Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Dual Diagnosis Co-morbidity and Society

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
NURS2172	Bundoora Campus	Undergraduate	150H Health Sciences	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2014, Sem 2 2015, Sem 2 2016
NURS2172	Bundoora Campus	Undergraduate	173H School of Health and Biomed	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2018, Sem 2 2020, Sem 2 2021, Sem 2 2022, Sem 2 2023, Sem 2 2024
NURS2172	Bundoora Campus	Undergraduate	173H School of Health and Biomed	Internet	Sem 2 2019

Course Coordinator: Dr Sinead Barry

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925

Course Coordinator Email: sinead.barry@rmit.edu.au

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

None

Course Description

This course will examine definitions of dual diagnosis and the co-occurrence of mental illness with problematic patterns of behaviour. It will consider how drugs, homelessness, poverty and illness have impacted on mental health in the past and present. You will learn about the history of mental illness, drug use in various cultures and the impact of colonisation and globalisation on human wellbeing internationally. A critique of the political structuring of policy and treatment responses will follow. A range of therapeutic strategies and interventions for working with consumers across a variety of different health services will be identified and elaborated. Models of change and motivation, assessment, interviewing and health promotion strategies with a variety of target populations will be explored.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course contributes to the following Program Learning Outcomes for the Bachelor of Nursing Program BP032 in accordance with the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Australia, Registered Nurse Standards for Practice:

• PLO 1: Thinks critically and analyses nursing practice
• PLO 2: Engages in therapeutic and professional relationships
• PLO 4: Comprehensively conducts assessments
• PLO 6: Provides safe, appropriate and responsive quality nursing practice
• PLO 7: Evaluates outcomes to inform nursing practice

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. (2016) Registered nurse standards for practice. Melbourne, Australia.

Upon successful completion of this course you should be able to:

1. Identify various presentations of dual diagnosis;
2. Discuss historical and cultural variations in dual diagnosis;
3. Describe and analyse patterns and prevalence of harm;
4. Review policy and legislation concerning dual diagnosis interventions;
5. Critically appraise literature and policy documents that report contemporary practice;
6. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of several intervention approaches to dual diagnosis;
7. Evaluate the outcomes of health promotion strategies with various dual diagnosis populations.

Overview of Learning Activities

You will be actively engaged in a range of learning activities such as lectorials, tutorials, practicals, laboratories, seminars, project work, class discussion, individual and group activities. Delivery may be face to face, online or a mix of both.

You are encouraged to be proactive and self-directed in your learning, asking questions of your lecturer and/or peers and seeking out information as required, especially from the numerous sources available through the RMIT library, and through links and material specific to this course that is available through myRMIT Studies Course.

Overview of Learning Resources

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through myRMIT Studies Course.

There are services available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the myRMIT student portal.

Overview of Assessment

Assessment Tasks

Early Assessment Task: Film Review Assignment
Weighting 30%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 3, 5 & 6

Assessment Task 2: Individual Written Assignment
Weighting 50%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7

Assessment Task 3: Bi-weekly Reflection
Weighting 20%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7

If you have a long-term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.