Psychology 3315E-001
Addictions: Theory and Research
If there is a discrepancy between the outline posted below and the outline posted on the OWL course website, the latter shall prevail.
1.0 CALENDAR DESCRIPTION
This course introduces students to major topics in the prevention and treatment of various forms of addictive behaviour. The course also involves a structured community service learning component in which students will help addictions-related organizations meet their identified needs. This work will not necessarily involve direct client contact.
Prerequisites: Psychology 2820E or both Psychology 2800E and 2810. Registration is by special permission only and must be obtained from the course instructor in the spring/summer before the course begins in the fall term.
Unless you have either the prerequisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enrol in it, you may be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites.
2 seminar hours, 3 placement hours, 1.0 course (This course has a service learning component)
2.0 COURSE INFORMATION
Instructor: Dr. Riley Hinson
Office and Phone Number: 7308 SSC, 519-661-2111 ext 84649
Office Hours: By appointment
Email: hinson@uwo.ca
Time and Location of Classes: Tuesdays, 2:30-4:30 STVH 3166
Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Mental Health@Western
http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ for a complete list of options about how to obtain help.
Please contact the course instructor if you require material in an alternate format or if you require any other arrangements to make this course more accessible to you. You may also wish to contact Student Accessibility Services (formerly known as Services for Students with Disabilities) at 519-661-2147.
3.0 TEXTBOOK
NO REQUIRED TEXTBOOK
4.0 COURSE OBJECTIVES
The purpose of the course is to provide students exposure to both the scholarly literature and research related to many aspects of addiction. From the placement, students are expected to gain experience as to how some of the ideas and concepts discussed in lecture unfold in settings providing addiction-related services.4.1 STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the course the successful student should be able to:
- Memorize, describe and apply main concepts and principles related to drug use and addiction
- Locate and critically evaluate scholarly material related to real world challenges faced by those with drug use problems and those providing help to such individuals
- Communicate scientific information in oral and written forms that are accessible to those involved real world delivery of addiction services and treatment
- Critique information presented in scientific and popular media related to drug use and drug addiction
- Manage and deliver a project that is of value to a community organization involved in providing services to those with drug addiction, which would involve conceptualization, planning, coordination of efforts, time management
- Engage in reflection about drug users and those who are engaged in helping them to experience personal growth and to be able to more accurately inform others about drug addiction
- Recognize and develop own sense of commitment to civic engagement and social responsibility
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Learning Outcome
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Learning Activities |
How Assessed |
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Knowledge and Understanding |
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1. Depth & Breadth of Knowledge Memorize (M), describe (D) and apply (A) main concepts and principles related to drug use and addiction |
Reading Class discussion Guest lectures Community project |
Oral Presentations of current news Contribution to Class Discussion (DA) Final Report (DA) Final Presentation (DA) |
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Abilities |
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2. Knowledge and Application of Methodologies Locate and critically evaluate scholarly material related to real world challenges faced by those with drug use problems and those providing help to such individuals |
Community project Classroom activity |
Oral/written reports Final Report Contribution to class activity Final class oral presentation |
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3. Communication Skills Communicate scientific information in oral and written forms that are accessible to those involved in real world settings. |
Community project Classroom activity |
As assessed by setting supervisor Contribution to class activity Final Report Final class oral presentation |
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4. Autonomy and Professional Capacity Manage and deliver a project that is of value to a community organization |
Community project |
As assessed by setting supervisor (in consultation with course instructor) |
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Attributes |
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5. Awareness of Limits of Knowledge Engage in reflection about what you have experienced in the community settings |
Community project CEL logs Class presentation on reflection Class discussion |
Instructor evaluation of CEL logs Contribution to class discussions Final report and presentation As assessed by setting supervisor, in consultation with instructor. |
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6. Autonomy and Professional Capacity Recognize and develop own sense of commitment to civic engagement and social responsibility. |
Community project Field trips
Class discussions |
Instructor evaluation of CEL logs. Final report and presentation Post course reflection session
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5.0 EVALUATION
PLEASE NOTE: Because this is an essay course, as per Senate Regulations, you must pass the essay component to pass the course. That is, the average mark for your written assignments must be at least 50%.
This course is exempt from the Senate requirement that students receive assessment of their work accounting for at least 15% of their final grade at least three full days before the date of the deadline for withdrawal from a course without academic penalty.
Your grade will be based on the following:
20 points
Meetings with me to discuss the project. There will be about 5 of these meetings over the course of the year. The content of the meetings will change as the project progress. For example the first meeting will probably involve a detailed outline/plan of what you are doing and how you plan to accomplish the finished project. Where appropriate a preliminary annotated bibliography is expected. A brief overview in either written or power point form may also be required. Subsequent meetings would be more in the form of progress reports. Dates of the meetings and expectations will be discussed in class.
40 points
In-class presentation/discussion of news article related to drugs/drug use/treatment, etc. Each student will make one at some time in the term. These will begin during the first term and continue into the second term. Part of the points for this component will be based on class participation by students not making the presentation during a particular week.
Here is how this works: Each student will find a newspaper article/magazine article/website that presents information relevant to addictions (broadly conceived). A few examples of what students found last year were an article on the decriminalization of all drugs in Portugal, an article on a smart nicotine patch, and an article on a drug prevention program in Iceland. You will send me the URL/link. I will determine if it is appropriate and if so I will post it on OWL. This becomes a target article---you will use it to make a power point presentation that should allow for a total of about 45 minutes of presentation and discussion during class. The article should be viewed as illuminating a “target point” for discussion, in other words the power point presentation will not involve just a presentation of what is in the article (there will, of course, be some of that but we will be able to read the article since it is posted on OWL), rather you will use it to talk about a larger point. For example, the article on decriminalization of drugs in Portugal lead into a discussion of does it really work, what does “it works” mean, could it work in Canada or other countries, what message is sent by decriminalizing drugs, etc. The presenter, submitter, and other students will all then need to be prepared to discuss these during the class. For each student presentation, students will be evaluated as follows:
- The presenter will be evaluated on the quality of the oral presentation, the quality of the power point presentation, and answering of questions and providing discussion. For each presentation, the student presenter will be evaluated on a 15 point scale.
- The remaining 25 of the 40 points will come from evaluation of the student when they are an audience member (i.e., not presenting) and providing comments that will be posted on OWL (a type of forum-like discussion). It works this way---For each presentation, the non-presenting students will also have some responsibilities that will be graded---each non-presenting student will read the articles that will be presented that week as posted on OWL, and each will submit to me comments/ thoughts that each article raised for them. These will be appearing on OWL as they are submitted, and students cannot submit the same comment/thought, so you will have to read what has already submitted and think of something different.
- Submission and quality of question/comment/thought graded from 0-2: 0 if no question/comment/thought submitted or if it is not adequate (I will let you know this and you will be able to submit another one); 1 submitted a question/comment/thought and it was quite acceptable; 2 submitted a question/comment/thought and it clearly reflected a deep consideration of the major points that could be raised by the article
- Actual participation during the in-class presentation graded from 0-2: 0 no active participation; 1 student was engaged in questions/conversation/comments; 2 student asked particularly insightful questions or provided particularly insightful comments and elevated the level of discussion
- Each student will have N-1 (number of students -1) non-presenting graded components, and for each of those components there will be the 2 aspects (comments/questions submitted, and participation during presentation). Currently there are 18 students in the class so let’s see how it works with that number. With 17 non-presenting graded components each student can earn up to 68 total points---17 x 2 for comments/questions and 17 x 2 for participation.
- The maximum number of these 68 points earned by any one student will become the 100% standard (that person will get all 25 of the marks for the non-presenting component). Other students will earn marks based on what proportion of this 100% standard they earned. So, for example, if the max marks earned is 60 (that student would get 25 out of 25), and if some other student earned 54, they would have 54/60=90% of the standard and get 90% of 25=22.5. Remember this is for the 25 marks based on your non-presenting performance. There is still the 15 marks based on your presenting component.
75 points
The write up of the project. There is no specific format since it will vary by project, but it should use APA formatting (where appropriate) and should comprise a scholarly review component and a write up of the project. I will meet with each group during the second term to discuss the format of this written presentation—e.g., will it be like a review paper only, or a journal article, or some other format. Note that this will be a group-based graded component, so each group will have to decide how the responsibilities will be assigned. While no specific number of pages is required write-ups in the past have been between 25-40 pages (excluding references).
75 points
1 hour power point presentation of your project, with community partner in attendance. Evaluation will be based on quality of presentation and answering of questions that arise during the presentation. Note that this will be a group-based graded component, so each group will have to decide how the responsibilities will be assigned. It is possible that different students in a group could get a different grade, e.g., if one student did not seem to be very involved in the oral presentation or did not do as good as job on their component, so think about evenly dividing up the presentation.
40 points
Community partners will give you points to a maximum of 40 based on their evaluation of involvement in the organization, participation, handling of any responsibilities, and conduct of project
40 points
Attendance and participation in activities other than those described above, both in the classroom and outside the classroom.
- This would be based on things like how many of the events/field trips did you attend and actively take part in, or if we have a guest speaker did you contribute to discussion.
- Completion of weekly activity logs (to be described during first class)
- There will be some papers you can write allowing you to earn these points if you cannot attend all the extra activities.
- There will be a Community Service Learning in Psychology Showcase in late March or early April. Each group will prepare a poster (the department covers the cost) and these were presented on poster boards in the UCC foyer. We (3315E, 3317E and potentially other CSL courses) will be involved. In addition to preparing the poster, students from each group should be present to answer questions. Note that this will be a group-based graded component, so each group will have to decide how the responsibilities will be assigned. It is possible that different students in a group could get a different grade, e.g., if one student did not seem to be very involved in the preparation of the poster or did not participate in the actual presentation in the UCC foyer. The date will be near the end of second term and will be determined later.
- Each participation activity will have a point value. If you attend the activity you get that point value. The activities will have different point values based largely on the time commitment of the activity, e.g., a full day field trip would be valued more than a 1 hour local field trip. Some of these participation activities will be when guest speakers come to class. I count that as a participation activity rather than a regular class attendance. Out of respect for the time and effort that guest speakers take to visit the class the expectation is that you will surely come to these talks.
- I do take attendance and the expectation is that you will attend every class. You will lose 1 mark of these 40 for each class that you do not attend. And if there is a guest speaker you will also not get any of the participation marks for that activity.
10 points
End of year reflection. One of the purposes of CEL courses is to encourage the student to reflect on what they have learned about others and themselves as a result of the community engagement. This may be very distinct from any academic knowledge they have gained. I hope you will keep a journal or diary throughout the year about any revelations you may gain during your placement in the community organizations. At the end of the year you will be asked to think back over the year and share these insights. That may be done as a written paper, a collage of images, a video, a poem, a novel, or whatever form you feel best allows you to express yourself. We may try to have a class devoted to this in a type of focus group discussion.
Your course grade will be the percentage of the total of 300 points that you earn.
Although the Psychology Department does not require instructors to adjust their course grades to conform to specific targets, the expectation is that course marks will be distributed around the following averages:
70% 1000-level and 2000-level courses
72% 2190-2990 level courses
75% 3000-level courses
80% 4000-level courses
The Psychology Department follows Western's grading guidelines, which are as follows (see http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/general/grades_undergrad.pdf):
A+ 90-100 One could scarcely expect better from a student at this level
A 80-89 Superior work that is clearly above average
B 70-79 Good work, meeting all requirements, and eminently satisfactory
C 60-69 Competent work, meeting requirements
D 50-59 Fair work, minimally acceptable
F below 50 Fail
6.0 ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION SCHEDULE
There are no tests or examinations
7.0 CLASS SCHEDULE
A 2-hour class meeting is scheduled for each week. The first few classes will involve a discussion of different classes of drugs, some of the important concepts related to drug use, some of the history of the conceptualization of drug addiction and treatment, and DSM-V's approach to drug use disorders. These classes will be more of a lecture format.
After the initial material has been presented, the classes will be more of a seminar format.
The topics will be chosen to be relevant to the projects that you will be doing with the community partners--topics may be harm reduction, gaming among adolescents, supportive housing, after care programs, co-dependency, drug treatment courts. Some topics may also arise as a result of our field trips or guest speakers.
Some of the classes may be replaced by special activities such as field trips, visits to drug treatment organizations, or guest lectures. Some of the field trips and visits to organizations may take place outside of scheduled class meeting times. It is hoped that all students will be able to attend these extra-class activities, and they will be used as part of the participation grade.
Here is a schedule of events. It is tentative. There are a number of activities that are being coordinated between our class and Psychology 3317E. Most of those will occur in October, so the schedule will change. Those coordinated activities will take place during the usual class time since, by design, 3315E and 3317E are scheduled 2:30-4:30 on Tuesday.
Sept. 10: Welcome to class and discussion of projects and class organization during first half of class
time.
Sept. 17: Community Partner Fair---all of the community partners will gather to meet with students. This is where you will have an opportunity to find out more about each community partner and the project we will be doing for them.
Sept. 20: Special Participation Event---Recovery Breakfast 7-9:30, see announcement on homepage
Sept. 24: SPECIAL CLASS: We will join with Dr. Leora’s Swartzman’s Community Psychology CSL course in 20F Westminster Hall (see campus map, a pleasant 15 min walk through the hospital parking lot, across the river), along with personal from the CSL office for a presentation/discussion of ethical and professional issues related to community engaged learning placements. There are special issues that arise when students are placed in settings that have a vulnerable client population, and these will be covered in this presentation.
Oct. 1: What do you know, or think you know, about drugs? We will explore student’s knowledge about drugs, and present some information on the various drugs. We may also discuss the history of the concept of addiction bringing it up the current conceptualization in DSM-V.
Oct. 8: We will discuss how addiction is a bio-psycho-social-(and spiritual) condition. This may involve discussion of Addictive Thinking, Is there an addictive personality, how connectedness and spirituality are involved in addiction.
Oct. 15: In the past we have attended an open AA meeting on the Tuesday evening right after the Thanksgiving Monday. I am working on arranging this again this year. If we have that activity we will not have a class this meeting.
Oct. 22: During this week I will meet individually with each community placement group for the first of meeting to discuss their project (see course outline)—there will be a graded component to the meeting---see evaluation above. There will be no class during the scheduled Tuesday. Appointments will be scheduled from Monday to Thursday of this week.
Oct. 29 Continuing discussion of how addiction is a bio-psycho-social-(and spiritual) condition. May be guest speakers.
Nov. 5: This is the Fall Reading week, so no class
One of the Fridays in November we will be visiting Westover Treatment. That trip will replace the class for that week. The exact date has not been settled, but will probably be either Nov. 15, 22, or 29
Nov. 12 thru Dec. 3---We will be having In The News presentations. There will be 2 per class. This will continue into the next term.
HAVE A NICE DECEMBER BREAK
Schedule for January to end of year will be provided near the end of first term or beginning of second term.
Any of the above is subject to substitution based on having guest speakers or opportunities to visit sites.
8.0 STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC OFFENCES
Students are responsible for understanding the nature and avoiding the occurrence of plagiarism and other scholastic offenses. Plagiarism and cheating are considered very serious offenses because they undermine the integrity of research and education. Actions constituting a scholastic offense are described at the following link: http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf
As of Sept. 1, 2009, the Department of Psychology will take the following steps to detect scholastic offenses. All multiple-choice tests and exams will be checked for similarities in the pattern of responses using reliable software, and records will be made of student seating locations in all tests and exams. All written assignments will be submitted to TurnItIn, a service designed to detect and deter plagiarism by comparing written material to over 5 billion pages of content located on the Internet or in TurnItIn’s databases. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between Western and Turnitin.com http://www.turnitin.com
Possible penalties for a scholastic offense include failure of the assignment, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.
9.0 POLICY ON ACCOMMODATION FOR MEDICAL ILLNESS
Western’s policy on Accommodation for Medical Illness can be found at:
http://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/PolicyPages.cfm?PolicyCategoryID=1&Command=showCategory&SelectedCalendar=Live&ArchiveID=#Page_12
The full policy for consideration for absences can be accessed at: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/Academic_Consideration_for_absences.pdf
Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain accommodation:
http://counselling.ssc.uwo.ca/procedures/medical_accommodation.html
If you experience an extenuating circumstance (e.g., illness, injury) sufficiently significant to temporarily make you unable to meet academic requirements, you may request accommodation through the following routes:
- Submitting a Self-Reported Absence form (for circumstances that are expected to resolve within 48 hours);
- For medical absences, submitting a Student Medical Certificate (SMC) signed by a licensed medical or mental health practitioner in order to be eligible for Academic Consideration;
For non-medical absences, submitting appropriate documentation (e.g., obituary, police report, accident report, court order, etc.) to Academic Counselling in their Faculty of registration in order to be eligible for academic consideration. Students are encouraged to contact their Academic Counselling unit to clarify what documentation is appropriate.
Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain accommodation. The self-reported absence form may NOT be used for absences longer than 48 hours; coursework/tests/exams/etc., worth more than 30% of the final grade; or exams scheduled in the December or April final-exam periods: http://counselling.ssc.uwo.ca/procedures/medical_accommodation.html
Students seeking academic consideration:
- are advised to consider carefully the implications of postponing tests or midterm exams or delaying handing in work;
- are encouraged to make appropriate decisions based on their specific circumstances, recognizing that minor ailments (upset stomach) or upsets (argument with a friend) are not normally an appropriate basis for a self-reported absence;
must communicate with their instructors no later than 24 hours after the end of the period covered by either the self-reported absence or SMC, or immediately upon their return following a documented absence
10.0 OTHER INFORMATION
Office of the Registrar web site: http://registrar.uwo.ca
Student Development Services web site: http://www.sdc.uwo.ca
Please see the Psychology Undergraduate web site for information on the following:
http://psychology.uwo.ca/undergraduate/student_responsibilities/index.html
- Policy on Cheating and Academic Misconduct
- Procedures for Appealing Academic Evaluations
- Policy on Attendance
- Policy Regarding Makeup Exams and Extensions of Deadlines
- Policy for Assignments
- Short Absences
- Extended Absences
- Documentation
- Academic Concerns
- 2019-2020 Calendar References
No electronic devices, including cell phones and smart watches, will be allowed during exams.
Copyright Statement: Lectures and course materials, including power point presentations, outlines, and similar materials, are protected by copyright. You may take notes and make copies of course materials for your own educational use. You may not record lectures, reproduce (or allow others to reproduce), post or distribute lecture notes, wiki material, and other course materials publicly and/or for commercial purposes without the instructor’s written consent.
