Assignment

1.) 500 Words

Generally, abuse is a term used to describe harmful treatment toward a person. This term may include physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, exploitation, and neglect (OHA, 2012). Abuse may occur across the life span. Additionally, cases of abuse may not be unique to one particular race, gender, age, or economic class. As a result, the recognition of abuse might pose as challenging as the treatment. Psychologists may make assumptions about symptoms and patterns of abuse that may lead to errors in assessment and diagnosis.

For this Discussion, select a personal bias pertaining to the topic of abuse. As a future professional in the field, consider how personal biases may influence assessment and diagnosis.

A description of at least two personal biases you might have that may prevent you from accurately assessing and diagnosing cases of abuse and explain why. Finally, explain how you might address your personal bias to reduce errors in diagnosis. Justify your response with use of the Learning Resources and current literature.

2.) 500 Words

Most individuals face challenges in developing their cultural competency. This is often due to a lack of exposure to different cultures and/or groups. There are individuals who have grown up or lived in communities that had little diversity within the population. Many individuals have never had the opportunity to visit another culture and observe the unique traditions and customs. Some individuals have never left the country, state, or even town in which they live. Yet, the world in which psychologists practice is becoming more global, less regionally restricted, and more diverse. Familiarizing yourself with cultures that you may not have previously encountered, but may be highly likely to encounter in the future, is a first step toward becoming culturally competent.

With these thoughts in mind:

A description of a culture or group with which you are unfamiliar. Then, explain challenges you might encounter as you examine your own values, biases, and attitudes about this culture or group. Explain how you see these affecting your ability to work ethically and competently with clients in this culture or group. Be specific and provide examples.

3.) Follow directions 10-12 pages.

As part of your Final Project, you continue your examination of the DSM-5 as you assess and diagnose a fictional character. This character may be one from movies, theater, television, or literature. In Week 2 of the course, you submit your fictional character for instructor review and approval. Your Final Project must demonstrate both breadth and depth of knowledge and critical thinking appropriate to graduate-level scholarship.

Project

(10-12 pages - Not including title page, abstract, and references)

Your Final Project must include the following elements:

I. Introduction

• A description of your client (e.g., this character may be one from movies, theater, television, or literature.)

II. Background Information

• A description of your client's presenting information

• A brief description of additional individuals (family, other professional positions, etc.) you might include as part of your assessment

• An explanation as to why you would include additional individuals in this assessment

III. Diagnosis

• A diagnosis using the DSM-5

IV. Risk and Resilience Factors:

• An explanation of your client's risk and resilience factors.

V. Psychosocial and Family Issues

• An explanation of any psychosocial and/or family issues your client may present.

VI. Career and Vocation

• An explanation of any career or vocational issues your client may be experiencing.

VII. Legal and Ethical Issues

• An explanation regarding any potential legal or ethical issues concerning assessment and diagnosis of your client.

VIII. Continued Assessment

• Provide an explanation whether a continuing assessment is necessary and justify your explanation.

IX. Follow-up Recommendations for Treatment

NOTE: This is NOT a Treatment Plan for a client.

• A description of proposed recommendations for your client based upon assessment and diagnosis.
• A justification for proposed recommendations

4.) 3-4 Pages

As you learned last week, self-assessment is a method commonly used to evaluate one's knowledge, skills, and attitudes on professional competencies. By assessing your knowledge, skills, and attitudes specific to ethical and cultural competency, you are able to identify any personal limitations that may create challenges in your professional practice. As a professional psychology practitioner, it is likely you will encounter individuals from diverse backgrounds. Having a firm understanding of your limitations allows you to develop a plan to improve your ethical and cultural competency.

Explain the importance of ethical and multicultural competency to the practice of professional psychology.

Identify and explain personal limitations you realized as a result of the Quality and Culture Quiz provided in this week's Learning Resources.

Formulate steps you will take to address these limitations to become more ethically and multicultural competent.