Post-Graduate Qualifying Program (Social Work)

The ability to communicate effectively is recognised as an essential skill for those wanting to be successful in their studies, career and personal relationships. This skills-based unit uses a number of practical activities to enable students to achieve these essential skills. Students are given techniques/strategies to: manage speech anxiety; think critically in oral/written communication; understand perception and memory; research, package and deliver logical and persuasive messages; understand cultural and gender differences in oral communication; become effective listeners and work effectively in teams. This unit addresses three main areas: organisational communication; oral communication and written communication through analogies, metaphors and visuals. Approximately 60% of time is devoted to developing effective and persuasive oral skills and 40% to written skills.

Critical analytical skills are essential for problem solving and are valued as graduate attributes. This unit introduces students to different methods of critical thinking through the history of Western thought and philosophy that underline many traditions of modern Western scholarship. Postgraduate students will be prepared for future research by developing skills in reasoning and argument.

This unit is designed to develop the academic communication required to complete tasks such as essay and report writing, formal presentation and participating actively in university lectures, seminars and tutorials. It gives an introduction to effective communications theory in preparation for PQP4100.

Students are provided scaffolded techniques and strategies to think critically in both oral and written communication. Working effectively in both teams and small groups is developed in preparation for university study.

In this unit students are introduced to the population approach to illness and disease prevention. Known also as public health, this approach focuses on improving the health of populations and is multidisciplinary in nature. The history and examples of population health strategies are introduced. The health status of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians is discussed. The various population health professional disciplines and career pathways are identified. Concepts and skills relating to academic integrity, citation of references and English language written communication are also addressed.

This unit examines research and theories of motivation and emotion that address the question of why people behave as they do. A range of motivational explanations of behaviour are examined, and the roles of emotional and cognitive processes are considered. The unit includes applications of motivation theory to areas such as work, education, and sport.

This unit explores cross-cultural understanding through development of lifelong learning principles informed by professional and ethical considerations within health systems. Students will build culturally reflexive awareness by practising critical reflection of health practitioner knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviours and power differentials to establish culturally safe environments for all concerned. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health will be the primary focus of the unit, however, cultural safety and cultural capability will be applied in several additional contexts including the significance of: individualism and collectivism, gender and sexuality, spirituality and religion, and attitudes toward mortality.

This unit examines the influence that other people, rules, customs, and the environment have on our behaviour. A particular emphasis is on applying the findings of social psychology to a wide range of human activities and settings. A social cognition framework will be applied to consider people in social situations.

This unit focuses on the biopsychological and physiological bases of human behaviours, emphasising the influence of psychology on biology. In addition, the unit covers how nervous system structures, functions, and processes allow humans to have sensory and perceptual experiences, emphasising psychophysical methods of investigation.

Epidemiology examines the patterns and causes of disease in human populations. This unit introduces key concepts on how public health research and surveillance is undertaken, evaluated, and used in industry. Students will learn how to source, review, interpret and apply epidemiological literature to support their practice.

Pre-Requisite Units: None

Tuition Pattern: Weekly 3hr Laboratory

Credits: 15

This units deals with the methods and skills or organising, summarising and presenting numerical data. The concepts of estimation and hypothesis testing are studied, with the emphasis on analysing real data. Students will learn to use statistical software packages and be expected to work through the tutorial worksheets.

Pre-Requisite Units: None

Tuition Pattern: Weekly 3hr Laboratory

Credits: 15