Coun 6626 Week 5 assignment

Coun 6626 Week 5 assignment

 

Final Project Part 1: Applying Research to a Case Study

As you learned in Week 1, for the Final Project, you will research one counseling intervention in relation to an identified mental health issue and apply your findings to a case study. This week, there are a number of decisions for you to make to solidify your project. You will complete Part I of the Final Project Worksheet.  The first step is to choose the case study that you plan to utilize in your project. You will notice that some case studies include more than one potential client. For example, in the case of Jim, the 14 year old adolescent, you may opt to focus on the family or the teen. After you identify the case and choose the client, identify one presenting problem or mental health issue for counseling focus. 

Now, put your counselor hat on. You have an identified client and a presenting problem. Where do you go from here? As a counselor, you have an ethical responsibility to provide competent practice. There is an expectation that you will utilize interventions that are supported with empirical research.  So, your next step is to identify an intervention that you would like to use with your client.  For your project, you will investigate current counseling research related to the intervention in order to make an informed decision about evidence based practice. To launch your research, you will formulate a research question to guide your investigation.

To Prepare

• Review the Final Project Worksheet Part 1 media program found in the Learning Resources for this week
• Review the Final Project Case Studies found in the Learning Resources for this week and choose one of the four case studies to use for your Final Project. School counselors should choose Case 1 or 2.
• Consider the case study and identify your client and the mental health issue you will focus on
• Choose one intervention that you would like to further investigate for possible use with the client
• Review the Final Project Worksheet Template found in the Learning Resources and use this template for this Part 1 Assignment.

Final Project Assignment

Complete Final Project Part 1 of the Final Project Worksheet.

Final Project Part 1:

 

 Applying Research to a Case Study

Program Transcript

LAURA HADDOCK: Greetings students. It's time to complete part one, of your

final project development. So, during week 5, you are charged with identifying

which case study, you're going to use for your final project. You have 4 to choose

from. You have a variety of issues, a variety of ages, a number of mental health

issues that come up, among and between the case studies, and you are

welcome to choose any one that you would like to focus on.

You are also welcome to choose any of the participants, within the case study to

focus your attention on. You need to choose one case study, and identify one

client, a specified client. It may not be one person, but one client, your client

might be a couple, or might be a family.

Next, you need to decide which one of the behavioral issues, or presenting

problems you're going to focus on, and you will have to specify exactly what

you're digging into. So for example, a male who's referred to counseling by his

girlfriend is suffering from a variety of things, following a combat experience. So

you may want to focus on his trauma, or you may want to focus more specifically

on something else. And you can choose that, but you'll need to identify exactly

what the presenting problem is, exactly what the mental health issue diagnosis

disorder is, that you're focusing on.

And finally, you have to choose one clinical intervention to look at for potential

treatment, with your case study. Now if you look at the worksheet for completing

the week five assignment, you complete part 1 of the final project worksheet.

There are a number of items within part 1, including determining the case study,

identifying the client a focus, describing the presenting problem in which mental

health disorder you're going to focus on, and naming the intervention.

One of the most important parts of the assignment, is that you need to develop a

research question. Remember your researching and intervention, to apply to a

case study about a specific client, , with a particular presenting problem. So,

you'll need to articulate the research question that you want to investigate, in

your final project. Let's say that we are going to speak to the example that I gave

earlier, of the combat veteran.

Let's say that you are going to focus on his trauma symptoms, for his exposure to

combat. You might choose exposure therapy, for the intervention that you might

be interested in. So using the guide, you would insert each of your elements into

the following question. Is blank, effective for treating blank, diagnosed with

blank? So, let's just fill in is exposure therapy, effective for treating combat

veterans, diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder?

© 2017 Laureate Education, Inc. 1

 

Final Project Part 1: Applying Research to a Case Study

Once you articulate your question, you'll get feedback from your faculty member

to help you solidify it. Keep in mind that you don't want to choose something

that's so narrow, that you won't be able to find articles, to complete your project.

You've got to have at least 3 articles, and they're going to need to be of more

than one type of methodology. So, when you're doing your work, to get ready to

complete this section, you want to make sure you go into the literature, and do

some searches to make sure you can find articles, that are current, and are in

peer reviewed journals to support your work.

 

 

 

 

Final Project Worksheet

DIRECTIONS:  As you proceed through this Final Project Worksheet, please carefully attend to each of the bullets within each section.  Remember to include your specialization below. 

If you are a CMHC student or a MCFC student you may select any of the case studies and the client(s) you are interested in working with. 

If you are a School Counseling student, there are two case studies that address students in the school environment.  Please choose either Case Study 1 or Case Study 2.    

Be sure to choose one that you are passionate about and that will help inform your future work as a counselor!

Please identify your specialization by placing a “X” in the appropriate space:

CMHC _________

MCFC__________

SC_____________

 

PART 1:  APPLYING RSEARCH TO A CASE STUDY

Please identify which case study you will use by placing a “X” in the appropriate space:

Case Study 1 _____    Case Study 2 _____ Case Study 3 _____    Case Study 4 _____

 

Identify the client of focus by providing some basic information (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity, grade level, etc.):

 

Describe the presenting problem and the mental health concern you will address in your work with the identified client or student: 

 

Name the counseling intervention(s) that you will investigate for use with this client: 

 

 

 

 

Articulating the research question.  Research questions follow a specific formula. Here is some information to help you in designing your research question below.    

Here is an example of a research question:  Is art therapy effective to improve communication in elderly people with dementia? 

The format is as follows:  Is (name of intervention) effective for treating (name the population or category of your client) diagnosed with (mental health issue)?

 

Include your Research Question here using the suggested format from above: 

 

 

 

PART 2:  APPLYING RESEARCH TO A CASE STUDY

Using the Walden Library, search the professional counseling databases to identify current, peer-reviewed research articles which investigate the intervention and mental health disorder you have chosen to research. List three article citations (in APA format with links to the articles) that you have identified for use in your Final Project. Each article should adhere to the following guidelines:

• Use only peer-reviewed article published in the last 10 years.
• Include at least one quantitative and one qualitative research design.
• Do NOT use a meta-analysis type article.  Meta-analysis articles include results by combining and analyzing data from different studies conducted on similar research topics.  These are not helpful for purposes of this assignment.
• Include the permalink for each article. See the Week 5 resources for a handout on how to do this!

 

ARTICLE 1

Citation:

 

Permalink:

 

Please identify your which type of journal article by placing a “X” in the appropriate space:

Quantitative _________

Qualitative __________

Mixed Methods_________

ARTICLE 2

Citation:

 

Permalink:

 

Please identify your which type of journal article by placing a “X” in the appropriate space:

Quantitative _________

Qualitative __________

Mixed Methods_________

ARTICLE 3

Citation:

 

Permalink:

 

Please identify your which type of journal article by placing a “X” in the appropriate

Quantitative _________

Qualitative __________

Mixed Methods_________

 

 

 

 

PART 3: APPLYING RESEARCH TO A CASE STUDY (Evidence-Based Practice)

Using the following information as a guide, develop a polished APA formatted paper for the final project.  A template is provided for the final project. You will submit the worksheet for Part 1 and Part 2.  You will analyze three scholarly articles and apply the findings to your case study. 

Annotated Bibliography

Write a brief introduction that identifies which case study, client, and mental health disorder you chose for your project. Identify the intervention you are investigating for use in evidence-based practice. For School Counseling students, identify the school-based intervention strategy you are investigating for use in evidence-based practice.

Research Question:

Insert your approved research question.

Search Strategy:

Describe the Boolean search strategies and key words you used to conduct your search. Be specific in reporting how you conducted your research.

Annotations

Article 1.

APA Article citation

Permalink

Write one or two substantive paragraphs and provide an overview of the article in your own words. Make sure to include the following elements:

            Problem/Purpose

            Research Question

Ethical and Cultural Considerations

Sampling

Methodology

Data/Analysis/Study Outcomes

Strengths and Limitations

Article 2.

APA Article citation

Permalink

Write one or two substantive paragraphs and provide an overview of the article. Make sure to include the following elements:

            Problem/Purpose

            Research Question

Ethical and Cultural Considerations

Sampling

Methodology

Data/Analysis/Study Outcomes

Strengths and Limitations

Article 3.

APA Article citation

Permalink

Write one or two substantive paragraphs and provide an overview of the article. Make sure to include the following elements:

            Problem/Purpose

            Research Question

Ethical and Cultural Considerations

Sampling

Methodology

Data/Analysis/Study Outcomes

Strengths and Limitations

Evidence-Based Practice

In this section, give an overall summary of the findings for all three articles you analyzed. Describe the general outcomes of what the studies found in terms of how well the intervention worked with the population you selected, and how well the intervention addressed the counseling issue or disorder you were exploring. Answer your research question. If the topics/populations in your articles were related but do not match your research question, explain how you drew your conclusions to answer the research question. Describe how this information applies to the client in your chosen case study. Give one specific example of a counseling application of the intervention using a scenario that includes your identified client from the case study.

Treatment Goals (CMHC, MCFC Only)

With consideration for the presenting problem of the client and your chosen intervention, write one preliminary treatment goal for your client.

                                                            Action Plan (SC Only)

With consideration for the mental health issue of the client, create an Action Plan of next steps a School Counselor could take once the issues are identified.  Discuss three different actions to help the client as applied to the role of a school counselor.

Implementation strategies are critical to effectively address the needs of our students.  Discuss the Mindset Standard(s) and Behavior Standard(s) students will demonstrate through classroom lessons, activities and/or individual/small group counseling. Please see https://www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/home/MindsetsBehaviors.pdf

Managing data is key.  Consider how such competencies would be measured to assess student progress. 

References

Cite all resources and use proper APA format.

Magic, M. (2017). Fascinating course resource that helps transform my opinions into scholarly

            content. Journal for Brilliant Graduate Students, 98(12), 56–66.