| CODE | FSD3003 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Holistic Interventions for Speech and Language Pathologists: Keeping the Family in Mind | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 2 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Child and Family Studies | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit is intended to help speech language pathology students understand and work with clients’ family systems. Drawing up a holistic care plan for supporting and treating clients involves active engagement with family members as well as giving due consideration to their needs and wishes. Students will be introduced to a conceptual framework for understanding families as well as to current trends in family forms. They will also be introduced to family interviewing techniques. Special emphasis will be given to families with an ill/disabled member, with students being exposed to topics such as: how to break the news about disability/illness to such families, the family’s grief and loss processes, how challenges are dealt with in the family, care burden on family members, and the impact on siblings. Other topics that will be tackled include dealing with referrals and the importance of networking with other professionals involved in the care plan. Study-unit Aims: This study-unit will provide conceptual framework for understanding families, by adopting a systemic and a strengths-based approach. Getting to know more about families through dealing with referrals and networking with the system. Attention will also be given to meeting with the family, where focus will be given to making use of family trees and other interviewing techniques. Moreover, this study-unit aims at exposing the student to the implications on the family having an ill member will be looked into, and ways on how to strengthen their resilience explored. In addition, breaking the news to family when there is a disability is elaborated upon, whilst understanding disbelief, shopping around etc, as well as grief in the family with a focus on loss as it is experienced by parents as well as siblings. Inevitably, this study-unit also touches upon care burden and how challenges are carried and managed in the family, with the impact of illness/disability as seen from a family life cycle perspective. An understanding of changing family forms and their impact on family members, as well as family poverty and its impact on the parents and on the children. The area of conflict and violence in the family and its impact on the family will also be included, as well as the relationship between adolescents and their parents, and managing the different stages of the therapeutic relationship with the family. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Have a broad understanding of multiple dimensions in the family; - Understand better the relationships and dynamics involved around different themes presented in the lectures - Be more aware of their own position and experience with families and clients. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Be more reflective as a future practitioner; - Understand and make use of different tools including questioning techniques and genograms, to help them in their work with future clients and families; - Be more skilled in use of language and intervention when needing to communicate difficult news to families; - Draw from research and theory when working with families; - Elicit presenting complaints beyond the pathology concerned; - Liaise more efficiently with other professionals. Main Text/s: - Contemporary Issues in Family Studies: Global Perspectives on Partnerships, Parenting and Support in a Changing World. Edited by Angela Abela, Janet Walker. Wiley-Blackwell. - An Introduction to Family Therapy: Systemic Theory and Practice (3rd edition). Authors: Rudi Dallos, Ros Draper. Publisher: Open University Press. Supplementary Readings: - Normal Family Processes: Growing Diversity and Complexity (4th edition). Edited by Froma Walsh. Publisher: Guilford. - Understanding Families: A Global Introduction. Authors: Linda McKie and Samantha Callan. Publisher: Sage. - Family Therapy in Changing Times (2nd edition). Author: Gill Gorell Barnes. Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan. - Domestic Violence and Family Safety: A Systemic Approach to Working With Violence in Families. Authors: Jan Cooper and Arlene Vetere. Publisher: Whurr. - Working With Chronic Illness: A Family Approach. Authors: Jenny Altschuler and Barbara Dale. Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan. - Abela, A., Farrugia, R., Galea, M., & Schembri, D. (in press). The relationship between parents and their adolescent children with special reference to consensual and contentious separations. International Journal of the Jurisprudence of the Family, 3. - Abela, A., Galea, M., Farrugia, R., & Schembri, D. (2013). “There are some things you cannot share with your friends...you have to tell your parents”: The confiding relationship between adolescent children and their parents. Manuscript in preparation. - Journal: Family Process. |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | This study-unit is offered to BSc (Hons) in Communication Therapy / Visiting students only. Note: Please note that the topics from this study-unit will be included in the final assessment of PSY3400. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Elaine Schembri Lia |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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