PSY9401A ¨C Mental health and wellbeing

Course content

This course is a seminar for PhD students in the fields of mental health and wellbeing with meetings on a regular basis throughout the semester. The course focuses on research on causal processes in mental health and wellbeing, social inequality in mental health and wellbeing, and intervention, prevention, and mental health promotion. The course is designed to promote an interdisciplinary approach to mental health and wellbeing research, integrating psychological, epidemiological, genetic, neurocognitive, and sociological perspectives.

Topics will include:

• ?Interdisciplinary approaches to mental health, including, but not limited to, psychological, genetic, neurodevelopmental, epidemiological, and sociological perspectives
• The structure and nature of mental health problems and wellbeing
• Developmental processes
• Genetic and environmental factors
• Neurocognitive perspectives
• Social inequality and gradients in mental health/wellbeing
• Interventions, prevention, and mental health promotion
• Epidemiological approaches, modelling strategies, research designs and state-of-the art methodology

The course is organized by the PROMENTA Research Center.

Learning outcome

Knowledge

Participants will

• Increase their theoretical and empirical knowledge on mental health and wellbeing and the causal processes involved from an interdisciplinary perspective.
• Increase their knowledge about relevant approaches to understand mental health problems and wellbeing, including perspectives covering psychology, genetics, neurodevelopmental development, social gradients, and family and neighborhoods.

Skills

Participants will

• Improve skills concerning presentation of research in the mental health field.
• Improve skills in publishing strategies.
• Improve their methodological skills in domains such as epidemiological methods, longitudinal modelling, neurodevelopmental methods, genetically informative designs, structural equation modelling, multilevel modelling, and machine learning techniques.

General competence

Participants will

• Improve their competence in critically evaluate research and interventions in the mental health and wellbeing field, and to critically reflect on ethical and methodological challenges of doing research and interventions in this field.
• Develop a general understanding of the nature, advantages, and challenges of interdisciplinary research.

Admission to the course

The course is open for PhD-candidates, postdocs and senior faculty. New participants are admitted each semester. For PhD candidates, the seminar serves as a mandatory course within the PhD-program and requires attendance over two semesters. Participation of PhD-candidates together with postdocs and senior faculty will provide synergy effects and a unique learning environment.

You need to register for PSY9401A in the first semester. If you have completed the first semester you need to register for PSY9401B.

Teaching

Teaching consists of five seminars of two hours duration each semester. The course will include a combination of presentations by participants, discussion of projects, lectures on methods, and review of state-of-the-art research.

The seminar may also be used for mid-way evaluations of the attending PhD candidates.

Examination

Examination

Requirement for PhD candidates: Active participation, including project presentation, and attendance over two semesters at minimum.

ECTS-credits: 5 credits after two semesters (3+2 ECTS)

A (semester 1): active participation and project presentation

B (semester 2): active participation

Language of examination

English

Grading scale

The course is graded Pass/Fail.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.