Skip to main content

Study information

IAPT Applied Clinical Practice

Module titleIAPT Applied Clinical Practice
Module codePYCM085
Academic year2023/4
Credits60
Module staff

(Convenor)

Duration: Term123
Duration: Weeks

6

11

7

Number students taking module (anticipated)

40

Module description

The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Applied Clinical Practice Placement module will prepare you for a clinically active extended placement within an IAPT mental health service, help you reflect on your practice to consolidate clinical skills development and support personal and professional development. During the placement
you will be working as an honorary employee under supervision and therefore your time and the content of the placement provided is managed and led by the service.

To undertake this module, you must have successfully passed all elements of assessment within PYCM067 Engagement and Assessment of Patients with Common Mental Health Problems and PYCM096 Evidence-Based Low-Intensity Treatment for Common Mental Health Problems. This module is non-condonable and has a 100% attendance requirement. Should you miss any hours of placement you must make up this time in the clinical setting and record this in a formalised action plan before the module can be completed. Should you not meet the clinical or academic requirements of this module you will fail the module and so fail the MSci Applied Psychology (Clinical) programme. You will be required to produce a portfolio of evidence demonstrating achievement of the required clinical outcomes during placement that the service manager or supervisor will then ratify, if they agree that you have met them and provided sufficient evidence of doing so.

You must adhere to the BPS Code of Conduct, BPS Social Media Guidelines and service governance requirements, policies and procedures in the placement at all times, including management of risk and confidentiality as well as safeguarding. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are familiar with the requirements of your specific placement area and its policies and procedures. This module cannot be passed if you are not able to complete the module due to misconduct, a fitness to practice issue or due to removal from the placement due to a breach of the employee regulations for the area in which the placement takes place.

Module aims - intentions of the module

In this module you will apply your clinical competency in low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy to work directly with patients experiencing a range of common mental health problems and enhance knowledge of applied practice in IAPT. Pre-placement teaching will prepare you to manage wider challenges associated with working within a mental health setting and the working environment more generally. These include team working, enhancing personal resilience, responding to novel and unfamiliar problems, collaboration (respecting the views and values of others, taking initiative and leading others) and using supervision effectively. Throughout, and at the end of the placement, supported group-based reflective classes will enable you to gain a critical appreciation of ways to adapt your clinical practice to accommodate groups of patients that represent diversity, consider and reflect on challenges such as managing structure (identifying key demands of the task, setting clearly defined goals, responding flexibly to changing priorities) and time management.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

  • 1. Critically reflect on NHS, professional body and service procedures, policies and values
  • 2. Critically reflect on the use of supervision to enhance professional and personal development
  • 3. Critically reflect on power issues in professional/patient relationships and apply these to clinical and professional practice
  • 4. Demonstrate knowledge of, and commitment to a non-discriminatory, recovery-orientated values base to mental health care and to equal opportunities for all and encourage people’s active participation in every aspect of care and treatment
  • 5. Critically evaluate theoretical ideas, research evidence and ethical codes of conduct to the treatment and support of patients

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

  • 6. Apply the NHS constitution, professional body, service procedures, policies, values and placement regulations to inform placement practice
  • 7. Effectively manage a case load of patients with common mental health problems efficiently and safely whilst ensuring prompt and efficient access to care for patients on the worker’s case load including referral to step up and signposted services
  • 8. Demonstrate clinical competency working with patients, including those representing diversity
  • 9. Operate within your own level of competence and boundaries of competence and role knowing where to seek support if personal competency recognised as being insufficient
  • 10. Effectively engage with case management and clinical skills supervision to enhance clinical competency and support on-going personal development

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

  • 11. Operate effectively as part of a team
  • 12. Critically reflect on personal practice, set personal learning goals and evaluate progress
  • 13. Apply skills to enhance personal resilience
  • 14. Critically reflect on personal practice, set personal learning goals and evaluate progress

Syllabus plan

The content, module-specific learning objectives, style of delivery and assessment for this module will support placement engagement and enable you to develop your clinical competency and support on-going personal and professional development. This module will therefore begin before the placement and support clinical, personal and professional reflection throughput the placement. Content will therefore focus on the knowledge and skills necessary to prepare for the placement with reflective practice supported during and at the end of the placement to consolidate and enhance clinical, personal and professional development. University directed learning will be set throughout the placement to support personal reflection and on-going development.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching ActivitiesGuided independent studyPlacement / study abroad
90126384

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

CategoryHours of study timeDescription
Scheduled learning and teaching40Lectures and seminars
Scheduled learning and teaching20Fortnightly clinical supervision during placement
Scheduled learning and teaching30Tutorials will take the form of small group sessions led by the tutor focussed upon personal and professional development and to support completion of assessments.
Guided independent study40Engagement with directed role-play activity to refine and continue to develop clinical competency
Guided independent study30Reading and preparation for seminars
Guided independent study30Reading and preparation for clinical planning scenario presentation and reflective commentary
Guided independent study26Reading and preparation for practice and patient work
Placement38419 weeks of placement in total, of which a minimum 80 hours of clinical contact must be accumulated

Formative assessment

Form of assessmentSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Personal and professional development portfolio500 wordsAllOral

Summative assessment (% of credit)

CourseworkWritten examsPractical exams
10000

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment% of creditSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Case study of a patient assessed and/or treated during placement and use of supervision to support working with that case (failure in this assessment will lead to failure in the module and the programme)755000 words2-6, 8-9Written and oral
Log of clinical contacts and hours within the placement setting (this is an assessment of clinical competency and is Pass/Fail only; failure in this assessment will lead to failure in the module and the programme)0Log of clinical contacts7-8Written and oral
Log of supervision hours within the module (this is an assessment of clinical competency and is Pass/Fail only; failure in this assessment will lead to failure in the module and the programme)0Log of supervision hours7, 9-10Written and oral
Placement outcomes document signed off by the service for service-based practical competencies 0No word limit1, 4, 6-11Not applicable
Enhanced clinical outcomes document253000 words1-4, 6-14Written and oral
0

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessmentForm of re-assessmentILOs re-assessedTimescale for re-assessment
Case studyCase study2-6, 8-9Four weeks from the date that feedback was provided
Log of clinical contactsLog of clinical contacts7-8Four weeks from the date that feedback was provided
Log of supervision hoursLog of supervision hours7, 9-10To be individually determined with services
Placement outcomes documentPlacement outcomes document1, 4, 6-11See re-assessment notes
Enhanced Clinical Outcomes DocumentEnhanced Clinical Outcomes Document1-4, 6-14Four weeks from the date that feedback was provided

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to resit the failed assessment. The module mark given for re-assessment as a result of referral will be capped at 50%.

If a placement outcome is not achieved, a three-way action plan will be initiated to allow a further limited period of time for the outcome to be achieved. If the outcome is not achieved within the date agreed in the action plan you will fail the assessment and this will result in a fail overall on the module and on the award of the MSci Applied Psychology (Clinical) programme.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

  • Bennett-Levy, J., Richards, D., Farrand, P. et al (2010). Oxford Guide to Low Intensity CBT Interventions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Department of Health (2015). The NHS Constitution: The NHS Belongs to Us All. London: Department of Health. 
  • Farrand, P. (2020). Low-Intensity CBT Skills and Interventions. London: SAGE.
  • Haarhoff, B. & Thwaites, R. (2014). Reflection in CBT. London: Sage Publications.
  • Hughes, J. & Youngson, S. (2009). Personal Development and Clinical Psychology. Chichester: Wiley.
  • National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (2018). The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Manual. Retrieved online from: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/iapt-manual-v4.pdf
  • Richards, D. & Whyte, M. (2011). Reach Out: National Programme Student Materials to Support the Delivery of Training for Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners Delivering Low Intensity Interventions. Rethink. Department of Health: London.

Key words search

Supervision, professional practice, placement, competency development, personal and professional development

Credit value60
Module ECTS

30

Module pre-requisites

PYCM067 Engagement and Assessment of Patients with Common Mental Health Problems and PYCM096 Evidence-Based Low-Intensity Treatment for Common Mental Health Problems

Module co-requisites

PYCM069 Values, Diversity and Context

NQF level (module)

7

Available as distance learning?

No

Origin date

20/09/2015

Last revision date

09/10/2020