School of Arts and Humanities PSYC590 Course Title: Contemporary Issues in Psychology 3 Graduate Credit Hours 8 Weeks Prerequisites: None

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1 School of Arts and Humanities PSYC590 Course Title: Contemporary Issues in Psychology 3 Graduate Credit Hours 8 Weeks Prerequisites: None Table of Contents Instructor Information Course Description Course Scope Course Objectives Course Delivery Method Course Materials Evaluation Procedures Grading Scale Course Outline Policies Academic Services Selected Bibliography Instructor Information Course Description (Catalog) This course requires students to critically and creatively examine psychological topics that are currently relevant in the field of psychology within contemporary society. Some of the topics covered include: media influence and how the discipline of psychology is represented through media; the application of technology in treatment (e.g. online counseling), new issues in childhood/adolescence, the increasing incidence of specific disorders (i.e., autism spectrum disorders), and teen issues (e.g., eating disorders, pregnancy, self-injury), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and war and the emerging psychological needs of today s military. Course Scope This course is an advance survey of topics of contemporary interest in the study and practice of psychology.

2 Course Objectives Students completing this course will: 1. Examine the role of psychology in politics and how government policy shapes the practice of psychology 2. Evaluate how societies and social events impact individual functioning, and how individual functioning impacts larger social events and societies 3. Articulate how the field of psychology has been impacted by changes in technology and popular media 4. Examine the etiologies behind the increase in children and adolescents being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders 5. Analyze current issues in childhood development (e.g., teen pregnancy, drug use, selfinjury, etc.) during this period of life 6. Demonstrate APA style mastery and writing skills appropriate for graduate level work Course Delivery Method This 8-week graduate course delivered via distance learning will enable students to complete academic work completely online. Course materials and access to an online learning management system will be made available to each student. Online assignments include interactive dialogs accomplished in groups through threaded discussion forums and other writing assignments completed and graded individually. Text and Course Materials There is no required text for this course. Scholarly articles and other academic resources are provided in the classroom. Evaluation Procedures GENERAL ASSIGNMENT EXPECTATIONS: It is expected that graduate students will exhibit advanced level critical thinking; the ability to synthesize multiple sources of information, writing skills and academic integrity in all course activities. With the exception of discussion forum posts, assignment submissions completed in a narrative essay or composition format may not be written in first or second person ( I or you ). All writing must follow the citation and reference style established by APA the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6 th ed. (2009, Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association), in size 12 Times New Roman or Arial font, double-spaced with 1 margins on all sides of the page and include a cover page with the following centered vertically and horizontally: Student Name, Date of Submission, Assignment Title, Course Name and Professor Name. With the rare exception of briefly quoting specific statistical research

3 findings, in which case the publication s author and year date of publication must be properly cited with quoted material placed inside quotation marks, all paper content MUST be paraphrased (summarized in the student s own words) with correct source citations properly formatted in APA style. ANY copying of any kind and/or failure to include source citations in the paper body and in the assignment s attached References page will result in an assignment score of zero with any repeat instances causing a failing course grade. The website is an excellent, easy to understand resource for APA style formatting and source citation. Unless otherwise instructed, students may not use commercial websites as the basis for completion of any assignments. Encyclopedia websites, such as Wikipedia or Encarta, dictionaries, blogs or opinion slanted news media outlets, and commercial Internet sources such as Web MD or About.com may not be used for any writing assignment. Scholarly, peerreviewed journals from the APUS Online Library must be used for assignment completion. TIMELY SUBMISSION OF ASSIGNMENTS Students are expected to submit classroom assignments by the posted due date and to complete the course according to the published class schedule. As adults, students, and working professionals, they must manage competing time demands. Should a student need additional time to complete an assignment he or she must contact his or her professor before the due date so the situation can be reviewed and a resolution determined. Not all delayed assignment request will be approved; cruises and planned leisure trips to areas without Internet access are examples of requests that will be declined with the rationale being that graduate students should not enroll in courses in which they expect to not be in attendance for the full term. Work may not be completed early to accommodate anticipated absences later in the term. The University has an extension system and a set of policies (see links on the left classroom screen blue menu column) for managing unavoidable course work extension needs. Routine submission of late assignments will result in points deducted from the final course grade. COURSE ASSIGNMENTS DISCUSSION FORUMS Six forum dialogs with classmates will be based on engagement with assigned course readings and/or related multi-media and will take place in the online classroom on designated discussion boards. A set of instructions for each dialog will be posted on its respective board by the professor. While designed to promote lively discourse within a community of fellow learners, the dialogs are academic in nature and require a scholarly orientation, with students supporting their perspectives with source citations both in the post body and references at the end formatted in APA style (Note: Some APA requirements, such as indentation and italics, may not be supported by the Educator courseware; penalties will not be assigned in these specific cases). Reply posts are required in order to ensure board interaction. ASSIGNED AND TOPIC OF CHOICE ESSAYS:

4 The course covers cutting edge topics that require critical thinking skills, and therefore the course assignments are designed for you to apply those skills. Two assigned topic essay papers and two topic of choice essay papers, each three- to four-pages in length not including cover and Reference paper will be completed during the course 8 weeks. The assigned topic essay papers are expansions on topics addressed during forum discussion dialogs. LITERATURE REVIEW PAPER: Due Week 8 Students will submit an 8 10 page (not including the cover or References pages) length paper summarizing 6 8 evidence based (meaning reports of findings arising from experimental research conducted by the article author[s] and not opinion articles or publications summarizing multiple research studies), peer-reviewed articles retrieved from the APUS online library and focused on a single topic relevant to the course. These summaries must not be merely one summary after another with no meaningful connections between them, but rather the paper should integrate and demonstrate clearly how the summaries are logically related to one another in a coherent and well-articulated literature review. The paper will end with a minimum of two paragraphs summarizing points made and articulating suggestions for future research directions arising from the article reviews. This assignment submission will be evaluated based on: The degree to which the article summaries are truly integrated and logically related; arbitrary statements of This is related to that without supporting evidence of an actual connection will result in a significant point deduction. Evidence of academically mature insight and use critical thinking skills in analyzing and relating the articles to each other and making suggestions for future research directions. Clear and thorough articulation of the paper s key points. Compliance with APA paper formatting standards. Minimal to no grammar, spelling or basic writing errors An Annotated Bibliography which includes an APA formatted listing of articles to be used for the paper with an accompanying brief description of what each covers (to be written in the student s own words copying or paraphrasing the article abstract is not permitted) is due by the end of Week 4 of the course. The annotated bibliography worth 50 possible points and is part of the total Literature Review Paper points possible. If it is not submitted by the end of Week 4, 50 points will be deducted prior to any other grading of the paper. Possible paper topics: Psychology and the judicial system Childhood and adolescent mental disorders and treatment effectiveness Cultural competency Needs of military personnel and psychological impact of war How the media has changed public opinion about therapists Mental health impact of social media and other technology

5 * Others may be suggested by the student and approved by the course instructor Course Requirements Points Percent Discussion Forums x % Assigned Brief Essays x % Contemporary Issues of Choice x % Course Paper w/annotated Bibliography % TOTAL % Grading Scale: See the link for the APUS grading scale.

6 Course Schedule Outline Week 1 Psychology and the Media Characterize negative consequences associated with psychology and psychotherapy being misrepresented in popular media (e.g., news and entertainment television, movies, etc.) Characterize positive aspects of information related to psychology and psychotherapy, including the self-help genre, being available to the public via media outlets (e.g., television, print, radio, Internet, etc.) Week 1 Discussion Forum Week 2 Psychology and the Criminal Justice System Appraise the role of psychologists play in the criminal justice system Review landmark criminal cases in which psychologists have been expert witnesses Week 2 Discussion Forum Assigned Topic Essay Paper 1 Week 3 Psychology & the Military Assess the psychological needs of military personnel across history Evaluate the impact of resiliency on the development of mental illness in veterans Characterize the stress response and how it affects decision-making in the field Characterize factors leading to the development of mental illness in veterans and efficacy of current treatment models

7 Week 3 Discussion Forum Week 4 Psychology and Online Technology Explore uses of technology in the delivery of clinical treatment Investigate pros and cons of online counseling No discussion this week Annotated Bibliography for Literature Review Paper Week 5 Psychology and the Treatment of Childhood and Adolescent Mental Disorders Compare significant psychological issues specific to the periods of childhood and adolescence Delineate possible causes for common mental illnesses that occur during childhood and adolescence (e.g., eating disorders, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, ADHD, etc.) Evaluate current treatment approaches applied to the autism spectrum disorders Investigate the controversy surrounding the medication of children and adolescents Week 5 Discussion Forum Essay Topic of Choice Paper 1 Week 6 Psychology and Unconventional Treatments Examine the controversies surrounding the use of unconventional treatments for mental health disorders Evaluate the pros and cons of academic credential, training and licensure restrictions on clinical practitioners

8 Assigned Topic Essay Paper 2 Week 7 Diversity Examine the concept of cultural competency in education and clinical practice Identify areas of needed growth in cultural sensitivity Week 7 Discussion Forum Essay Topic of Choice Paper 2 Week 8 Psychology and the Internet Research social networking sites (i.e., MySpace and Facebook) and their impact on interpersonal relationships Compare electronic addiction with alcoholism and other types of addictions. Week 8 Discussion Forum Contemporary Topic in Psychology Literature Review Paper Academic Services ONLINE LIBRARY RESEARCH CENTER & LEARNING RESOURCES The Online Library Resource Center is available to enrolled students and faculty from inside the electronic campus. This is your starting point for access to online books, subscription periodicals, and Web resources that are designed to support your classes and generally not available through search engines on the open Web. In addition, the Center provides access to special learning resources, which the University has contracted to assist with your studies. Questions can be directed to orc@apus.edu.

9 Charles Town Library and Inter Library Loan: The University maintains a special library with a limited number of supporting volumes, collection of our professors publication, and services to search and borrow research books and articles from other libraries. Electronic Books: You can use the online library to uncover and download over 50,000 titles, which have been scanned and made available in electronic format. Electronic Journals: The University provides access to over 12,000 journals, which are available in electronic form and only through limited subscription services. Tunitin: Turnitin.com is a tool to improve student research skills that also detect plagiarism. Turnitin.com provides resources on developing topics and assignments that encourage and guide students in producing papers that are intellectually honest, original in thought, and clear in expression. This tool helps ensure a culture of adherence to the University's standards for intellectual honesty. Turnitin.com also reviews students' papers for matches with Internet materials and with thousands of student papers in its database, and returns an Originality Report to instructors and/or students. Selected Bibliography American Psychological Association. (2002, August). Guidelines on multicultural education, training, research, practice, and organizational change for psychologists. Washington, DC: Author. APA Practice Organization. (2008). Clinical conversation on treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) related to military combat. PracticeUpdate. Washington, DC: Author. Azar, B. (1998). The development of tools for earlier diagnosis of autism is moving quickly. Monitor on Psychology, 29(11), Burgess, A. F., & Gutstein, S. E. (2007). Quality of life for people with Autism: Raising the standard for evaluating successful outcomes. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 12(2), Dingfelder, S. F. (2005, October). Autism s smoking gun? Monitor on Psychology, 36(9), 52. Farrell, L. J., & Barrett, P. M. (2007). Prevention of childhood emotional disorders: Reducing the burden of suffering associated with anxiety and depression. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 12(2), Gold, J. I., Taft, C. T., Keehn, M. G., King, D. W., King, L. A., & Samper, R. E. (2007). PTSD symptom severity and family adjustment among female Vietnam veterans. Military Psychology, 19(2),

10 Landsheer, J. A., Oud, J. H. L., & van Dijkum, C. (2008). Male and female development of delinquency during adolescence and early adulthood: A differential authoregressive model of delinquency using an overlapping cohort design. Adolescence, 43, Moosa, F., & Lohawala, A. (2007). ADHD Do guidelines translate into service? Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 12(2), Munsey, C. (2007, September). Serving those who serve: Transforming military mental health. Monitor on Psychology, 38(8), 38. Munsey, C. (2008, April). The military s growing mental health needs. Monitor on Psychology, 39(4), 16. Munsey, C. (2008, June). Why do we vote? Monitor on Psychology, 39(6), Price, M. (2008, June). Building a better ballot. Monitor on Psychology, 39(6), Searcy, Y. D. (2007). Placing the horse in front of the wagon: Toward a conceptual understanding of the development of self-esteem in children and adolescents. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 24(2), Skitka, L. J., & Bauman, C. W. (2008). Moral conviction and political engagement. Political Psychology, 29(1), Slothuus, R. (2008). More than weighting cognitive importance: A dual-process model of issue framing effects. Political Psychology, 29(1), Subrahmanyam, K., & Lin, G. (2007). Adolescents on the net: Internet use and well-being. Adolescence, 42,