Therapeutic Communication Course number:

NUR 208

Faculty

Name: Hannah Dean, RN, MBA, PhD Email: Use WebCT email in classroom Phone: 541-935-9464 Office location: Home in Veneta, Oregon Office hours: By appointment made via course email; we can meet in my office in the Chat Room area for an instant messaging-type conversation. Feel free to make an appointment.

Course Information

Course description:

Interdisciplinary approach to the study of therapeutic communication as applicable to the health sciences. Specific therapeutic interviewing techniques will be explored to improve interviewing skills, promote an understanding of human suffering, and enhance listening sensitivity. 3 credits.

Course date:

Saturday, February 11, 2006 through Thursday, May 25, 2006

Location:

On-line from Dr. Hannah Dean’s home office in Veneta, Oregon

First and Last Meeting:

Online beginning Feb 11 and ending May 25. Potential for face-to-face meeting on Saturday, May 20…Hold the date. Decision to be made based on progress of the on-line portion of the course.

Course goals:

1. Discuss specific therapeutic interviewing techniques applicable to the health sciences.
2. Analyze therapeutic interviews for their effectiveness.
3. Demonstrate fundamental principles of therapeutic interviewing.
4. Explore other people's framework of meaning with sensitivity and compassion.

Course Topics:

1. Attending behavior.

2. Basic learning sequence.

3. Interview structure.

4. Confrontation.

5. Focusing.

6. Reflection of meaning.

7. Influencing skills and strategies.

Course Teaching Strategies:

1. Reading assignments

2. Discussion groups online.

3. Interactive exercises.

4. Critiques of interviews.

5. Term paper.

Textbooks

· Ivey, A. E., & Ivey, M. B. (2003). Intentional interviewing and counseling: Facilitating client development in a multicultural society. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole—Thomson Learning.

· American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5^th ed.). Washington, D. C.: APA.

· Dodds, J. (2003). The ready reference handbook: Writing, revising, editing (3^rd ed.). New York: Longman.

Grading Scale

A	93-100
A-	90-92
B+	86-89
B	83-85
B-	80-82
C+	76-79
C	73-75
C-	70-72
D+	66-69
D	60-65
F	0-59

Students must achieve a "C" or better overall to complete the course successfully.

Course Evaluation 

Summaries of readings	20%
Participation in discussion area	20%
Quality of discussion responses	20%
Term paper (APA format)	40%

Additional Information:

Late Submission and Incomplete Work: Students are expected to prepare for discussion of assigned content in the discussion area. The reading summaries are considered evidence of preparation for discussion and will not be accepted after the due date. If unexpected circumstances prevent the timely submission of other course work (excluding the summaries), students may ask the instructor for a one day extension of the due date. After that, 10% of the grade for the assignment will be deducted for each day late.
Disability Policy: Students with documented disabilities who may need accommodation, who have any emergency medical information that the instructor should know, or who require special arrangements in the event of evacuation, should meet with the instructor as early as possible, no later than the first week of class.
Academic Dishonesty Policy: Academic work is evaluated on the assumption that the work presented is the students’ own, unless designated otherwise. Anything less is unacceptable and is considered academically dishonest. Cheating consists of using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic work submitted for credit. Plagiarism is the submission of academic work for credit that includes material copied or paraphrased from published or unpublished works without documentation. Fabrication is the falsification or invention of any information or citation in academic work. Facilitating academic dishonesty consists of help or attempting to help another student violate the College's policy on academic dishonesty. The course instructor will, when discovering a case of academic dishonesty, inform the Dean of Students and the student of the incident within 10 days of the discovery. The written document detailing the incident will also be placed in the student’s permanent file in the Records Office. Engaging in academic dishonesty will result in not passing the course. The Dean of Students is responsible for referring all cases involving more than one offense to the College Judicial Council, which will impose College-level penalties. Students may appeal a decision.

Course Assignments

Due dates and details for these assignments are found also in the assignments section of the course.
Reading summary due Mar 2:	Summary of two scholarly articles on communicating with persons of a group other than your own based on ethnicity or gender orientation. Use APA manual. 10 points. [Hint: this topic can be expanded for your term paper.]
Reading summary due Apr 6:	Summary of two scholarly articles on communicating with persons of one of the following groups: children, teenagers, elders, the mentally challenged, the physically challenged, the visually or auditorially challenged. Use APA manual. 10 points. [Hint: this topic can be expanded for your term paper.]
Group discussion:	Weekly discussion questions in small groups based on readings and/or exercises for the week. Course expectation includes substantive participation and interaction with group members. 10 points for participating 10 points for substantive contributions. Points for grade based on average earned over 15 weeks.
Term paper due May 4:	Write a term paper using APA format 5^th edition, typed, free of spelling and grammatical errors. Paper must be a minimum of 5 pages of text (excluding diagrams and tables) and no more than 8 pages of text. Document using scholarly references. Topic of paper: Choose a group other than your own (age, ethnicity, gender orientation, mentally/physically challenged). Write a paper about therapeutic communication with persons in the selected group. What developmental and/or cultural factors influence the communication? How do the principles from your required readings relate to therapeutic communication with the selected group? 40 points.