On not jumping ship Mental health teaching in psychology

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On not jumping ship Mental health teaching in
psychology

• Jill Anderson
• John Cromby

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Overview

• Introductions, aims
• The Undergraduate survey
• Discussions
• Feedback and where next?

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Aims

• To present findings from a survey which examined
  mental health teaching within undergraduate
  psychology programmes
• To consider implications for clinical psychology
• To provide information about recent developments
  in mental health education, the interdisciplinary
  mhhe project psychology network mental health
  group

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Why is this important?

• Influences recruitment to clinical psychology
• Gets the right people onto programmes avoids
  the need for unlearning
• Provides a launch pad for Graduate Primary Care
  Mental Health Workers as well as psychology
  graduates who go into other disciplines (nursing,
  law etc.)

• Addresses our ethical responsibilities to
  students who are service users
• Promotes diversity and wider participation
• Informs informal proliferation of psychology into
  everyday life

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Background to the survey

• Mental Health in Higher Education Project
• Scoping accounts
• Intra- as well as inter-disciplinary focus
• Case studies of learning and teaching in
  psychology
• Psychology Network Mini-project funding bid

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SURVEY OVERVIEW

• Methodology
• Response rate
• The Sample
• Mental Health Modules
• Mental Health Teaching

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Methodology

• Questionnaire
• Programme information
• Mental health teaching information
• Information about specific modules
• Postal and online distribution

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Methodology

• Sampling
• Exhaustive web search to identify possible
  relevant teachers
• AHPD distribution list

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Methodology

• Initial postal distribution Sept 2004
• Two email reminders
• One postal reminder
• Final email reminder
• Follow ups to personal contacts

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Response Rate

• Original distribution 457 individuals and
  departments
• 72 total responses gt 65
• 59 of AHPD distribution list

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The Sample

• 61 accredited for GBR
• 56 (86) had a specific MH module
• 51 (91) available each year
• 41 (74) level 3/4
• compulsory for 20 (35)
• Students 15-400, median 90
• Median hours teaching 24

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Mental Health Modules

• Models or frameworks used in teaching
• Cognitive-behavioural 46 (82)
• Psychiatry 46 (82)
• Psychosocial 41 (73)
• Diathesis-stress 39 (69)
• Socio-cultural 37 (66)
• Freudian 33 (59)
• Humanistic 25 (45)
• Family systems theory 18 (32)

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Mental Health Modules

• Models or frameworks used in teaching
• 12 based their modules around a single model
• 7 cognitive-behavioural
• 3 psychiatric
• 2 others

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Mental Health Modules

• Textbooks
• 14 used Davison Neale
• 52 books with abnormal
• in the title
• Vast majority of books based uncritically on DSM

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Mental Health Modules

• Critiques of the medical model
• 42 (75) included some critiques
• 27 (64) mentioned Szasz
• 26 (62) mentioned Laing
• 19 (45) mentioned Bentall
• 11 (26) mentioned Boyle
• 9 (21) mentioned Foucault
• 9 (21) others

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Mental Health Modules

• Use of outside speakers
• 25 (44) use outside speakers
• 23 clinical psychologists
• 5 psychiatrists
• 3 social workers
• 2 service users
• 2 others

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Mental Health Modules

• Could these modules be improved?
• 22 (39) said yes
• 9 too busy to make changes
• Wider range of models
• No undergraduates
• Stronger theoretical base
• Service user involvement

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Mental Health Teaching

• How could mental health teaching in psychology be
  improved?
• 49 more input from service users
• 40 more input from clinical psychology
• 25 more input from counselling
• 26 more input from philosophy
• 21 more input from psychiatry
• 21 more input from sociology
• 15 more input from cognitive science

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Mental Health Teaching

• How could mental health teaching in psychology be
  improved?
• More multi-disciplinary
• Closer links to practice
• Psychoanalysis
• Paid placements for UGs

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Mental Health Teaching

• Barriers to improvement
• Time pressure
• Difficulty of finding/persuading suitably
  qualified staff
• Prejudice and stereotypes
• Overcrowded (BPS) curriculum
• Student resistance to taboo issues
• Difficulty of integrating perspectives/models

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Mental Health Teaching

• General comments
• Better textbooks needed
• What should we call it?
• Too medical
• More practitioner and user input needed

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Summary

• Most psychology degrees address this area
  although it isnt on the BPS curriculum
• Most teaching apparently eclectic although most
  relies on textbooks based on DSM
• Need for input many academic staff feel
  insufficiently qualified/experienced to teach

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Summary

• Development of practitioner links
• More appropriate resources
• Support and guidance to involve service users

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The undergraduate survey

• What are its implications for what/how we teach
  within clinical psychology? (including
  recruitment to clinical psychology teaching)

• What does it suggest that we might offer to/gain
  from colleagues involved in teaching
  undergraduate psychology (and what are the
  barriers to this?)

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Learning and teaching about mental health -
developments

• Follow on from U/G survey
• Psychologist special issue
• Resource list
• BJCP article
• Textbook?
• Psychology network MH group
• mhhe

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mhhe areas of activity

www.mhhe.heacademy.ac.uk
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Where next?