This assessment task is designed to support reflective practice and help develop reflective practice competencies. Reflective practice is the ability to reflect on our attitudes, beliefs and behaviour, and critically evaluate how these are informed by our personal values, identity, knowledge, and experiences. By examining these critically, we can continue to learn and further enhance our self-development. This helps us to consider whether we are acting in ways that are culturally-responsive and reflexive and hopefully minimise the impact of biases stemming from our own world views.

Reflective practice is a key competency in psychological practice and research. It is essential for culturally-competent practice. Engaging in reflective practice can help us identify:

• The impact of our own culture on our behaviour;
• How our worldview has formed and how this may impact how we understand others;
• Areas that we need to further develop around our understanding of culture and diversity.

What you need to do

A list of reflective activities will be provided to you on Moodle. You task is to complete five (5) activities from the list throughout the term and write a short, self-reflective journal response (300 words each) upon completion of each activity. You are encouraged to include activities that involve engaging with a range of diversity groups across your five chosen activities (e.g., watch a documentary on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, reflect on inclusive practices for people who identify as LGBTQIA+).

For each activity, you are to write a short journal response about your experiences with that activity. This should include a brief description of the activity you undertook and a summary of the reflective practice you engaged in. The summary should focus on what you have learned from the activity and what insights you gained about yourself, others, or the world through this reflection. It should include a summary of what you have learned regarding the cultural or diversity group chosen. It should include reflections on how you have worked or behaved in the past, what you might do moving forward, and how your practice or behaviour can be improved. You can draw on the knowledge you have acquired in this unit to inform your reflection.

Important points

• Please submit all five (5) individual reflective responses in a single word document with a cover sheet. 
• The word limit for each response is 300 words, with a total word limit for the entire task of 1,500 words.
• Your response must be your own work. It is not permissible to use Generative AI tools to assist you with this task.
• There is a minimum mark for this task of 50% (i.e., 20/40). This means you must pass this assessment task to pass the unit overall.

The total of all reflective journal responses is 40 marks (which represents 40% of your overall unit grade). There is a minimum mark for this task of 50% (i.e., 20/40). This means you must pass this assessment task to pass the unit overall.

Marks will be allocated according to the following criteria:

• Activity briefly described (2.5 marks)
• Content included reflections of self, others, or world (10 marks)
• Content included reflections on culture and diversity (10 marks)
• Response demonstrated learning and insight into culture and diversity (10 marks)
• Quality of written expression (5 marks)
• Within the word limit overall (2.5 marks)

A key component of cultural competency in psychology is to be able to critically evaluate information, theories, research, frameworks, and assessments through the lens of culture and diversity. This task involves assessing the universality versus context specificity of our theory and evidence in psychology. Being able to critically evaluate psychological literature will enable you to understand if, when, or how a research finding, theory, or assessment measure can be applied to diverse groups in our community. It will enable you to develop a deeper understanding of diverse groups, identify what is and is not known about the applicability of research and theory to diverse groups, as well as understand how theory and evidence is or is not inclusive of diversity. 

Assessment Task 2 is designed to continue your development of the following skills.

• Identification of empirical research relevant to a particular topic and population
• Synthesis of relevant research and important conclusions
• Critical evaluation of existing research through the lens of diversity and culture
• Articulation of practice and policy implications of existing evidence base
• Identification of relevant and important limitations in the available evidence base
• Formulation of recommendations to guide future research directions that take into account diversity and cultural frameworks

There are two (2) parts to this assessment, each with a separate due date.

Part 1 (20%): Due Tuesday of Week 5 at 9:00am (AEST)

You will need to select a topic in psychology (e.g., intelligence testing, depression, parent-child attachment) and find 10 empirical articles focused on three diverse populations from the ADDRESSING framework. You will summarise these articles in an annotated bibliography. An annotated bibliography presents an overview of the selected articles, including the aim/s, key details of the participants and methodology, and findings relevant to your chosen topic. The summary should end with a statement of how the article is relevant to your chosen topic. You will also need to reference the article correctly using APA 7 formatting. Each summary should be no more than 100-150 words, not including the reference. You will also need to formulate a title for the literature review (Part 2) that refers to your psychological topic, diverse populations, and purpose/type of written report.

Part 1 will help you find a selection of articles relevant to the literature review. It will help you begin to summarise the findings and understand the trend of findings in the literature. It will highlight what other articles you may need to locate for Part 2. It will enable you to get feedback on the relevance of your articles and your title in preparation for Part 2.

Your response must be your own work. It is not permissible to use Generative AI tools to assist you with this task.

Part 2 (40%): Due Monday of Week 11 at 9:00am (AEST)

You will need to write a literature review (2000-2500 words NOT including references). The literature review will be on your chosen psychological topic and will discuss the evidence on that topic in the context of the three diverse populations you have selected from the ADDRESSING framework.

The aim of the literature review is to present a synthesis of the key findings from the existing research on your psychological topic in relation to your chosen diverse populations. The aim is to critically evaluate the evidence in regards to implications of the findings, limitations and gaps, and future recommendations for each chosen population. The review should enable the reader to understand a) what is known with regard to the psychological topic and its applicability to the chosen diverse populations; b) the limitations of the evidence base; c) important future research directions; and d) the implications of the existing evidence for practice or policy.

The literature review should include the following:

1. a critical synthesis of the main findings from the evidence base on the chosen topic in relation to the chosen diverse population groups;
2. a discussion of the gaps and limitations of the existing literature;
3. recommendations for future research; and
4. a discussion of the practice and/or policy implications of these findings.

You should include other articles and references to provide additional information or context to those found in Part 1.

Your response must be your own work. It is not permissible to use Generative AI tools to assist you with this task.

Part 1 and Part 2 of Assessment 2 will be marked separately. A combined score will be calculated to give you an overall mark for the assessment.

Part 1 will be graded out of 20 marks. Marks will be allocated according to each of the following criteria.

• Selection of topic, population and 10 relevant articles (5 marks)
• Summary of each article (10 marks)
• Quality of written communication (2 marks)
• APA formatting (2 marks)
• Within word limit (1 mark)

Part 2 will be graded out of 40 marks. Marks will be allocated according to each of the following criteria.

• Introduction of the psychological topic, diverse populations, and the aims of the literature review (4 marks)
• Critical synthesis of the literature in relation to three diverse populations (10 marks)
• Identification of relevant gaps and limitations in the evidence base (5 marks)
• Discussion of recommendations for future research (5 marks)
• Discussion of the implications of the research findings for practice and/or policy (5 marks)
• Quality of written communication (5 marks)
• APA formatting (2 marks)
• Inclusion of a minimum of 15 articles (2 marks)
• Within word limit (2 marks)