Assessment Briefing – 2024/25 Module Code and Module Name Assessment Type and Weighting Deadline or Assessment Period

Assessment Briefing – 2024/25

Module Code and
Module Name

MPSY4180 Wellbeing and Work

Assessment Type and
Weighting

Case Study, 100%

Deadline or
Assessment Period

19^th June 2025

Word Limit

3,000 words

Module Lecturer

Dr Ivy Cheung

Feedback Date

17^th July 2025

Assessment
Description

Background of the
case study

Ambulance
services are the primary emergency care provider in the healthcare services.
The service has played an essential role in shaping emergency care, is often
the first port of call for medical emergencies and responds to millions of
incidents each year. The central role of ambulance services is the emergency
assessment, treatment and transportation of patients with a variety of acute
and lifethreatening illnesses and injuries.  

Ambulance
services usually consist of local organisations, which are receptive to
patients’ needs where local community members are able to have their say in
the running of the service. Within ambulance services, there are a variety of
different roles and responsibilities ranging from front-line staff who have
direct contact with patients to support staff. 

For your assessment,
choose one of the following options:

Option 1: Stress and resilience 

You
have been approached by a Chief Executive at an ambulance service due to the
pressures mounting on staff because of budget cuts, responding to the COVID19
pandemic and organisational changes. Front-line ambulance staff (such as
paramedics) have reported feeling increased stress due to increasing job
demands. These job demands have included workload, particularly the
increasing number of emergency calls that staff are required to respond to
and the time pressure of meeting response times. As a result of these job
demands, staff have reported feeling dissatisfied with their role, which has
led to an increase in sickness absence and staff turnover. The HR department
have approached you, an established Consultant, for advice on dealing with
these challenges. With reference to academic literature on stress and
resilience, critically discuss the approach you would take to improve
employee wellbeing and provide clear justifications for your
recommendations. 

OR

Option 2: Bullying
and emotional intelligence 

You
have been approached by a Chief Executive at an ambulance service due to
reports of bulling and harassment amongst staff. Front-line paramedics have
reported feeling intimidated, blamed, and unsupported by their Team Leaders.
Reports have included excessive monitoring individual performance targets,
increasing workload for junior employees and practical jokes being made on
staff in the ambulance station. Staff have complained to the HR department on
numerous occasions with some staff resigning from their role or transferring
to other ambulance services. The HR team have suggested that there is
ineffective leadership amongst Team Leaders, which has resulted in this type
of behaviour. Moreover, the Team Leaders have reported that they are feeling
overwhelmed with the role and lack support from their peers. With reference
to academic literature on bullying and emotional intelligence, critically
discuss the approach you would take to improve employee wellbeing and provide
clear justifications for your recommendations.  

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the
module, students should be able to demonstrate:

1.    
A systematic knowledge and practical understanding of
factors affecting wellbeing within the context of work including the ability
to critique current theoretical frameworks and analyse problems.

2.    
A critical understanding of the practical and ethical
issues that face business/ occupational psychologists in the areas of work
and well-being, such as the ethical balance between working for the client
organisation whilst respecting the employees’ rights to confidentiality.

3.    
Conceptual understanding to enable synthesis and
application of appropriate theoretical concepts in the contexts of well-being
interventions in the context of work.

4.    
Conceptual understanding to identify needs, analyse
needs, formulate solutions and evaluate strategies within the contexts of
well-being in the context of work.

Why this assessment?

This
assessment has been chosen to help develop your skills and knowledge of
wellbeing and work in Business/Occupational Psychology. The assessment has
been designed to focus on a current problem for organisations that is at the
forefront of the discipline.  

 Required Sections

For this assessment, you will
need to include: 

•       
A literature
review:

•       
Ensure that you identify the factors within the
organisation that might be contributing to the current lack of wellbeing and
the relevant theoretical frameworks, linking this back to stress and
resilience OR bullying and emotional intelligence

•       
Critically discuss the research evidence regarding
these theories as a basis for an intervention

•       
Intervention
recommendations:

•       
Synthesise the key themes from your discussion to
formulate an approach to improve staff wellbeing. This might take the form of
training, coaching, counselling, or a combination of these

•       
Consider ethical and practical issues

•       
Discuss how you would evaluate your approach 

Advice for Success

    Advice from Module Team

•       
Review your seminar content and activities and
demonstrate how you can apply what you have learned to your assessment
critically.

•       
Read information about your assessment (e.g., assessment brief) and
ask questions promptly. Do not wait till days/hours before your assessment
deadline to do so.

Tips for success:

•       
Support for this assessment will be provided
during teaching sessions, directed study and tutorial support with the module
team. Please make the most of this support whilst completing your assessment

•       
Read through and highlight key information
from the case study that you think will be useful to refer to in your
assessment 

Students who have
done a similar assessment before recommend that you…

•       
Make sure you plan time to work on your
assessment. This includes allocating time for reading, writing, editing, and
formatting.

   Advice from your Academic Librarian 

•       
Use Library Services to search for relevant books,
conference proceedings and journal articles 

•       
Book an appointment with an Academic Liaison Librarian to discuss
library services search terms, advice on referencing software and support
with understanding and applying APA referencing 

Important information
about your assessment 

You
must submit an individual report that is YOUR
OWN WORK. It is essential that you abide by the University Regulations on
Academic Honesty, and any form of cheating will be dealt with in accordance
with the University Regulations: https://www.worcester.ac.uk/registryservices/681.htm

This
module will be using Turnitin via the Blackboard module for assignment
submission. Students will have the opportunity to view their own originality
report, make amendments and re-submit up until the due date. Academic tutors
will also be able to view the originality reports and occasionally they may
be used as part of the process of investigation into suspected cases of
academic misconduct.

To submit your work, go to the Blackboard site for this
module and submit your work via the Turnitin submission portal under the
‘assessments’ section. Do not
forget to click ‘Accept submission’ to save. You can also generate a receipt.
You should always check that your work has been correctly uploaded following
submission.

IMPORTANT
NOTES ABOUT YOUR ELECTRONIC ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION:

•       
Assignments not submitted via Blackboard will not be
accepted and a NS mark will be entered in such cases. 

•       
It is your responsibility to ensure that you up-load
your assignment in good time before the deadline and to the correct drop-box
or gateway.

•       
It is your responsibility to ensure that you up-load
the correct file with your assignment. Double copies of assignments will not
be accepted and in such cases the first submission will be marked. 

•       
Assignments submitted incorrectly (i.e.: in the wrong
place, empty file, work simply pasted into a window on Blackboard) will not
be marked and a NS grade will be entered.

•       
Assignments submitted after the deadline will be
subject to the usual penalties for late submission.

•       
If you experience difficulties with the IT systems,
please contact the ILS helpdesk [email protected] and NOT the module team.

•       
Mitigating circumstances citing reasons such as
“Blackboard did not work” will not be accepted unless ILS issues a formal
notification of system failure on the relevant days.

•       
Please use Arial 12pt font and double space your
work. Remember to use APA format for citations and references. 

You must adhere to the word limit for the assessment. There
will be a +10% margin, beyond which nothing will be marked. The word count
refers to everything in the main body of the text. Everything before (ie
abstract, acknowledgements, contents, executive summaries etc) and after the
main text (ie references, bibliographies, appendices etc) is NOT included in
the word count limit. Tables in the main body of the assignment are included
in the word count. The marker will not consider any work after the +10% word
count has been reached, within the allocation of marks. Students may
therefore be penalised for a failure to be concise and for failing to
conclude their work within the word count specified. For

CRITERIA

Grade A

Grade B

Grade C

Grade D

Grade F

Grade G

Relevance

(relationship to the assessment

criteria)

Does the work answer the

question set to

show attainment of the learning outcomes?

Exceptional response to all

the assessment criteria for the task

Very
strong response to the assessment

criteria for the task

Good thorough response to

assessment

criteria for the task

Sufficient
response to assessment

criteria for the task

Weak
response to main

assessment

criteria for the task

Very
poor response to main assessment

criteria for the task

Advanced

Knowledge
and

understanding

Exceptional
systematic mastery of advanced

knowledge,

principles
and

concepts
in area of study,

together
with very strong

independent
critical and

evaluative

understanding

of
current issues and insight at

the forefront of the discipline

Highly
developed

systematic

advanced

knowledge and

critical

understanding
of area of

study, including

independent
critical

awareness
of

current issues

and insights at the forefront of the
discipline

Good
systematic advanced

knowledge
and

understanding
of area of study including

awareness
of

current
issues and insights at the

forefront of the discipline

Adequate
sound advanced

knowledge
and

understanding of

the area of study,

some of which is informed by

developments at

the forefront of the discipline

Limited
advanced

knowledge and

understanding of area of study

Very
limited advanced

knowledge
and

understanding of area of study

Analysis (Critical analysis)

Does the work provide evidence of
conceptual

understanding,

applied
analytical

interpretation
and evaluation?

Goes
well beyond what is taught in

insightful,
advanced

study/research,
to develop

original
critical analysis and

evaluation
that shows

exceptional

initiative and an authoritative independent
grasp of issues

Evidence
of systematic

breadth
and depth of critically

appraised and insightful

advanced

study/
research to develop

independent

original
critical

analysis and evaluation

Evidence
of systematic breadth and depth of

independent

engagement
with advanced study and research to

develop
relevant

critical analysis to inform good response to
task

Evidence
of independent

engagement with

advanced
research and study to inform satisfactory

response
to task,

but
limited in range and depth of critical analysis

Insufficient
evidence of

independent

engagement with advanced

research
and

study
and/or of

relevant
current academic references

Significantly
inadequate

evidence
of

independent

engagement with

advanced research and study

Understanding
of techniques of enquiry

Exceptional
ability in

accomplished

and
innovative application of

comprehensive
critical and

practical

understanding

of
techniques of enquiry to

provide
original solutions to

complex

problems in the field of study

Well
developed competent critical and

practical
selfdirected

application
of

techniques
of enquiry to

provide
original solutions to

complex

problems in the field of study

Comprehensive
critical and

practical

understanding
of

techniques
of enquiry and

independent

application
to

research/advanced

scholarship in field of study

Comprehensive
critical and

practical

understanding
of

techniques
of enquiry and

application
to

research/advanced

scholarship in field of study

Evidence
of critical and

practical

understanding
of techniques of

enquiry for area of study has

significant
gaps

or flaws resulting

in
limited ability to critique advanced

scholarship
in

field

Evidence
of critical and practical

understanding of techniques of

enquiry
for area of study is

significantly
lacking

Quality of argument

(Argument/

Communication)-

Is the work presented

logically, with

themes and links made between

sources
of theory and evidence?

Exceptional
skills in

constructing
academic

arguments
and communicating complex ideas/ viewpoints/

information/
evidence to advance

knowledge and understanding

Very
well developed

communication/
presentation of

complex ideas/ viewpoints/

information/

evidence
to sustain

scholarly

arguments that advance understanding

Effective
logical and coherent

communication/ presentation of

complex
ideas/ viewpoints/

information/

evidence
to

sustain informed arguments

Competent
logical and coherent

communication/
presentation of

complex
ideas/ viewpoints/

information/

evidence
to

sustain
argument with some

weaknesses,
eg in structure,

coherence
or

currency,
but

generally
sound if standard judgement

Argument/
explanation is weak/poorly

constructed,

unsubstantiated

or
significantly lacking in

coherence or validity

Little
evidence of an independently constructed

argument
with

appropriate
supporting

analysis or evidence

Evaluation &

Conclusion

(Skills

development)

How well is the information

evaluated
& is there a conclusion?

Exceptional
demonstration

at
a professional level of

competency
in relevant

evaluation skills

The
work shows that different and complex views have

been discussed, leading to a justified,

independent
conclusion/s based on an

evaluation
of the evidence.

Relationships
between

knowledge

derived
from different

contexts
are

demonstrated

as
appropriate (e.g.  information from
different modules)

Capable and effective

application at a

professional
level of

competency
in relevant

evaluation
skills

The
work shows that

different and

complex views

in
the

information

have mostly

been
evaluated to reach a coherent

conclusion/s.

Consistent and effective

application
at a

professional
level of competency in

relevant
evaluation skills

The
work shows some recognition

of
the complexity of academic

debate
and

conflicting
views in the information

have,
in general,

been discussed and some

conclusion/s
drawn.

Effective
demonstration at a professional level of competency in

relevant
evaluation skills

The
work shows limited recognition

of
the complexity of academic

debate.
Conflicting views in the

information
are presented in a simplified  

unevaluated way. 

Any
conclusion/s are limited.

Insufficient
evidence of

demonstration at

a
professional level of

competency
in relevant

evaluation
skills

Very
limited evidence of

demonstration
at a professional level of competency in

relevant
evaluation skills

Format
and style

(Skills

development)

Is the format and style in line with
subject

conventions?
E.g.,

APA for

Psychology

Exceptional
demonstration

of
format and style

An
appropriate format and style including

language,
layout

and
referencing has been

consistently applied.

Capable
and effective

demonstration

of
format and style

An appropriate format and

style
including language,

layout
and

referencing has been mostly applied.

Consistent
and effective

demonstration of

format and style

An
appropriate format and style including

language,
layout and referencing

has been partially applied.

Effective
demonstration of

format
and style

An
appropriate format and style including

language,
layout

and referencing is apparent in places

Insufficient
demonstration of

format and style

The work has an inappropriate format and
style

Very
limited demonstration of

format
and style