Week 3
Assignment 1: Reflecting on Contact with the BHL and Formulating a Problem Statement
Engaging in reflective practice is part of being a successful scholar-practitioner. Reflective practice is a process of continuous improvement in which you actively take steps to think about your professional experiences and identify what you could do differently in the future. In this Assignment, you will reflect on your initial meeting with the BHL at your organization in terms of what went well and how you will improve in future communications with him or her. You will also develop a draft of your problem statement. As you may remember from the residency, a problem statement includes a short description of the practice problem and supporting scholarly sources that help to justify why the problem is meaningful and relevant in behavioral health organizations.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Reflect on your conversation with the BHL at your organization. Assess the conversation in light of the communication plan you discussed in last weeks discussion. Was it a successful conversation? What worked well? What are the areas you would like to improve upon in future conversations with the BHL?
Note: If your leader has not responded by the due date of this Assignment, please contact your chair for further instructions on how to proceed. Then, in place of the first part of the Assignment, explain two to three communication strategies that you will use to respectfully encourage responsiveness from your leader.
Review the Drafting a Problem Statement PowerPoint presentation and the problem statement sections in the PBHL Prospectus Form for ideas on how to draft your problem statement.
Bring to mind your potential practice problem and the input you had from the BHL. Draft an initial problem statement and identify two to three sources that justify the practice problem as meaningful to behavioral health organizations (BHOs).
The Assignment:
Submit a 1- to 2-page paper in which you do the following:
Consider your assessment of your first conversation with the BHL at your organization. Explain what worked well in your approach and why. Then, identify which areas you would like to improve upon for future conversations and explain how you will do so.
Complete the Title and Problem sections on your Prospectus Form.
Week 4
Assignment: Developing the Background Literature Section of the Prospectus Form
A well-written prospectus contains current background literature used to support and justify the investigation of the identified capstone problem. It consists of a list of properly formatted sources and a brief but critical summary of each. While some researchers tend to place the most value on a final product (i.e., the completed annotated bibliography for later reference), the true value lies in the process of creating one. For example, the act of reviewing an article, identifying key arguments and findings, and relating those arguments and findings to your practice problem deepens your understanding of the problem more so than simply scanning the abstracts.
In this Assignment, you will complete the background literature section of the prospectus form. This section of the prospectus form will consist of 810 articles to further understand your practice problem.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Review the annotated bibliographies page on Waldens Writing Center website, focusing on the definition and sample of an annotated bibliography.
Review the Background section of the PBHL Prospectus Form. Consider how to use scholarly sources to support the main assertions of your practice problem.
Use the search strategy you discussed this week to identify 810 peer-reviewed articles about your practice problem.
Scan Chapter 6 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, and refamiliarize yourself with proper citation and referencing of scholarly sources.
By Day 7
Provide at least 10-12 brief summaries of recent, scholarly (peer-reviewed) articles that support/justify your identified practice problem. Include the complete, APA citation and (a) an in-text citation; (b) what they studied; (c) what they found; and (d) why this is important in relation to your study. Use these 10-12 articles to complete the Background section of your Prospectus Form.
Week 5
Assignment: Research Question and Nature of the Study
In this weeks discussion, you explored different sources of secondary data you could use of your capstone study. In this Assignment, you will draft the research question and nature of your study. The research question will guide your study and determine the type of secondary data you will use, while the nature of your study will guide the research design of your study. You will also identify the strategies you will use to collect data. For example, you might choose to examine employee satisfaction survey results and exit interview notes to investigate the problem of high turnover among direct care staff.