Communication Skills and Interviews in Psychology

Code:

LPSI300

Acronym:

TECP

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Methods

Instance: 2024/2025 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Psychology
Course/CS Responsible:	First degree in Psychology

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
LPSIC	185	Official Curricular Structure	3	-	6	54	162

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

The following will constitute the main objectives of this UC:
1. Provide students with practical experiences in realizing key concepts in developmental psychology and communication theories, facilitating the establishment of a relationship with the interviewee;
2. Promote knowledge and reflection on the implications of communication axioms in establishing the relationship with the other and its intentional use;
3. Present communication techniques to establish an empathic and non-evaluative relationship with the interviewee.
4. Share communication techniques that facilitate the self-expression of the child, a teenager or an adult, in the context of an interview.
5. Characterize in the form of preparation and in the conductn process, the different types of interviews.
6. Expose the process of building semi-structured interview scripts.
7. Promote experiences of expanding the skills of conducting individual and group interviews.
8. Enable self-criticism of individual performance in conducting interviews, taking as a background theoretical perspectives about the child's development and the communication process.

Learning outcomes and competences

At the end of this course, students should know/be able to:
1. Master the key concepts of human communication and apply them to conducting psychological interviews.
2. Acquire skills in the use of communication techniques to establish an empathic and non-evaluative relationship with the interviewee.
3. Acquire skills in the use of communication techniques that facilitate the self-expression of the child, an adolescent or an adult, in the context of an interview.
4. Be able to differentiate the characteristics of different types of interviews.
5. Develop semi-structured interview scripts.
6. Obtain skills in conducting individual and group interviews. 7. Show skills to discuss the information collected and the interaction skills used during interactions with throughout an interview, taking as a background theoretical perspectives about the child's development and the communication process.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Mandatory literature

Watzlawick Paul; Pragmática da comunicação humana. ISBN: 85-316-0314-5
Bronfenbrenner Urie 340; Making human beings human. ISBN: 0-7619-2712-3
McConaughy Stephanie H.; Manual for the semistructured clinical interview for children & adolescents. ISBN: 0-938565-72-9
Mucchielli Roger; L.entretien de face a face dans la relation d.aide
Leal Teresa Maria Pinto da Cruz Barreiros; Interacções educativas na família e no jardim de infância
McHenry Bill; What therapists say and why they say it. ISBN: 0-205-48477-8

Teaching methods and learning activities

1. Exhibition method
2. Communication dynamics
3. Construction of interview scripts
4. Role-play of an interview with children, teenagers and adults
5. Training individual and group interviews, in real context
6. Training of distancing strategies in contexts of dyadic interaction with children
7. Large group debate on practical experiences
8. Written records of the impact of the activity and reflection of the experience's contribution to the mastery of theoretical concepts in psychology.
9. Individual written exercises and texts presenting the experience and learning consolidated from it.

keywords

Social sciences > Psychological sciences > Psychology

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

designation	Weight (%)
Trabalho escrito	70,00
Participação presencial	15,00
Trabalho de campo	15,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

designation	Time (hours)
Elaboração de relatório/dissertação/tese	40,00
Estudo autónomo	30,00
Frequência das aulas	54,00
Trabalho de campo	20,00
Trabalho escrito	18,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

Students should attend at least 75% of classes.

Calculation formula of final grade

The final grade (o-20) is based on the following classification elements:
1. Elaboration of a written report (90%) which focuses on (a) conduction of a semi-structured interview with a child or adolescent with the aim of gathering information; (b) implementation of an interaction situation with children (joint reading of a child story book) in order to promote their development; (c) reflection on the work performed + 2. Participation in classroom activities, and individual exercises performed at home (10%).

The final score is obtained by the weighted mean of the marks obtained in the four components of assessment:
- Test with a weighting of 10% by requiring a minimum grade of 10 values;
- Oral with a weighting of 10% by requiring a minimum grade of 10 values;
- Field work with a weighting of 50%, requiring a minimum score to 10 values;
- Written work with a weighting of 30% by requiring a minimum grade of 10 values.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

In cases with work-student status, the presence in the classes are not obley. The students have to do the same works of the other students and also a practice exam. Any situation involving a special assessment should be presented by students and reviewed by professors at the beginning of the semester.

Classification improvement

There are no possibility to make new evaluations, in order to get better classification.