Community Psychology

Code:

P604

Acronym:

PC

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Psychology

Instance: 2017/2018 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Psychology
Course/CS Responsible:	Integrated Master Psychology

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIPSI	154	Official Curricular Structure	3	-	3	30	81

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

It is its main goal to promote the construction of conceptual frameworks in the field of preventive, social and community psychological intervention, analyzing and questioning, in a critical and criterious manner, current strategies of intervention in personal and contextual systems, as well as methodologies of intervention in this area.

Specifically this subject aims promoting in students:

•  A conception of psychological intervention as psychological professional practice involving a diversity of goals, targets and strategies, as well as the construction of a wider and more differentiated professional identity, capable of recognizing the multiplicity of intervention modalities available to one’s occupational performance;
•  The mastering of the processes of elaboration, implementation and assessment of community psychological intervention projects, recognizing their importance for the design, legitimacy and efficacy of those projects;
• The ability to thoroughly characterize and examine current strategies of intervention in personal and contextual systems, while taking into consideration its goals, processes of change and differential effectiveness;
• The ability to put into perspective the usefulness and applicability of such strategies in relation to a variety of problems, populations and intervention contexts, typical of the professional exercise of Psychology, namely the ones included in the various optional areas of the 2^nd Cycle of the Integrated Masters in Psychology;
• The ability of reading, presenting and debating research on psychological intervention.

 

Learning outcomes and competences

It is its main goal to promote the construction of conceptual frameworks in the field of social and community psychological intervention, analyzing and questioning current strategies of intervention in personal and contextual systems.

Specifically this subject aims promoting in students:

•  A conception of psychological intervention as psychological professional practice involving a diversity of goals, targets and strategies;
• The mastering of the processes of elaboration, implementation and assessment of community psychological intervention projects, recognizing their importance for the design, legitimacy and efficacy of those projects;
• The ability to thoroughly characterize and examine current strategies of intervention in personal and contextual systems, while taking into consideration its goals, processes of change and differential effectiveness;
•  The ability to put into perspective the usefulness and applicability of such strategies in relation to a variety of problems, populations and intervention contexts, typical of the professional exercise of Psychology;
• The ability of reading, presenting and debating research on psychological intervention.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

The mastering of conceptual frameworks and methodologies of psychological inetrvention.

Program

• 1st Chapter: Developmental, constructivist and ecological model of community, social and preventive psychological counselling and historical contextualization of community psychology.


• 2^nd Chapter: General aspects referring to the elaboration, implementation and assessment of psychological developmental interventions.


•  3rd Chapter: Skills development aiming to deal with life, transitions and developmental tasks. 


• 4th Chapter: Cognitive structures of human action development: the discussion of moral dilemmas and the deliberate psychological education.


• 5th Chapter: Consultancy: consultancy types and process.


• 6^th Chapter: Promotion and development of Social Support Networks. Intervention modalities in social support networks: network therapy, “buddy” therapy, supporting and self-help groups.


• 7^th Chapter: Involvement in change projects of institutional and community life contexts: (a) Research-action (b) advocacy interventions and communities’ empowering.

 

Mandatory literature

Martin Gonzalez Antonio; Psicologia Comunitaria. ISBN: 84-7738-590-4
Menezes, I ; Intervenção comunitária. Uma perspectiva psicológica, LivPsic, 2010
Orford, J. ; Community psychology. Challenges, controversies and emerging consensus, Chichester:, 2008

Teaching methods and learning activities

The methodology of teaching/learning is student-focused, being these responsible for carrying out the activities, previously supervised by the teacher. Such activities will be developed in small groups (limit of 25 students), where attendance is required; tutorial moments of individual support; and moments of independent work.

1. Moments of attendance in small groups (30 students): 2 hours per week. Involving moments (i) focusing the study, presentation and critical analysis of research on projects of preventive, social and community intervention, based on articles published in journals of the speciality; (ii) focusing the conceptualization integration and the process of construction, implementation and assessment of interventions in personal and contextual systems. 

2. Individual tutorial support
The teacher will be available to support students either at the Faculty or by email, in order to prepare the activity to be carried out in point 1 (i): presentation and analysis of intervention projects in groups of 2 or 3 students, as well as for clarifying any doubts about the work being developed independently, individually and while attending classes.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	50,00
Trabalho escrito	50,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

designation	Time (hours)
Elaboração de projeto	15,00
Estudo autónomo	36,00
Frequência das aulas	30,00
Total:	81,00

Eligibility for exams

This kind of assessment is continuous and requires no final exam. Each student must attend 75% of the weekly foreseen presential moments.

Calculation formula of final grade

a) Participation in the weekly classes where attendance (50%)
(i)       Presentation and analysis of the design, implementation and assessment of developmental counselling intervention (35%). 

(iii)    The participation of each student in classes will be evaluated and will account for 15%.

b)     Individual work: when attending classes (50%): This part of evaluation consist of an individual work to be developed while attending classes and in writing, in the last day of classes,

Classification improvement

In this subject there won’t be a process of classification improvement, since it only concerns to continuous assessment with no final exam. Therefore it’s not foreseen any written test in the normal or extraordinary period of exams. However, an opportunity to improve classification in individual  component b) can be authorized in the appeal or extraordinary period of assessment.