Faculty Development Program on ‘Enhancing Research Output’
A Faculty Development Program on ‘Enhancing Research Output’ was organized by the Department of Psychology for 7 days from July 11 to July 22, 2023. The main objective of the programme was to train the faculty members of the department in the fundamental areas of qualitative research methods, test construction and standardization, quality publications and funded projects. The resource persons for the FDP were Dr. Chinchu C, Post Doctoral fellow, Center for Women Studies, Kochi, and Dr Dileep Francis, Dr. Raja Kamal, Dr. Baba Gnanakumar P, Dr. C. H. Rajakamal, Dr. Arjun Sekhar, and Dr. Kiran Babu, Assistant Professor, Kristu Jayanti College (Autonomous). The faculty members received a hands-on training on the process of tool construction and standardization, qualitative research, and research perception and criteria to calculate research perception used by top journals and funding agencies.

Fdp on Experimental Psychology
The Department of Psychology organized a Faculty Development Programme on experimental Psychology from 25 July to 1 August 2022 at the Psychology Lab from 9:30 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. The FDP aimed at formulating and imparting a standard way of conducting psychology experiments for Undergraduate students. The resource persons were the faculty members of the Department of Psychology who took sessions on various experiments and assessments. The sessions focussed on the report writing formats and methodology for the experiments and assessments. A total of 48 sessions were conducted. The sessions were extremely helpful in enhancing the knowledge of the participants and in finalizing a uniform approach to teaching and conducting the practicals. The FDP was attended by 26 faculty members of the Department of Psychology.

Faculty Enrichment Programme
A faculty enrichment programme was organized on 16th June 2022 by the Department of psychology. The resource person for the programme was Dr. Avinash De Sousa who has an MD in Psych Med and is also a consultant Psychiatrist at Slon Hospital, Mumbai.

One of the unique aspects of this programme involved a clearer understanding of how medicine and psychotherapy are not the opposite sides of a coin, instead, these fields are to be going hand in hand for the growth of mental health and well-being of clients. The indifferences between the psychiatrists and the psychologists should be eliminated to enhance more theoretical and practical experiences for the professionals as well as the clients.

Dr. Avinash D'Souza spoke about the importance of knowing Psychology and Psychiatry by both psychologists and psychiatrists as this will open doors to a better understanding of disorders. Faculties further enquired about issues faced by him as a practitioner of psychotherapy and psychiatry. He further highlighted the student's mental health and rising concerns for the same. He mentioned the role of teachers as facilitators and how teachers can make a difference for a student and promote healthy mental health for youth.

Dr. Avinash emphasized the importance of having more professional psychologists, and how to bring more Psychology students into serious practice.

FDP on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
The Faculty Development Programme (FDP) on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) was conducted for the faculty of the Department of Psychology at Kristu Jayanti College from 3rd August 2021 to 11th August 2021. The resource person for the Programme was Mr T.P. Jawad, Clinical Psychologist, HOD of Clinical Psychology at Human Care Foundation.

Mr Jawad in his interactive sessions discussed the difference between REBT and CBT, and the history of CBT. Mr Jawad then went on to elaborate on the core concepts of CBT. He discussed examples of rational and irrational thinking, the cognitive triad, the role of the therapist and the general nature of CBT and treatment approaches.

There were discussions on the common presenting complaints of clients. The faculty members were given an opportunity to share their experiences and insights while using CBT. The similarity and differences between psychodynamic knowledge and CBT were explored. Various case examples were presented and discussed. The key concepts like thought-action fusion, ABC models, and cognitive restructuring were explained and discussed. Numerous activities, worksheets and videos were also incorporated throughout the programme.

An in-depth discussion on the cases of Generalized Anxiety, Social Anxiety and Mood disorders along with the treatment formulations using the CBT model was held. The sessions also included in-depth training on the various skills like Socratic Questioning, We also were trained on using skills of Socratic questioning, relaxation and behaviour techniques and exercises that were to be used in conjunction with CBT tools. The faculty members were also encouraged to reflect on their own experiences of therapeutic techniques.

The programme was extremely useful for the faculty to understand and improve their own thought processes and behaviours, as well as enriched them with the knowledge to then impart to the students, and also the application in counselling and clinical practice.

FDP on Qualitative and Quantitative Research Analysis
Department of Psychology of Kristu Jayanti College organized a three day Online Faculty Development Program on ‘Qualitative and Quantitative Research Analysis’ from 20th to 22nd May 2020. Faculties from various academic fields from all across the world actively participated in the program. The program had 140 registered participants, coming across from different parts of India and 2 participants coming from Oman and China.

The two-day faculty development program began with the welcome address by Dr. Molly Joy, Head Department of Psychology, Kristu Jayanti college followed by the inaugural address by Rev. Fr. Josekutty P.D., Principal, Kristu Jayanti college who emphasized on the various research methods and the need to equip oneself with the necessary skills for the same.

The first two days of the program was an extensive hands-on-training on R studio. The resource person Dr. Kiran Babu, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Kristu Jayanti College was introduced by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel P.J., Director, Kristu Jayanti College of law and Faculty Department of Psychology. Dr. Kiran Babu’s session on “Skills on ‘R’ for quantitative Research Analysis” gave the participants a detailed idea about the usage of the Software R Studio. Day 1 of the training helped the participants to install R and different packages that are required for running statistical programs. Following the installation of the packages, measurement of Central Tendency, and plotting various types of graphs were taught. As the instructions were given, participants were made to try the same. By the end of the first-day session, participants were given another set of data to have a practice of the same at home. The second day of the session started with explaining the basics of the R language such as variables in R, Different Operators in R such as Arithmetic, Assignment, Relational, and Specific Operators, followed by different Data Types like Vectors, Lists, Matrices, Arrays, Factors, and Data Frames. The last section of the day 2 dealt with Inferential statistics and adding colors to the graphs.

The resource person for the session on Skills in Qualitative Research Analysis was Dr. S. Kadhiravan, Dean of Social Science, Professor, and Head of Department of Psychology, Periyar University. He covered various topics such as understanding Qualitative research, Assumptions in Qualitative Research, Difference between Qualitative and Quantitative research, Types of qualitative research, Important skills required for Qualitative research, and concluded the session with the analysis of different Verbal, Observation, and Mediated Data. His session was cherished for his reality-based information on Qualitative Research Journey. He mentioned the pros and cons of a Qualitative Research Analysis. This Faculty Development Program was indeed an enriching and enlightening experience for all the participants.

FDP on Research and SPSS Applications
Date: 7/03/2017 - 8/03/2017
Number of beneficiaries: In-house:5
List of Resource Persons with details:
Dr.Arun Tipandjan, Research Psychologist, International Centre for Psychological Counseling and Social Research( ICPCSR) Pondicherry

Objective: Enhance hands on experience to use different soft wares in research

The workshop was very educative and gave insight and hands on working experience to PG students and opportunity to final Year students working on their research. Further practical tips on methods of using SPSS and other software’s like G power were also shared. The workshop focused on both the theoretical and practical aspects of research. Few students got the opportunity to analyze their Research data in the workshop using SPSS. The workshop ended with the feedback session which was held during the valediction.