PA982-7-AP-CZ:
Dissertation - MA Refugee Care
2023/24
Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies
Distance Learning
Autumn & Spring
Postgraduate: Level 7
Current
Thursday 05 October 2023
Friday 22 March 2024
60
24 August 2023
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
MA C898ZF Refugee Care,
MA C898ZP Refugee Care
Our MA Refugee Care course equips students to introduce a therapeutic dimension and a psychosocial perspective to their work with refugees (this term is used here to include asylum seekers).
The dissertation enables students to contribute to the field of Refugee Care through the opportunity to conduct an extended piece of conceptual thinking and research.
Throughout the course students pursue a research project based on a subject of their choice. They will draw on the theory and the practical experiences gained through other course modules and apply these to a subject of their choice of relevance to the field of Refugee Care. Further details about the structure and content of the Dissertation can be found below.
There will be an introductory session to help with choosing the project, followed by group sessions on basic research skills concerned with getting started and discussion about what makes a dissertation, how to develop a good research question and where to find the best resources. Students will share dissertation proposal ideas through presentations to tutors and their peer group. After these presentations, each student will be assigned a supervisor and may arrange at least two supervision meetings with a named member of staff to monitor progress and offer support. While developing proposals into dissertations, students may attend further group sessions focused to help critically evaluate resources and emerging ideas and evidence.
The module enables you to:
1. demonstrate intellectual independence and originality by choosing your own subject of study and defining its nature and scope
2. experience the process of producing knowledge and conducting independent enquiry in a specific area of interest to you
3. consolidate your written communication and intellectual skills by presenting the results of your research in a clearly written manner which is also cogently argued, logically structured and properly referenced
4. pull together the learning and experiences from the course and apply them to a topic of your choice
5. develop greater confidence in the flexible application of psychosocial understanding
Within the dissertation you may demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
1. The psychosocial meanings of home and the implications of loss of home
2. The systemic and dynamic complexities of the refugee condition, of the refugee needs and of the response to them.
3. The therapeutic dimension of refugee care.
4. The theory and scope of the psychosocial approach to refugee care.
5. The psychodynamic and systemic approaches to refugee care.
6. Different approaches to trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, resilience and Adversity-Activated Development
7. The wider parameters within which the refugee condition is located and constructed.
8. Conceptualising research in this field.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to demonstrate:
1. Deeper awareness of the theoretical application and relevance of psychosocial perspectives into areas of interest within Refugee Care
2. Better capacity to apply learning flexibly
3. Knowledge of basic research skills such as literature searches and construction of longer and deeper argument
4. Knowledge and application of critical analysis in research
5. Greater capacity for independent learning
Key Skills
The dissertation enables you to develop intellectual and cognitive skills including:
1. ability to critically appraise explicit and implicit conceptualisations of the refugee condition within the wider societal contexts.
2. ability to critically appraise explicit and implicit conceptualisations which inform the range of responses (i.e. opinion, policies, and services) to the refugee condition.
3. ability to critically appraise explicit and implicit conceptualisations which inform the professional therapeutic response to the refugee condition.
4. ability to critically appraise the impact of race, culture and gender issues on formulations of the refugee condition and of service delivery to refugees.
5. ability to critically appraise the meanings and impact of trauma, resilience and adversity-activated development on formulations of the refugee condition and of service delivery to refugees.
6. ability to present coherent academic arguments.
7. ability to identify in material, either clinical or non-clinical, opportunities for further research, whether conceptual or empirical.
8. ability to apply psychosocial approaches to a chosen cultural or social issue, remaining aware of the methodological problems involved.
You also develop practical skills including:
1. ability to conduct appropriate research, using suitable search engines
2. ability to use properly suitable referencing systems, e.g. APA, Harvard, etc. so to write essays with proper citations and references
3. ability to document and provide evidence for academic arguments, both orally and in writing.
Employability Skills
In addition to academic skills outlined above, the opportunity to give a 7-10 minute presentation on research ideas to tutors and peers and receive feedback is intended to help students develop confidence and practical skills in pitching and presentation.
No additional information available.
All MA Refugee Care modules prepare students for dissertation research and writing. Feedback given to students on the Refugee Care formative essay and on other essays also inform writing for the dissertation.
Our Wednesday lunchtime group discussion sessions are held to support dissertation writing and are designed to be flexible in order to accommodate and respond to the questions and research interests of students within the group. Sessions will be led by Course Supervisors Zibiah Alfred Loakthar and Renos Papadopoulos. Former Refugee Care students may also be invited to share their experiences of writing dissertations but also of the relationship between dissertations and their current work in the field.
This module does not appear to have any essential texts. To see non - essential items, please refer to the module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Formative essay |
|
0% |
| Coursework |
Dissertation proposal |
|
0% |
| Coursework |
Dissertation |
|
100% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
100 per cent Coursework Mark
Reassessment
100 per cent Coursework Mark
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Prof Renos Papadopoulos, email: renos@essex.ac.uk.
Professor Renos Papadopoulos
Student Administrator 5A.202; Tel: 01206 873745; Email: ppspgt@essex.ac.uk
No
No
No
Dr Ana Ljubinkovic
California State University
Lecturer in Sociology
Available via Moodle
No lecture recording information available for this module.
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