UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

 

Maryland in Europe

Distance Education Programs

SYLLABUS

 

EDCP 605: Developmental Issues in Counseling Adults

 

Term 4, Academic Year 2001/2002
Course Dates: 10 June – 4 October 2002
Break: 27 July - 16 August 2002

 

 

Instructor:     Dr. Scott E. Borrelli

E-Mail Address: sborrell@faculty.ed.umuc.edu

APO Address: PSC 41, Box 2128
                           APO AE 09464

Residence:     Flat 1, 10 Becmead Avenue
                           London SW16 1UQ, UK

Phone/Fax:     [44] (0) 208- 696-7661
 

Welcome to this crucial course in adult development offered by the University of Maryland’s Counseling and Personnel Services Program (CAPS), European Division. The course will be delivered exclusively through distance education, utilizing state-of-the-art internet communication and learning technology to bring together students from all over the globe.

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course explores the adult experience using developmental and interdisciplinary perspectives. We will focus on characteristics arising through the adult life cycle. The many complex issues of change and continuity facing adults at different points in their lives include marital and familial dynamics, physical and occupational transitions, identity, attachment, existential and life style concerns. We will examine these and other adult life-span issues within the context of the self, interpersonal relationships, and the life course. Significantly, contextual, gender and cultural considerations will be integrated throughout the course. The course provides awareness, knowledge and skills, all of which can be applied in various professional roles, including as counselor, educator and administrator. Current diagnostic and assessment issues will be examined from the constructivist-developmental counseling point of view. The DSM-IV will be reviewed and assessed for its value in providing assessment information and developing creative counseling interventions. Specific strategies for assessing and treating adult transitional stress will be studied. All along, we will be comparing and contrasting notions of development and transition, and the inherent stress and stressors that accompany natural changes. We will critique notions of psychopathology, attempting to ‘normalize’ or ‘depathologize’ a number of symptom patterns. The counselor as developmentalist establishes a unique place for the professional counselor among the helping, educational, and health professions.

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES

This course enables students to:

1. Identify and understand the major developmental life challenges facing adults, and the themes of growth, change, and adaptation that emerge through the adult life span.

2. Understand the major theoretical approaches to adult development and current research trends.

3. Become familiar with the major writers on adulthood and change.

4. Develop insight into one’s self as an adult "change agent", and link effective counseling strategies to these.

5. Develop insights into the meanings of personal developmental experiences.

6. Identify and apply strategies for intervening with adults in transition and/or crisis.

7. Perceive and work with clients from a positive, integrative, and eclectic perspective.

8. Consider both traditional and alternative intervention approaches.

9. Practice and learn formal transition assessment strategies.

10. Practice and learn a variety of interview and counseling skills with adults.

TEXT, READINGS, AND RESOURCE MATERIAL:

 

Required:

Lemme, Barbara Hanson. (2002). Development in Adulthood, 3rd edition. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

 

Schlossberg, N. (1994). Overwhelmed: Coping with Life’s Ups and Downs. New York: Lexington Books.

 

The transition coping guide and questionnaire: A new way to think about change (1993). MN: Personnel Decisions, Inc. (accompanies the Schlossberg text).

 

American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4^th ed.). Washington, DC.

 

A GOOD WORKING AUDIO CASSETTE RECORDER IS REQUIRED OF EACH STUDENT FOR INTERVIEW RECORDING PURPOSES.

 

Recommended:

The following are highly recommended as reference and resource materials. We will attempt to make the professional journal articles available via the Internet:

 

Schlossberg, N. (1984). Counseling Adults in Transition. New York: Springer.

Ivey, Allen E. , Ivey, Mary B., (1998) Reframing DSM-IV: positive strategies from developmental counseling and therapy. The Journal of Counseling and Development. 76, 334-350.

 

Morgan, B., MacMillan, P. (1999) Helping clients move toward constructive change: A three-phase integrated counseling model. The Journal of Counseling and Development. 77, 153-170.

 

Fong, Margaret L., Silen, Karen A. (1999). Assessment and diagnosis of DSM-IV anxiety disorders, The Journal of Counseling and Development, 77, 209-217.

 

Spruill, David A., Benshoff, James M. (1996). The future is now: promoting professionalism among counselors-in-training. The Journal of Counseling and Development, 74, 468-471.

 

The following is an illuminating and highly recommended story of one woman’s look back on the "growing up" process:

Dillard, A. (1987). An American Childhood. New York: Harper and Row

 

INSTRUCTIONAL/LEARNING PROCEDURE:

 

The course will be delivered via the Internet utilizing the University of Maryland’s Web Tycho system. Students will be assigned regular readings, chapter questions, cases, and other assignments affording opportunities to learn, reflect and apply material, according to the syllabus. Weekly exchange and discussion on the Internet is required, to include substantive contributions and responses to others. Major term assignments to include written projects will provide opportunities to integrate and apply various learnings about and helping strategies for the experiences of adults in transition and/or crisis. Required weekly web searches will help us to develop and use a broad based set of resources.

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING:

1. INTRODUCTION - Initial autobiographical sketch and developmental timeline. (ungraded).

2. PROJECT I - Development of Structured Interview Format - i.e., a proposed set of interview questions (ungraded).

3. PROJECT II - Structured Developmental Interview and Write-up (25%).

4. PROJECT III: Transition Coping Assessment (25%).

5. COURSE PARTICIPATION: Completion of 12 weekly chapter Discussion Questions (DQ’s), weekly contributions to the Webliography, and to the CAFÉ, and additional online activities which might be assigned (50%).

Further instructions and guidelines for assignments will be provided during the course.

 

COURSE SCHEDULE:

 

The course will take place over two terms (5 & 1), from 10 June to 4 October, 2002. Specific and additional topics, readings, activities and assignments mayl be distributed throughout the class. The professor reserves the right to modify the syllabus, requirements, due dates, etc,. Changes will be minor, and students will be given appropriate notice. Changes will be made to enhance the course content and to reflect individual and class interests as they emerge and change, reflecting a "developmental" approach to the course experience.

 

Students are responsible for providing detailed and thoughtful responses to the weekly chapter DQ’s (Discussion Questions), and to respond to at least two other student’s comments weekly. "Weeks" run over seven days, from Monday am to the following Sunday pm. The initial reading and DQ MAIN Response is to be made early in the relevant week, while responses and exchanges to other’s MAIN Responses later in the week, concluding the weekly topics no later than Sunday pm. 

 

Your MAIN posting each week should be a thoughtful, substantive, and critical set of responses to the weekly Discussion Question(s). In amny cases, you will be responding to a set of questions meant to generate your ideas and insights. It is not necessary to respond to each question individually when given a set. It IS required to include all of the following elements in your MAIN response, inviting you to broaden and extend the material into professional practice, personal experience, and additional concepts and resources:

 

1.      Highlight and cite references for relevant theories and concepts from the chapter (do NOT simply “regurgitate”  the information from the chapter…use your own words, along with relevant quotes, if you like);

2.      Comment on the material from a professional practice (application) perspective;

3.      Comment on the material from a personal perspective;

4.      Include additional references and resources from previous chapters, other courses, your work, and form a weekly Web search.

5.      Place at least ONE resource into the Webliography each week, and refer to it in your MAIN RESPONSE.

 

Visit the CAFÉ weekly and tell us how you are doing.

 

WEEKLY TOPICS

 

WEEK 1 (10 – 16 June, 2002): Read Preface and Chapter 1 (Lemme).

 

A.     Introduce yourself by providing an autobiographical sketch and timeline in the Week 1 CONFERENCE area. Reveal some developmental highlights or insights in your personal and/or professional life. Explain your goals for this course, where you are now, and where you hope to be in the future. Visit the Café (in STUDY GROUPS>>COLLABORATIVE DOCS) and create some discussion on most anything. This is the place to have open conversation, unrelated to the weekly topic (usually).

B.     Review the texts to see what you’ve gotten yourselves into! How do they look?

C. See if you can begin to locate some of the professional articles listed under ‘texts, readings, and resource materials’.  Tell us if you find more or better ones, and submit them into the Webliography. Give us a “heads up” about your discoveries either ion the Conference or Café areas.

D.    Start reading Schlossberg’s book, Overwhelmed,  all about adult transitions, and make comments throughout the course on your insights and discoveries in the “OVERWHELMED” Conference area. The book will provide the conceptual perspective for the Transition Coping Assessment which you will self-administer later on.

E.  Complete a web search and contribute two useful sites on adult development/counseling issues that interest you and might be useful to other students. Look for assessments that can be taken online, and other practical materials for the counselor-developmentalist. Include a brief description of the type and value of your discoveries in Webliography.

 

WEEK 2: Read the Preface and Chapter 1 in the text: The Study of Development in Adulthood.
Respond to the following DQ1 (Discussion Question) in the Week ONE Conference area:
"Identify and describe your understanding of the key elements of the life-span developmental perspective, and how these relate to your work as a professional counselor."

 

WEEK 3: Read Chapter 2: Theories of Psychosocial Development.
Respond to DQ 2: Stability vs. Change.

Read and respond to the questions on p. 76,  #1-4, regarding the debate on stability vs. change. No need to answer each separately. That is, respond to them collectively, as a group of questions that generate your ideas and responses.

 

WEEK 4: Read Chapter 3: The Self : Development and Issues of Culture, Gender, Ethnicity, and Age.
Respond to DQ 3: Review and respond to questions # 1-3 on p. 124 on Self-Esteem.

Project I DUE: Interview Schedule.

 

WEEK 5: Read Chapter 4: Cognitive Processes in Adulthood I.
Respond to DQ 4: A Life-Span view of cognitive development. Review and respond to questions #1-6 on p. 162.  DO NOT respond to all of them, but create a response that covers many of the issues raised.

 

WEEK 6: Read Chapter 5: Cognitive Processes in Adulthood II.
Respond to DQ 5: Identify the major psychosocial variables known to be related to cognitive development in adulthood. Describe any personal and/or professional experiences with some of these. 

 

WEEK 7: Read Chapter 6. Social Development, Friendship, and Mate Selection.
Respond to DQ 6: Complete the Critical Thinking Question on p. 231 regarding the distinctions between leaving home psychologically and physically. Include in your response the ways in which attachment theory might help to explain leaving home issues.

 

WEEK 8: Read Chapter 7: Family Ties, Transitions, and Challenges.
Respond to DQ 7: Family Development – Review and respond to questions # 1 – 6 on p. 299.

Project II DUE: Developmental Interview.

 

WEEK 9: Read Chapter 8: Work and Retirement.
Respond to DQ 8: After reading the chapter, return to the list of needs that work can fulfill found on p. 304. Rank order these for yourself as you approach your new or revised career as a professional counselor, and describe those most important to the place of work in your life. How did these needs gain their importance, from a developmental perspective?

 

WEEK 10: Read Chapter 9: Physical Development and Aging.
Respond to DQ 9: Review and respond to questions #1-3 on p. 385 under, “What is this thing called aging?”

 

WEEK 11: Read Chapter 10: Health, Longevity, and Prevention.
Respond to DQ 10: Diagnoses as challenges: After reading the chapter, return to the Critical thinking Question presented on p. 407 and respond. How can a counselor make a positive impact?

 

WEEK 12: Read Chapter 11: Coping, Adaptation, and Mental Health.
Respond to DQ 11: Would you expect rates of depression to be higher among internalizers or externalizers? Why? What relevance does the locus-of-control theory have for the work of the professional counselor? How would you measure it, and communicate/use the resuts?

Project III DUE: Transition Coping Assessment and Report.

 

WEEK 13: Read Chapter 12: Death, Dying, and Bereavement.
Respond to DQ 12: Review the sample of the Living Well presented on p. 449. Describe your own perspective on the advantages and disadvantages of this document, and how you would work with a client wanting one. What would be the challenges for the client? For the counselor?

 

WEEK 14: Course Review and Assessment.

 

ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES FOR PROJECTS I - III:

• PROJECT I: Structured Interview Format.

Construct a series of structured questions you can use to interview an adult regarding his/her adult experience to date with special attention to the stage of life (or the decade) at present and anticipation of the coming period of life. Be as complete as necessary in designing your leading questions. You will want to review the interview protocols used by previous writers, including Lemme, Neugarten, Vaillant, Levinson, and Sheehy. Material can be found through a Web search. You will also wish to review major developmental theorists from previous courses, including Erik Erikson, Kohlberg, Gilligan, etc.

• PROJECT II: Developmental (Live) Interview.

"The Life of (fictitious name), at the ______Stage of Adult Life."

 

Choose a collaborator/interviewee (NOT a client, family member, or classmate) who will be interviewed for about one hour and use your structured interview format (Project I) as a guide. Choose a collaborator who is NOT at the same life stage as you are.  Write a report on this person’s adult life with special emphasis on the life stage s/he has most recently lived. In a brief report, narrate your interview subject’s life experience and analyze this life to date, using at least TWO (2) of the theories under consideration in this course.

• PROJECT III: Transition Coping Assessment.

Self-administer Schlossberg’s assessment, and create a report to include the results of the assessment, your interpretation, plans and recommendations for coping with a current transition. More on this during the course.

 

FURTHER GUIDELINES FOR ASSIGNMENTS:

Papers are to be typed and double-spaced following APA Style Format (1994). Papers that are poorly written will be returned for revisions or will receive a significantly lowered grade. Assignments are expected to be submitted on time, so plan your work accordingly. Extensions are granted upon request and only in circumstances beyond the student’s control. To guard against loss, always keep a copy of your assignments in your personal file.

 

ATTENDANCE

It is understood that unavoidable circumstances may make absences necessary for some students. When absences occur, the students and the professor will determine how the student can compensate for the loss of time. Unnecessary absences and/or lack of class participation will lower course grades.

 

POLICY STATEMENTS - on Academic Credit, Grades, Academic Integrity:

Please refer to the Graduate Catalogue for the University System of Maryland Graduate Programs - Europe (2001-2002).

 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:

 

Dr. Scott Edward Borrelli , EdD, NCC, ABPP

 

is a professor in the United Kingdom with the University of Maryland’s Graduate Program in Counseling and Personnel Services (CAPS), and also an instructor of undergraduate psychology. He is a licensed counseling and clinical psychologist (US & UK), a National Certified Counselor (NCC). Most recently, he was awarded Diplomate, Board Certification in two practice specialties, counseling psychology and clinical psychology, by the American Board of Professional Psychology, and also in psychopharmacology. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in psychology, human resource management and counselor education at Boston University, Suffolk University and the University of Massachusetts. He has worked in schools (as School Psychologist and Guidance Counselor), mental health clinics (as Senior Psychologist) and hospitals (as Chief Psychologist), and as a consultant to businesses and social service agencies. He is a certified clinical hypnotherapist and EMDR therapist.

Dr. Borrelli maintained a private practice as a counselor and psychotherapist for twenty years, and has worked with clients of all ages and with a variety of problems. He has special interests in adult, couples, and family counseling, stress management, multi-cultural issues, psychopharmacology and psychological assessment.

Theoretically, Dr. Borrelli considers himself a generalist and integrative practitioner, flexibly applying a positive, developmental, client-tailored and eclectic approach to counseling and teaching, including psychodynamic, developmental, humanistic and cognitive-behavioral approaches. He emphasizes personal empowerment and self-esteem, and views the counseling relationship as one of many interpersonal strategies for contributing to individual and cultural well being.