The University of the West Indies, Mona

PSYC1000: INTRODUCTION TO DEVELOPMENTAL, SOCIAL AND ABNORMAL
PSYCHOLOGY
This course provides an introduction to a discipline that is growing in
popularity as an increasing number of persons have become interested in
gaining an understanding of human behaviour. The course will attempt to
integrate observations from human and animal research and provide
information on a broad range of topics that illustrate how and why we think,
feel and act. This section of the course introduces students to topics within
the areas of abnormal, social and developmental psychology, and examines
psychology in the work place. Psychology Majors will take PSYC1005 while
taking this course.

PSYC1001: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE & PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
This course provides an introduction to a discipline that is growing in
popularity as more and more people become interested in gaining an
understanding of human behaviour. Overall, the course will attempt to
integrate observations from human to animal research and provide
information on a broad range of topics that illustrate how and why we think,
feel and act. This section of the course introduces students to topics within
the areas of cognitive and physiological psychology.

PSYC1002: INTRODUCTION TO INDUSTRIAL & ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
This course provides an introduction to the field of industrial/organizational
psychology. It involves the application of psychological principles, theories,
research methods and findings and intervention strategies to the study of
people within the workplace context. It draws from various fields of
psychology and includes management, human resource development and
sociology. A variety of topic areas will be explored. The course should appeal
to a wide range of students with varying academic interests but is specifically
designed for students who intend to pursue careers in the broad area of
Organizational Development.

PSYC1005: PSYCHOLOGY LABORATORY METHODS: SOCIAL, ABNORMAL
AND DEVELOPMENTAL
The primary purpose of this laboratory course is to introduce students to key
principles of psychological research methods. In addition it will provide
students with practical experience in carrying out basic research focused on
the core areas of psychology, namely social, abnormal, and developmental
psychology, and in writing reports on these research experiences.
(Psychology Majors ONLY)

PSYC1006: RESEARCH IN COGNITIVE & PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
This course reinforces and builds on knowledge and skills students learn in
PSYC1005. Students will continue to gain experience in collecting
psychological data and writing reports focused on cognitive and physiological
psychology.

PSYC2000: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
This is a follow-up of the Social Psychology component of PSYC1000. It seeks
to perform an in-depth study of three major areas in social psychology: The
Self, Interpersonal Relationships and Group Processes. Understandably, the
course attempts to fuse the theoretical perspectives with a Caribbean
application and will draw heavily on Caribbean history and sociology. Topics
include: The Sociological and the Psychological Influences in Social
Psychology, The Self, Attribution, Group Dynamics and Inter-group Relations,
Close Relations, Themes in Caribbean Social Psychology.

PSYC2002: ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
The study of mental illness makes up a large part of the discipline of
psychology. Many psychologists are interested in the causes, classification
and treatment of abnormal behaviour. This course will attempt to integrate
observations from human and animal research to provide information on the
different types of mental illness, how mental illness develops, who is at risk
and which treatments are most effective. Topics include: Theoretical
Perspectives of Mal-adaptive Behaviours; Mental Health and Mental Illness;
Neurotic and Psychotic Disorders: Nature, Theoretical Explanation,
Treatment; Disorders of Social Development; Introduction to Therapies;
Behaviour Disorders and the Family.

PSYC2003: PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
This course is offered in the second year and seeks to explore how the
sensory, neural and muscular systems of the body interact to produce and
facilitate behaviour. It also helps students to understand behavioural
problems and to appreciate various biologically derived strategies of
behaviour modification and control. The course covers such areas as, the
body system, the biology of mental processes, motivation and emotion and
the future of psychobiology.

PSYC2004: PERSONALITY THEORY
Students will be introduced to the major theories of personality. The course
will address the historical and cultural background, which informs the
writings of the seminal theorists in the field as well as the relevance of these
theories to current conditions.

PSYC2005: INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY
This course is taught as an introduction to the field of health psychology.
Health psychology is a sub-discipline of psychology that focuses on how
biological, psychological, and social factors are related to the maintenance of
health, the onset and course of illness, and the role that treatment plays. In
this course we will review psychological theories that have implications for
physical and mental health. The lectures are designed to provide you, the
students, with an overview of key theories, research methodologies, and
empirical findings that are relevant to health psychology and behavioural
medicine.

PSYC2006: INTERPERSONAL DYNAMICS
The main objective of this course is to help the student to develop skills in
self-monitoring so as to enhance the ability to conduct effective interactions
with others. The course is an experiential one designed with particular
reference to students interested in counseling and in-group work practice.

PSYC2007: PSYCHOMETRICS
This course introduces the concepts underlying psychological measurement.
This is primarily done by an in depth examination of the topic of intelligence.
What is intelligence? How has it been measured? How much is it influenced
by environmental factors? In addition, students will develop their own
personality and ability measures in tutorials, and examine some of the classic
tests in these areas. At the end of the course students should understand
the concepts of reliability and validity, item difficulty, discriminability and
factor analysis.

PSYC2008: COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
This course aims to provide students with an understanding of the major
theories underpinning current cognitive psychology, as well as an awareness
of the methodologies used by cognitive psychologists to advance the
discipline. Cognitive psychology currently represents a mainstream area of
the discipline of psychology with which all majors in the area should be
familiar.
The course will commence with an examination of the theories and findings
which have been put forward to explain basic perceptual processes. There
will be consideration of how attention is controlled and directed towards the
environment, and how information is represented and remembered. The
course will then move on to consider the area of language functioning.
Finally, applications of this area of psychology will be highlighted, including
neuropsychology and ergonomics.

PSYC2012: DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
This course presents a comprehensive view of the physical and psychological
development of the individual from birth through to death. The course looks
at different models of development and analyses of each model in terms of
its relevance to the Caribbean. Students are actively engaged throughout the
course in analyzing the real life problems of children and adolescents in the
Caribbean.

PSYC2017: POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY
This course is an introduction to the field of Political Psychology, a multi-level
interdisciplinary field that examines the intersection of power and
psychology. Political Psychology (psychology of politics) employs diverse
theories and research tools to attempt to explain and make sense of why
political elites, mass publics and individuals think, feel and act as they do in
relation to power and how these thoughts, feelings and actions shape the
course of politics and of psycho-socio-cultural development.

PSYC2019: EXPERIMENTAL AND APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
This course emphasizes and demonstrates the importance of
experimentation as a method of exploring and establishing relationships and
of providing an evidential basis for claims made in psychology. The
importance of operationalization and of the development of techniques of
measurement is also emphasized. In the end, students are expected to have
skills with respect to the basics of experimental design in psychology and they
are also expected to be able to analyze and decipher critically, the
experimental descriptions and protocols provided in the literature.

PSYC3001: SOCIAL COGNITION
This course seeks to develop an understanding of the cognitive processes
occurring in every day social life. Firstly we examine models of individual and
social cognition, and then proceed to understand the social aspects of
cognitive processes such as attribution and person perception. Finally we
explore semiotics and the effects of the mass media (medium theory) on
social cognition. Social cognition refers to the system of mental constructs
and strategies that are shared by group members. In particular, it relates to
those collective mental operations involved in the representation and
understanding of social objects and in the establishment of the self as a social
agent.

PSYC3007: APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Using a social and psychological knowledge base and applying it to selected
organizational institutional and community contexts in Caribbean Society,
this course presents a programme of social psychological theory, methods
and projects, assigned to provide students with basic tools for analyzing and
solving problems of interpersonal, organizational and community relations,
while taking account of the human resource and institutional development
needs of Caribbean Society.

PSYC3008: ELEMENTS OF COUNSELING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY
This course provides an introduction to the fields of counseling and
psychotherapy in a complex multicultural society. The course will cover
professional foundations and provide an overview of the counseling and
therapeutic process. Students will learn simple interviewing and assessment
techniques, the taking of psychological histories as well as basic
communication and problem solving skills in a therapeutic context. Students
will also be exposed to methods for evaluation, recording and research in
counseling and psychotherapy.

PSYC3009: COUNSELING PRACTICUM
This course aims to provide students with increased comfort and confidence
in the art of counseling and psychotherapy and/or increased familiarity with
how psychological theories and methodologies are used in a practical setting.

Students will be attached to a site where psychology is practiced (e.g.
hospitals, schools, businesses, jails, police stations, counseling centres) and
supervised by psychologists working in the field, in order to gain practical
experience in the field of psychological counseling. Student experiences will
vary but may include exposure to group and individual therapy, conducting
interviews, psychological assessment, inter-disciplinary rounds, participating
in feedback sessions and collecting empirical data.

PSYC3010: APPLIED GROUP DYNAMICS
This course provides opportunities for the experiential exploration of topics
in intra-personal dynamics. It is presented as a Group Dynamics Laboratory
in which participants develop the techniques necessary for effective work in
and with teams. Participants will explore the following topics: Group
Intervention and facilitation; Building group cohesion; Communication and
co-ordination; Leadership and decision-making styles; Task performance;
Negotiation and conflict resolution. In this course students participate as
group members and analyze their own responses and those of other
participants. Participants learn and develop their skills by experiencing the
reality of attribution, communication and other interpersonal principles that
make up the substance of group relations.

PSYC3011: RESEARCH PAPER IN PSYCHOLOGY (Year Long - 6 Credits)
This course enables students to carry out a piece of empirical or theoretical
work chosen from a range of topics. At the start of the course, lectures will
be geared towards the review of the essentials of research design and
helping students to frame an appropriate research question. They will then
be assigned individual supervisors who will guide them through the research
process. At the end of the first semester students hand in a brief literature
review and rationale, and at the end of semester two a full research
dissertation is required. Students intending to pursue further studies in
psychology should note that this is an essential course to have on their
transcript.

PSYC3027: BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT
This course introduces students to basic principles in behaviour modification,
and the procedures and methods used to understand, assess, and change
behaviour problems. Specifically, the course presents a survey of important
behaviour modification procedures designed to overcome problems across a
broad spectrum of human dysfunction (e.g. fears, simple phobias, test
anxiety, school violence, and self-esteem). Additionally, the course is
designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills of how behaviour
modification procedures have been applied in the field of developmental
disabilities, education and special education, clinical psychology, community
psychology, and self-management. Finally, the materials in the course
examine important behaviour modification procedures applied in the area of
prevention, including stress management, sexually transmitted diseases,
emotional abuse, neglect, school violence, and drug use/misuse.

SOWK1001: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL WORK I
This course is designed to introduce students to Social Work as a field and
method of practice: This will be accomplished through the students’
exploration of:
i. The historical evolution of Social Work, Social Work as a general field of
practice, values and code of ethics, knowledge and skills, development of
Social Work in the Caribbean with special emphasis on Jamaica,
introduction to methods of Social Work intervention
ii. Introduction to Social Work Practicum which involves visits to and
observation of various types of social welfare and social development
service agencies with related seminars and presentations on agency visits.
(Duration: 50 hours). Please note: This one (1) credit course is retained as
SOWK1011 for the Diploma in Social Work students who do not take
section a) of the overall SOWK1001.

SOWK1003: THEORY AND PRACTICE OF SOCIAL WORK I
This course introduces students to two basic integrated frameworks as the
foundation for competent generalist social work practice with individuals,
couples and families; groups and organizations; and communities. The first
framework will demonstrate the important connected areas which provide
the overall context for generalist social work education and practice. The
focus is on increasing competencies in these connected areas.
The second framework will introduce students to a broad inner-outer
paradigm as the basis for learning how to apply theory to practice. Finally,
this course will also emphasize the importance of learning how to do biopsycho-social-spiritual assessments as an important aspect of the social work
process when applied to all levels of direct practice.

SOWK1010: SOCIAL WORK PRACTICUM I
Social Work Practicum I ensures the comprehensive preparation of students
new to professional social work as practiced in a developing and
developmental context. The programme is spread over semesters I (38
hours) and II (127 hours) for a total of approximately 165 contact hours
during the first year of professional formation. It encompasses a wide range
of hands-on experiences inclusive of agency observation visits, job
“shadowing”, human skills laboratory training, skills practice, all day
workshops and integrative seminars. Social Work Practicum I is organized to
enable a high level of participation by students; it emphasizes experiential
learning, critical self-awareness and self-analysis as well as provides
opportunities for “innovative” and “creative thinking” while facilitating
“socially and culturally responsive” problem solving. The expected outcome
is for student transformation into reflective practitioners committed to
lifelong learning.

SOWK2001: LAW AND THE HUMAN SERVICES
This course is structured to enable students to have a thorough grounding in
Law as it relates to human services. It is specifically designed to broaden and
deepen students’ knowledge and understanding of the Law as it relates to
the delivery of services in the private and public sectors, and to expose them
to the administrative machinery of the Law.

SOWK2002 & SOWK2003: THEORY & PRACTICE OF SOCIAL WORK II & III
The main objective of these courses offered over two semesters is to enlarge
and deepen students’ knowledge base and analytical skills in the main
aspects of social work practice – assessment, intervention and evaluation –
involving work with individuals, groups and organizations and communities.
Students will participate in lectures/discussions, classroom-based exercises
and field activities.

SOWK2004: DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL POLICY
This course seeks to provide students with an understanding of the meaning
of social policy and its importance for national development. The course will
examine various definitions of social policy and models of social welfare, and
will trace the broad historical developments in Caribbean social policy
making. It will examine the role of various actors in the social policy and
programme development process and will highlight the importance of
research for social policy design, monitoring and evaluation. Additionally, the
course discusses the paradigmatic shifts that have occurred in the social
policy development process globally and regionally, with special emphasis
being placed on health, education and social welfare policy.

SOWK2005: ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF SOCIAL SERVICES
The course offers a sound theoretical base together with skills to analyze,
design and effect change in the organization and management of Human
Services. It brings together modern management and organizational
concepts and techniques. It lays the foundation for critical analysis of social
services organization and administration. Emphasis is placed on
understanding and improving organizational performance in terms of the
quality of service, which is delivered through more appropriate use of human
resources. Specific attention is given to social service agencies and their
administration such as Health Service, Child and Family Services, Education,
Social Security, Housing, Correctional Services.

SOWK2006: CARIBBEAN SOCIAL ISSUES
This course explores the dynamics of specific social problems which affect
the Caribbean region, noting their contributing factors, impact and existing
policy/national responses. This course offers a guide to identifying, analyzing
and effectively addressing social problems emerging within the Caribbean.
The intent is to give a general overview and to critically consider
contemporary discussions of as well as interventions to address these issues,
using various theoretical models as the basis of understanding the dynamics
of social problems. The topics examined are crime and violence, poverty,
ageing among others.

SOWK2007: DISABILITY STUDIES
This course will identify the ways in which differently-abled persons are
marginalized and restricted and experience discrimination within an “unadaptive” society. It will examine the interaction of persons with disabilities
within the existing political, social, cultural and legal systems. This course is
taught in partnership with persons with disabilities and is grounded in the
epistemological belief that the creation of knowledge about disability should
be with/by people with disabilities. This course will take students on an
interesting journey which begins with sensitization to the experience of
disability, explores the pathways of acceptance and inclusion and arrives at
the destination of policy and advocacy.

SOWK2008: SOCIAL WORK PRACTICUM II (Year Long – 6 Credit)
This course offers supervised placements involving working with individuals,
families, treatment or social groups, or community organizations in
programmes which have primarily a rehabilitative, a social development or a
social action focus. These may be in any of the following types of settings:
Clinical, Child and Family, Education, Counseling and Rehabilitation and
Community. Weekly field integrative seminars will seek to enhance the
students’ learning through sharing of experiences, discussion of cases to
integrate theory with practice, building network systems for more efficient
practice and an introduction to the fine art of peer group supervision
(Duration – 320 hours).

SOWK2009: SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE SKILLS LAB
This course will help students to further develop the practice skills introduced
to them in their first year of study. It will focus on developing competence in
building client/worker relationships, whether at the individual, small group,
community or organizational level. The course will make extensive use of
experiential and reflective learning strategies.

SOWK2021: HUMAN BEHAVIOUR IN THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
This course provides a comprehensive examination of human behaviour
throughout the developmental lifespan and within different social settings
from the unique social work perspective of the person-in-environment.
General systems/ecological theory provides the underpinnings for this
approach from which the systems paradigm and model were developed as
frameworks for classifying other theoretical concepts, assessing social
problems and for devising prevention and intervention strategies when
working with clients. Specific attention will be given to current social
problems in the Caribbean as they affect and are affected by various systems
in the environment.

SOWK 2022: HUMAN BEHAVIOUR IN THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT II
The effects of the macro systems on the clients served by social workers
cannot be ignored. Culture, communities, institutions and organisations are
the primary macro systems that continuously have an adverse impact on
individuals and groups within the social environment. Therefore, it is
important that students have an understanding of the connections between
the client's individual problems, and the larger social problems and macro
level change efforts required. This course will make extensive use of a
political economy and social constructionist perspective in theorising the
behaviour of small and large groups and organisations. Finally, students will
examine the implications of this knowledge for practice in the Caribbean
context.

SOWK2107: HEALTH, SOCIETY AND THE HUMAN SERVICES
This course challenges students to holistically assess the health status of self
and others and to examine the criteria for maintaining healthy lifestyles. The
connection between health and development will be examined as well as the
current health status and health trends in the Caribbean. Students will
critically discuss alternative/complementary health seeking behaviours
especially as they affect the biopsychology aspects of primary health care in
the cultural setting. The value of having a public health responsibility
orientation in addition to the need for a multidisciplinary and
interdisciplinary team approach to tackling health problems will be
emphasized. Finally, students will examine the need for ongoing research and
evaluation.

SOWK3000: SOCIAL WORK RESEARCH PAPER (Year Long – 6 Credit)
(A maximum of twelve (12) students will be accepted to this course)
This course will be of particular value to social work students who plan to
continue to pursue graduate studies. The opportunity for conducting an
undergraduate level research course will be a very worthwhile preparation
for their subsequent work responsibilities as social agency employees. The
course requires the production of a furnished, moderately sized research
report based on original research and utilizing either quantitative and/or
qualitative methodology.

SOWK3009: THEORY AND PRACTICE OF SOCIAL WORK: COMMUNITY
ORGANIZATION
This course gives an in-depth understanding of community and an
introduction to a modern method of community research. The history of
community development is reviewed, particularly, its interaction in the
Caribbean with the wider economic, political and socio-cultural framework
and techniques of a participatory approach to community are tried out in a
work-study exercise in the field.

SOWK3010: THEORY AND PRACTICE OF SOCIAL WORK: APPLIED SOCIAL
GROUP WORK
This course will give students the opportunity to both experience and guide
the group process. In addition to an examination of the group dynamics
inherent in social settings, students will be introduced to the basic concepts
of Transactional Analysis as a useful theory and tool for assessing
communication, interpersonal styles and human behaviour in groups.
Students will practice specific skills required for demonstrating effective
understanding of and interventions in the beginning, middle and end stages
of selected task and treatment groups.

SOWK3012: SOCIAL WORK IN SCHOOLS
This course will focus on the multidimensional issues and challenges facing
students and the administration within the educational system. The students
will be required to use their generalist knowledge base to develop
appropriate interventions to respond to the needs in this setting. Such
interventions will address the home/school/community dynamics, the need
for a multi-disciplinary team approach and advocacy, thus ensuring the best
interest of the children in the school.

SOWK3014: ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS IN SOCIAL AGENCIES
This course presents a management approach to the administrative process
in social agencies. It is concerned with the interaction and interconnection
between structure and operations of the administrative process. The
underlying theme of the course is the need for: Administrative effectiveness;
Improvement in the quality of management action; Quality assurance and
recognition of the important role of management as an integrative activity in
the administrative process in social agencies.

SOWK3015: DRUGS AND SOCIETY
This course explores the use and misuse of drugs, the social consequences
and the national and regional implications of drug trafficking. Theories and
research relating to these issues are explored and prevention, intervention
and treatment strategies are examined. A multidisciplinary approach is taken
in order to give the students a broad understanding of this complex problem.

SOWK3017: SOCIAL WORK PRACTICUM III (Year Long – 6 Credits)
This course has three (3) components:
i. Supervised work placements where students are engaged in social agency
programme planning/development, administration, in-service training, or
direct service roles which require more advanced levels of intervention
activities with individuals, groups, families and communities (Duration
320 hours)
ii. Supervision Module: Social Work Supervision as a process—The
Administrative; Educational and the Counselling Components.
Application of Adult Education methods (Andragogy) Individual vs. Group
Supervision;
iii. Field Integrative Seminars: Presentations by students on selected field
placement experiences.

SOWK3020: SOCIAL PLANNING AND PROJECT DESIGN
Students are introduced to the sequence of steps involved in social planning
and how such planning relates to social capital and human development.
Critical contemporary dimensions of social planning, namely participation,
gender and sustainability, are taken into account. Students address planning
on specific current social issues and practice toward acquiring some basic skill
in one form of social planning – designing a project proposal.

SOWK 3028: SOCIAL WORK IN SCHOOLS
This course will focus on the multidimensional issues and challenges facing
students and the administration within the educational system. The students
will be required to use their generalist knowledge base to develop
appropriate interventions to respond to the needs in this setting. Such
interventions will address the home/school/community dynamics, the need
for a multi-disciplinary team approach and advocacy, thus insuring the best
interest of the children in the school.

SOWK3030: THEORY AND PRACTICE OF SOCIAL WORK: CASE WORK
This course is designed to sharpen the students’ competencies in working
with individuals, and families in agencies/institutions providing counseling,
treatment and/or rehabilitative services. The course will build on the
theoretical and practical foundations of Levels I and II. It will focus on
increasing knowledge and skills in both generalist and clinical social work
practice.