Unit rationale, description and aim
Enabling meaningful participation across key life domains for people who experience psychosocial disability is a central focus for mental health professionals in Australian mental health practice. Psychosocial disability in this unit is framed in functional and contextual terms, emphasising how the impacts of mental health conditions, when interacting with environmental, social and systemic factors, can restrict everyday functioning and social participation. These impacts can affect participation in employment and study, relationships and social networks, independent living, leisure and community life, and everyday self‑care.
The unit examines psychosocial disability and participation through rights‑based, recovery‑oriented, trauma‑informed and culturally-responsive perspectives, with emphasis on Australian practice contexts. Students critically analyse how participation outcomes are shaped by individual, interpersonal, organisational and policy factors, including the design and operation of mental health and disability service systems. The unit develops applied capability in participation‑focused assessment and formulation that centres functioning, strengths and goals, alongside collaboration and shared decision‑making, and the design and appraisal of evidence‑informed interventions and service responses.
The aim of this unit is to equip students to conceptualise psychosocial disability as a participation‑oriented concern in mental health practice and to design, justify and evaluate interventions and service responses that strengthen participation across key life domains.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Critically analyse psychosocial disability as a pa...
Learning Outcome 01
Critically evaluate how individual, interpersonal,...
Learning Outcome 02
Apply participation focused assessment and formula...
Learning Outcome 03
Design, justify and evaluate evidence informed int...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
Psychosocial disability and participation in contemporary mental health practice
- Psychosocial disability as a functional and participation‑oriented practice concern
- Lived experience perspectives on participation, exclusion and agency
- Participation across key life domains for people experiencing psychosocial disability
- Lifespan considerations in psychosocial disability: participation needs for children and young people and older adults.
Barriers and enablers to participation for people experiencing psychosocial disability
- Environmental, social and systemic barriers to participation
- Interpersonal and service‑level practices that restrict or enable participation
- Protective factors, supports and enabling conditions that strengthen participation
Participation‑focused practice frameworks in psychosocial disability
- Rights‑based approaches to participation, inclusion and citizenship
- Recovery‑oriented practice as a framework for enabling participation
- Trauma‑informed approaches to supporting participation
- Culturally responsive and safe approaches to supporting participation in working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and communities
Psychosocial disability, participation and service systems
- How mental health and disability service systems shape participation opportunities
- Organisational cultures, policies and funding arrangements influencing participation
- Interfaces between service systems and their implications for participation
Participation‑focused assessment and formulation in psychosocial disability
- Assessing participation, functioning, strengths and aspirations across life domains
- Participation‑oriented formulation grounded in lived experience perspectives
- Collaborative goal‑setting and shared decision‑making to enable participation
- Lifespan‑informed assessment and formulation: adapting participation‑focused assessment, formulation and goal‑setting for children and young people and older adults.
Enabling participation through intervention and service responses
- Designing evidence‑informed interventions to reduce participation restrictions
- Partnering with peer workers, families and carers to support participation
- Coordinated and cross‑sector service responses to enable participation in everyday life
Evaluating and strengthening participation‑oriented practice
- Evaluating participation outcomes across the lifespan: selecting age‑appropriate participation indicators for children/young people and older adults.
- Ethical, reflective and accountable participation‑focused practice
- Using evidence and reflection to improve participation‑oriented service responses
Assessment strategy and rationale
To pass this unit, students must attempt and submit both assessment tasks, demonstrate achievement of every unit learning outcome, and obtain a minimum mark of 50%.
The assessment strategy is designed to support the progressive development of advanced knowledge, skills and professional reasoning in participation‑focused mental health practice. Assessment Task 1 focuses on critical analysis and formulation. Through a scenario‑based task, students examine psychosocial disability as a participation‑oriented concern and critically analyse barriers and enablers to participation across individual, service and system levels (LO1, LO2). Students apply participation‑focused assessment and formulation approaches that centre functioning, strengths and goals, demonstrating integration of theory, evidence and contextual understanding (LO3, LO4). Assessment Task 2 builds on this foundation by requiring students to design, justify and evaluate evidence‑informed interventions and service responses that strengthen participation across key life domains (LO4). This task emphasises applied reasoning, collaboration and problem‑solving in complex practice contexts, reflecting the realities of contemporary mental health and disability services (LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4).
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Participation Analysis and For...
Assessment Task 1: Participation Analysis and Formulation
Students analyse a scenario involving psychosocial disability to identify barriers and enablers to participation and develop a participation‑focused formulation centred on functioning, strengths and goals.
50%
Assessment Task 2: Participation-Enabling Plan. ...
Assessment Task 2: Participation-Enabling Plan.
Students design, justify and evaluate evidence‑informed interventions and service responses to reduce participation barriers and strengthen participation for people experiencing psychosocial disability.
50%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
Learning and teaching strategies utilised in this unit will support students in meeting the aim and achieving the learning outcomes relevant to this unit, as well as to the broader course learning outcomes. This unit uses an active learning approach to support students in the exploration of knowledge essential to enabling participation in psychosocial disability. Delivered as fully online, asynchronous learning allows students to learn at their own pace within the parameters of the teaching term. Weekly modules are structured around an inquiry cycle (engage, explore, apply and reflect) that guides students from key concepts and evidence to analysis of authentic scenarios. Learning is further supported through facilitated asynchronous discussion forums, weekly online drop-in sessions, and an online assessment session for each assessment task with the unit's online facilitator. The discussion forums provide students with activities that encourage students to critically discuss concepts, share practice-based examples (including from their own professional contexts), and provide constructive peer feedback. These activities are designed to build a learning community and deepen critical reflection in a supported online environment. Students receive regular and timely feedback on their learning, which includes information on their progress.