| Effective Term: | 2025/05 |
| Institute / School : | Institute of Health and Wellbeing |
| Unit Title: | Perinatal Mental Health - Part A |
| Unit ID: | HEALP6206 |
| Credit Points: | 15.00 |
| Prerequisite(s): | (HEALP6201 and HEALP6202) |
| Co-requisite(s): | (HEALP6207) |
| Exclusion(s): | Nil |
| ASCED: | 060303 |
| Other Change: | |
| Brief description of the Unit |
This is the introductory unit in the Gidget Foundation Australia workforce development program. It is designed to provide students with foundational theoretical knowledge and skills to support entry into the perinatal and infant mental health clinical space. The content will explore physiology of childbearing, fetal development, normal adjustments to parenting as well as address broad biosocial issues contributing or diminishing resilience. Students will be introduced to comprehensive psychological assessment of the mother-infant dyad, case formation, implementation, and evaluation of therapeutic treatment of common clinical presentations. Effective family-centred, strengths based, and culturally sensitive care will be explored together with clinical reasoning, critical thinking, and reflective practice for safe, quality evidence-based care. |
| Grade Scheme: | Graded (HD, D, C, P, MF, F, XF) |
| Work Experience Indicator: |
| No work experience |
| Placement Component: No |
| Supplementary Assessment:Yes |
| Where supplementary assessment is available a student must have failed overall in the Unit but gained a final mark of 45 per cent or above, has completed all major assessment tasks (including all sub-components where a task has multiple parts) as specified in the Unit Description and is not eligible for any other form of supplementary assessment |
| Course Level: |
| Level of Unit in Course | AQF Level(s) of Course | | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | | Introductory | | | | | | | | Intermediate | | | |  | | | | Advanced | | | | | | |
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| Learning Outcomes: |
| Knowledge: |
| K1. | Examine the barriers and enablers common perinatal mental health presentations. |
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| K2. | Demonstrate knowledge regarding healthy adjustment to parenting and comprehensive assessment of the family unit including the mother, father/non birthing parent, infant, and the parent infant dyad. |
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| K3. | Analyse evidence-based treatment options for perinatal mental health conditions, including pharmacological management and its implications. |
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| K4. | Identify legal, ethical, and key theoretical frameworks influential in facilitating diagnosis and management of perinatal and infant mental health disorders. |
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| Skills: |
| S1. | Undertake and evaluate comprehensive assessment appropriate to the clinical presentation. |
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| S2. | Work collaboratively as a perinatal and infant mental health worker in a multidisciplinary team with a professional approach to treatment and recovery. |
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| S3. | Implement strategies to support the family’s need for privacy, dignity, and respect as well as their right to be informed and make decisions regarding their care. |
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| Application of knowledge and skills: |
| A1. | Demonstrate advanced interpersonal and therapeutic communication skills when working with women experiencing emotional or psychological challenges. |
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| A2. | Interpret mental health assessment and risk in addition to psychosocial screening tools commonly used in the perinatal period. |
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| A3. | Apply reflective thinking and critical analysis to perinatal and infant mental health contexts and demonstrate a sound understanding of the evidence base underpinning professional practice. |
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| Unit Content: |
Topics may include: - Physiology of childbearing and fetal development.
- Parent-infant attachment, attachment styles, and adjustment to parenting.
- Fathers or non-birth partner and their evolving roles, adjustments and relationships.
- Psychosocial screening and prevention
- Protective and risk factors for optimum perinatal mental health, e.g., social capital, family strengths, individual, social, and environmental risk, vulnerable groups including birth trauma, grief and loss, family violence, assisted reproduction, migrant/refugee health, drug, and alcohol use.
- Common presentations of compromised mental health in the perinatal period including anxiety, depression, and trauma.
- Women presenting with pre-existing or chronic mental health conditions.
- Initial mental health assessment, diagnostics, and management, including core competencies, e.g., CBT.
- Psychodynamic approaches to working with families.
- Indications for pharmacotherapy, medication options, GP/psychiatrist referral, medication side-effects, implications for pregnant and lactating women on fetal and child development.
- Legal, ethical, and professional practice standards/frameworks, child protection considerations
- Working collaboratively in a multidisciplinary team including consultation and referral pathways
- Principles of infant mental health; infant development, normal neurobiology of infant brain development, factors which can impact upon this: sleep quality, settling, infant communication, infant feeding, social and physical development or milestones.
- Infant feeding needs including early feeding, supporting lactation, introduction of solids, common issues, and allergies.
- Self-care and reflective practice.
- Embedding evidence-based practice.
- Theoretical frameworks for therapeutic psychological practice.
- Cultural perception of mental health.
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| Graduate Attributes: |
| Federation University recognises that students require key transferable employability skills to prepare them for their future workplace and society. FEDTASKS (Transferable Attributes Skills and Knowledge) provide a targeted focus on five key transferable Attributes, Skills, and Knowledge that are be embedded within curriculum, developed gradually towards successful measures and interlinked with cross-discipline and Co-operative Learning opportunities. One or more FEDTASK, transferable Attributes, Skills or Knowledge must be evident in the specified learning outcomes and assessment for each FedUni Unit, and all must be directly assessed in each Course.
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| FED TASK and descriptor | Development and acquisition of FEDTASKS in the Unit | | Level | FEDTASK 1
Interpersonal | Students will demonstrate high-level skills to effectively communicate, interact and work with others both individually and in groups Students will be required to display (in person and/or online) high-level skills in-person and/or online in: • Effective verbal and non-verbal communication via a range of synchronous and asynchronous methods • Active listening for meaning and influencing • High-level empathy for others • Negotiating and demonstrating extended conflict resolution skills • Working respectfully in cross-cultural and diverse teams | 1 - Yes | FEDTASK 2
Leadership | Students will demonstrate the ability to apply leadership skills and behaviours Students will be required to display skills in: • Creating, contributing to, and enabling collegial environments • Showing self-awareness and the ability to self-reflect for personal growth • Inspiring and enabling others • Making informed and evidence-based decisions through consultation with others • Displaying initiative and ability to solve problems | 1 - Yes | FEDTASK 3
Critical Thinking and Creativity | Students will demonstrate an ability to work in complex and ambiguous environments, using their imagination to create new ideas Students will be required to display skills in: • Reflecting critically on complex problems • Synthesising, evaluating ideas, concepts and information • Proposing alternative perspectives to refine ideas • Challenging conventional thinking to clarify concepts through deep inquiry • Proposing creative solutions in problem solving | 1 - Yes | FEDTASK 4
Digital Literacy | Students will demonstrate the ability to work proficiently across a range of tools, platforms and applications to achieve a range of tasks Students will be required to display high-level skills in: • Finding, accessing, collating, evaluating, managing, curating, organising and appropriately and securely sharing complex digital information at a high-level • Receiving and responding to messages in a range of digital media • Using digital tools appropriately to conduct research • Contributing proficiently to digital teams and working groups • Participating in and utilising digital learning opportunities | 1 - Yes | FEDTASK 5
Sustainable and Ethical Mindset | Students will demonstrate the ability to think ethically and sustainably. Students will be required to display skills in: • The responsible conduct of research • Making informed judgments that consider the impact of devising solutions in multiple global economic environmental and societal contexts • Demonstrating commitment to social responsibility as a professional and a citizen • Generating research solutions which are sustainable,ethical, socially responsible and/or sustainable • Extending lifelong, life-wide and life-deep learning to be open to diverse others • Demonstrate extended actions to foster sustainability in their professional and personal life. | 1 - Yes |
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| | Learning Outcomes Assessed | Assessment Tasks | Assessment Type | Weighting | | 1. | K1, K2, K4, S1, S3, A1 | Case Presentation | Oral Task | 40-60% | | 2. | K1, K2, K3, K4, S1, S2, S3, A1, A2, A3 | Case Study | Written Task | 40-60% | | 3. | K1, K3, S2, S3, A3 | Attendance at 80% of virtual classes | Attendance | Hurdle |
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