Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum, be certain to have read all the required resources for this week.

The collaborative practice of clinicians across disciplines requires a shared language, appreciation of diagnostic and therapeutic paradigms, and recognition of appropriate roles within the health care team.  This collaborative environment is at the heart of a health care system that utilizes the skills and expertise of all its team members in appropriate and extended roles. This model of care delivery is often called integrated care (IC) or collaborative care (CC). Although this model is endorsed by many professional societies and agencies, the CC/IC care delivery model can fail due to multiple factors.

In your initial post, consider the clinical partnerships that result within the CC/IC delivery model. Integrating concepts developed from different content domains in psychology, address the following questions.

• How might health care teams achieve therapeutic goals for individual clients?
• How does this support health literacy?
• What factors might lead to the failure of the CC/IC delivery model?
• How might lack of acceptance of the value or viability of the CC/IC model by stakeholders, lack of awareness of the clinical competencies of various members of the team, barriers to financial reimbursement for services, and lack of integration of support services within the practice cause a breakdown in efficacy?
• What supportive interventions within the CC/IC model address such issues?

In addition, consider how successful health care models assume an understanding of each profession’s competencies and responsibilities. For example, primary care providers (PCPs) are sometimes unaware of the abilities and practice scope of psychology professionals.

• Identify methods of targeted intervention and education for PCPs that might alleviate potential issues for the CC/IC model.
• Explain how the APA Ethical Code of Conduct can be used to guide decisions in these complex situations.
• Evaluate and comment on the potential work settings where you might find the CC/IC model. In what ways might this model provide more job satisfaction?ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

  Discussion Questions (DQ)

  • Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
  • Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
  • One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
  • I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

  Weekly Participation

  • Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
  • In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
  • Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
  • Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

  APA Format and Writing Quality

  • Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
  • Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
  • I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

  Use of Direct Quotes

  • I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
  • As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
  • It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

   

  LopesWrite Policy

  • For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
  • Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
  • Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
  • Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

  Late Policy

  • The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
  • Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
  • If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
  • I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
  • As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

  Communication

  • Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
    • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
    • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

  Focus On Integrative & Collaborative Cares