of their master’s thesis at the start of the oral examination.

Students can appeal against the grade set for the written part of the examination in accordance with the Act relating to Universities and University Colleges.

All aids are permitted, as long as the rules for source referencing are complied with.

Grade scale A-F.

Child welfare is a social field whose practice is based on implicit and explicit theories drawn from many different disciplines. Child welfare is also a normative field of activity, which means that it requires critical reflection on the part of the professionals practising it. The course focuses on the child welfare service’s heterogeneous knowledge base and established forms of understanding and presents different perspectives on phenomena of relevance to child welfare. Different understandings of evidence-based practice and the relationship between research-based knowledge, experience-based knowledge and the experiences and wishes of children and families are discussed. The challenges the field of practice and the individual professionals face when new research or new methods or measures are to be implemented/applied in practice are also analysed. The course presents different perspectives on children’s development. A particular focus will be on constructions of children that cast children as participants in everyday life and in the child welfare service’s professional practice

Theoretical perspectives and normative conceptions provide guidance on what we can see and what we look for. The forms of learning are meant to allow students to train their analytical skills in order to understand the professional practice of the child welfare service from a power perspective and in light of the social context in which the child welfare service operates.

The language of instruction is Norwegian.

All answer papers are assessed by two examiners. At least 20% per cent of the exam papers will be assessed by an external examiner. The external examiner's assessment shall benefit all the students.

Dag Willy Tallaksen