Interview Preparation and Discussion

 Course Project Overview

In this course project, you will select a mental disorder of interest and study the theory and practice related to that disorder. You will research the theoretical writings and conduct field research on practice related to the disorder, including an interview with a health professional. 

Based on the information you gather, you will report on the following:

• Description of the selected disorder
• Causative factors of the disorder
• Diagnosis of the disorder
• Treatment of the disorder
• Survey of current research on the disorder
• Comment on culturally bound syndromes, cultural biases, or the interplay between assessment and diagnosis and culture

Course Project Part I—Interview Preparation and Background Research

Select a mental disorder early in the course and begin research using your textbook and the Argosy University online library resources. One of your tasks will be to interview a mental health professional to learn about the practice related to the disorder. By the end of Module 1, you should have selected the mental disorder you want to work on.

In Module 2, you will generate and submit ten interview questions to gather the information you need. You will have the opportunity to share the questions with your peers and gain insights from the questions they post.

In Module 3, you will conduct field research on the practice related to your selected disorder to write a paper. You will interview a mental health professional to learn about the practice related to the disorder. Use your research of scholarly literature to refine the interview questions you developed in Module 2.

In Module 3,  you will research scholarly literature on your selected disorder to submit a research paper in Module 3. Begin researching your selected mental disorder using your textbook and the Argosy University online library resources. Your paper on the disorder will need to include the following:

• Description of the selected disorder (Identify the DSM-IV-TR diagnostic category for the disorder and distinguish between diagnostic and commonly used terminology.)
• Causative factors of the disorder
• Diagnosis of the disorder
• Treatment of the disorder
• Survey of current research on the disorder

Course Project Part II - Practice

Based on the information you gathered, from the interview and literature search you conducted in Module 3, you will develop a paper (due in Module 5) that includes the following:

• Describe the extent and nature of the disorder, such as number of people diagnosed and under treatment, demographics, and other factors of interest.
• Explain how the selected disorder is diagnosed.
• Explain how the selected disorder is treated. Be sure to include all the views on appropriate treatment and comment on diversity of views or dissent.
• Differentiate the diagnosis of this disorder from those of the other disorders within the same diagnostic category.
• Comment on culturally bound syndromes, cultural biases, or the interplay between assessment and diagnosis and culture.

Grading rubric