Contents

What you study

Please note: the following outlines the part-time programme. Full-time and international students will participate in the taught courses with part-time students and in addition have an individual programme tailored to their particular needs and research interests.

The MRes is aimed primarily at working clinicians who wish to undertake research. The taught courses therefore take place during two-day intensive teaching blocks that occur twice per term for the first four terms of the part-time programme. This structure, combined with independent study, allows the MRes to be integrated with the employment demands of the NHS, Social and Education Services, making iteasier to get study leave and financial support from your employer. The structure also helps Art Therapists from outside London and the South East of England to study for the MRes.

The MRes has five discrete courses. Two are taught and three comprise differing areas of independent study that lead to the production of the three major pieces of written work. These courses are:

-Methods of Clinical and Cultural Analysis
-Research Methods and Evidence-Based Practice
-Case Study
-Essay
-Dissertation

Methods of Clinical and Cultural Analysis:
This course will be taught during the first year of the part-time programme. It involves seminars where you present a case which has been set in the context of the literature, and lectures that address both the profession and its practices in terms of its history, politics and cultural location. There will also be lectures and student-led exploration of the role of art, aesthetics and psychoanalysis in the contemporary clinical practice of Art Therapy.

Research Methods and Evidence-Based Practice:
This course, taught at the end of the first and the start of the second years, describes qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, setting these in the debate surrounding Evidence-Based Practice. It explores the range of research methods which can usefully address, and have addressed, the various clinical, contextual and visual considerations in Art Therapy as well as considering the practical implementation of Evidence-Based Practice initiatives such as clinical audit and the development of clinical guidelines.

Case Study
The research-based Case Study (8,000-10,000 words) enables you to explore your specialist area of clinical practice through description of casework that is set in the context of a critical appraisal of the relevant literature.

Essay
The Essay (5,000-6,000 words) on Art, Aesthetics and Psychoanalysis allows you to undertake a critical exploration of a selected area of literature and visual experience. This is presented orally, in seminars during the first term, giving you the basis for the Essay. The Essay enables you to consider the relationship between visual culture, differing art practices and clinical practice, and how artists, Art Therapists and their clients are situated in these differing fields.

Dissertation
The Dissertation (12,000-15,000 words) involves you in the research for your Selected Topic. It enables you to draw on the learning from the taught courses and build on your written work from the first year of the programme in order to research your particular area of interest in the theory and practice of Art Therapy. Undertaking the practical work of designing a project, choosing appropriate methodologies and moving through the processes of data collection, data analysis and writing up, enables you to acquire `hands on´ research skills.

Assessment: Case study; essays; research-based dissertation.