PSYCH 766 : Special Topic: Occupational Health Psychology

Science

2020 Semester Two (1205) (15 POINTS)

Course Prescription

No prescription

Course Overview

Occupational Health Psychology (OHP) is a growing sub-field of psychology concerned with psychosocial factors related to employee health, safety, and well-being. Interdisciplinary in origin, OHP draws from organizational and health psychology, as well as related disciplines of public health, occupational medicine, industrial hygiene and epidemiology. 
 
This course provides an in-depth treatment of this area, focusing primarily on occupational stress, including coverage of topics such as: job insecurity, work, life, and family, workplace mistreatment, as well as stress interventions. Regardless of your disciplinary focus, this class should be of interest to anyone who has ever experienced (or expects to experience) a stressful work environment! 

This course is a postgraduate-level seminar. As the professor for the course, my role is to facilitate and aid discussion, clarify difficult concepts, and help guide you through OHP. As a postgraduate student, you are expected to be both verbally and mentally involved in every discussion and play an active role in shaping the learning environment for the class. I will actively encourage students to openly express their ideas and perspectives regarding the topics, the theory supporting them, and the empirical research on them. Further, I will actively discourage an environment that is internally competitive and hostile.

The skills developed and the knowledge obtained in the course are particularly useful for those wishing to pursuing a career involving employee health, safety, and well-being (e.g., in Human Resources, Organizational Development). 

Course Requirements

No pre-requisites or restrictions

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 1: Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice
Capability 2: Critical Thinking
Capability 3: Solution Seeking
Capability 4: Communication and Engagement
Capability 5: Independence and Integrity
Capability 6: Social and Environmental Responsibilities

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Describe and explain the topics in the world of OHP (Capability 1)
  2. Obtain the knowledge and skills to think critically and conceptually about OHP, engage in high-level critical debates in the field of OHP, and appreciate different perspectives from cognate disciplines (Capability 2 and 4)
  3. Apply theory, analyses, research, and creative skills to develop evidence-based strategies to solve problems faced by organizations (Capability 2, 3, 4 and 6)
  4. Organise scientific information via thorough investigative research, develop arguments rooted in scientific information, reason logically with reference to appropriate theory, concepts, and scientific evidence, and communicate effectively (Capability 2, 3 and 4)
  5. Work independently with self-discipline and collaboratively with professionalism and work ethic (Capability 5)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Great Debates & Reaction Papers 31% Group & Individual Coursework
Class Discussion Lead 20% Group & Individual Coursework
Discussion Prompts 6% Individual Coursework
Class Participation 5% Individual Coursework
Audit Project 38% Individual Coursework
Assessment Type Learning Outcome Addressed
1 2 3 4 5
Great Debates & Reaction Papers
Class Discussion Lead
Discussion Prompts
Class Participation
Audit Project

Learning Resources

See the reading list on Canvas. 

Special Requirements

None

Workload Expectations

As with all 15-point courses, you are expected to spend 150 hours studying for this course throughout the semester. This includes the 2-hour classroom time per week, totalling 24 hours for the 12 teaching weeks. As such, this leaves you a minimum of 126 hours across the semester for independent study, e.g., preparatory reading and self-study. 

Digital Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

Copyright

The content and delivery of content in this course are protected by copyright. Material belonging to others may have been used in this course and copied by and solely for the educational purposes of the University under license.

You may copy the course content for the purposes of private study or research, but you may not upload onto any third party site, make a further copy or sell, alter or further reproduce or distribute any part of the course content to another person.

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website at http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Student Feedback

During the course Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the staff responsible for the course and staff-student consultative committees.

At the end of the course students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback.

Your feedback helps to improve the course and its delivery for all students.

In the last evaluation, students wrote that they appreciated the helpful, comprehensive feedback they received about their assignments. They also enjoyed live class discussions and summaries. The comments about suggested improvements related to: 1) course workload, which have been significantly decreased this semester, and 2) formative assessment feedback, which will be given early on.  

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter (https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html).

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.

Published on 09/08/2020 11:57 a.m.