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| Unit name |
Inter-Agency and Inter-Professional Practice |
| Unit code |
SPOLM5104 |
| Credit points |
20 |
| Level of study |
M/7
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52)
|
| Unit director |
Professor. Liz Lloyd |
| Open unit status |
Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department |
School for Policy Studies |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Description including Unit Aims
Inter-professional practice is a topical and controverisal area, currently affecting a range of social care and health related professions. The unit uses five perspectives: organisations and their effect on the professional task, health and social work, domestic viloence, substance misuse, and child and adolescent mental ill-health. The context of the unit is introduced through the teaching on organisations, where students examine how organisational structures and arrangements shape the conceptualisation and implementation of professional practice. The remaining four areas of practice then offer generalisable case studies through which the principles of effective interprofessional working may be examined and evaluated. Key features of these case studies will be the effective organisation of professional practice across the relevant disciplines and agencies, what works with regard to intervention,. and service users' perspectives.
The unit aims:
- To examine the role of organisations as a major determinant of social work practice and service delivery.
- To encourage students to think across professional and organisational boundaries in assessment, case planning and intervention.
- To enable students to develop a critical understanding of the professional, inter-professional, inter-agency and organisational responses to domestic violence, substance misuse, and child and adolescent mental health.
- To enable students critically to apply the concept of health as part of a framework for approaching definitions of need and the development of appropriate organisational and professional responses.
Intended Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of the role of organisations in shaping the content of professional practice, including inter-professional and inter agency practice.
- Analyse critically key theoretical and research perspectives informing our understanding of organisational behaviour, and apply this analysis to teams and organisations in which they may work.
- Demonstrate critical awareness of both the potential and the difficulties associated with inter-professional and inter-agency practice, with particular reference to a key aspect of social work practice.
- Apply critically their knowledge of topics within the unit to their own professional and inter-professional practice.
Teaching Information
Lectures and discussion.
Assessment Information
Assignment (3000 words), demonstrating ability to achieve unit learning outcomes, and in particular to apply their knowledge of inter-agency and inter-professional working to their chosen area of practice.
Reading and References
- Douglas A. (2009), Partnership Working. Abingdon: Routledge.
- Gould N. & Baldwin M.(Eds) 2004. Social Work, Critical Reflection and the Learning Organisation. Aldershot. Ashgate
- Harwin, N., Malos, E. and Hague, G. (eds.) (1999) The Multi-agency Approach to Domestic Violence: New Opportunities, Old Challenges. London: Whiting & Birch.
- Malin, N.; Wilmot, S. and Manthorpe, J. (2002) Key Concepts and Debates in Health and Social Policy, Buckingham, Open University Press.
- Tober G and Raistrick D (2002) ‘Organisation of Services – Putting it all Together’ in T Peterson and A McBride (eds) Working with Substance Misusers London, Routledge
- Wolpert, M., P. Fuggle, et al. (2002). Drawing on the Evidence: Advice for mental health professionals working with children and adolescents. Leicester, The British Psychological Society: 36.
