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DIPLOMA IN PSYCHOSOCIAL CARE & SUPPORT IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Prospectus for Diploma in Psychosocial Care & Support in Disaster Management, 2008-2009 (pdf)

Introduction

Disasters are out-of-the-ordinary experiences, causing distress and emotional reactions in almost all affected, including the disaster workers. The emergency response priorities in a disaster situation are the provision of basic life support needs, ensuring the security of disaster survivors, and the provision of psychological and social support. These services would ensure normalising routines and helping survivors resume activities of daily living as quickly as possible so that it hastens rehabilitation and enhances coping with the distress that result from the disaster.

Psychosocial care for disaster survivors and disaster workers, though very crucial, has received recognition only in recent years. As a result, post disaster responses in psychosocial care have been sporadic. These initiatives have provided both immediate and long term psychosocial support and have also been designed keeping in mind regional diversities and needs.

To respond to this growing understanding of psychosocial care and support in disaster management, this programme seeks to prepare a team of professionals who are equipped to respond to psychosocial care and support needs at the micro and macro levels, as well as supervise, train and develop human capacity in disaster management.

Above all there is a need for developing interventions/services that are culture specific, acceptable, and effective in the Indian context. The diploma programme has been conceived especially for professionals working in people-centered professions or those with first degrees in the helping professions and now desirous of concentrating on psychosocial care in disaster management.

Course Outline

The total credit hours for the diploma programme is 38, divided between the first and second semesters of the programme, as detailed below. However, the semester-wise distribution of total credit hours may change depending upon the semester class time tables.

This one year, full-time diploma programme is divided into 2 semesters, involving both theory and research based courses as well as field practicum and skill workshops. Monographs are to be submitted by students who have quality experience in the field of disaster mental health. The total of 38 credits is distributed across the 2 semesters as indicated in the table below:

Eligibility

A Bachelor's Degree (under 10+2+3 or 10+2+4 or 10+2+2+1 year bridge course pattern of study or any other pattern fulfilling the mandatory requirements of 15 years of formal education), in any discipline from a recognised university, with minimum aggregate marks of 50 per cent (40 per cent for Scheduled Castes [SCs] and Scheduled Tribes [STs]) Candidates with basic people skills and sensitivity towards mental health issues would be preferred.

Thus, candidates with people-centred graduate/post-graduate degrees (Social Work, Psychology, Medicine, Nursing, Human Development, Counselling) or those with demonstrated interest in working with people for a minimum of one year would be preferred. Sponsored candidates from organisations working in the area of disasters would be given special preference.

Selection Procedure

Those satisfying the eligibility requirements will be assessed for selection through the following (Total Marks = 200):

Written Test (100 marks): A written test in English aims at an assessment of (i) proficiency in English Language, (ii) people skills, and (iii) sensitivity and knowledge of disasters and related mental health issues.

Personal Interview (70 marks): To be eligible for the personal interview, a general candidate should secure a minimum score of 60 marks (53 marks for SCs and STs) in the written test.

Academic Background (30 marks): Marks are awarded to each applicant on the basis of overall percentage of marks secured in the Bachelor's Degree Examination.

Reservation

The TISS is an equal opportunity institution and there is no discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, marital status, age or physical disability. As per the Government of India directives, there is a reservation for the following groups:

• 15% for SCs and 7.5% for STs.
• 3% of seats are reserved for the persons with disability of which 1% each is reserved for (a) Low Vision/ Blindness, (b) Hearing Impairment, and (c) Locomotor Disability/ Cerebral Palsy.

Contact Details

Letters may be addressed to:

The Section Officer (STP)
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Post Box 8313, Deonar,
Mumbai 400 088

Telephone: 91-22-2556 3289-96, Extn. 5252, or 25225252 (Direct)

The telephone board functions from 9.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. from Monday to Friday.

Fax No. : 91-22-25562912

E-mail: stp[AT]tiss.edu

OR

JTCDM
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Jal A.D. and Malti Naoroji Campus,
Deonar,
Mumbai 400 088

Telephone: 91-22-25563289 – 96 Ext. 5886, 5883

Fax: 91-22-25482048

E-mail: jtcdm[AT]tiss.edu