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Assignment questions
PsychologyDiscussion postCommunity mental health

Community planning versus medical and behavioural models

Three models, and the comparison works only if you notice they answer different questions: two ask what is wrong with this person, and one asks what is wrong with the conditions.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 15, 2026

01

Community planning against two individual models

The comparison has a clean structure once you see what each model takes as its unit. The medical model locates disorder within the individual, understood as pathology with biological causes and treated pharmacologically or through clinical intervention. The behavioural model also works at the individual level but locates the problem in learned patterns of behaviour and their contingencies, treated by identifying and changing those contingencies rather than by medication. Community planning is different in kind rather than in technique: it takes the population as the unit, asks what conditions produce distress at scale — housing, employment, isolation, exposure to violence, access to care — and intervenes on those. Two models ask what is wrong with this person; the third asks what is wrong with the circumstances, and that difference in the unit of analysis is the axis the whole discussion turns on rather than any disagreement about technique.

The productivity question invites a false choice and the strongest answers refuse it while still taking a position, since the prompt asks you to support a stance with examples and data. The honest reading is that they operate at different levels and neither substitutes for the other: community approaches can reduce incidence and improve access at population scale, which individual treatment cannot do however well delivered, but a person in acute crisis needs clinical care that no amount of upstream planning replaces. Where community approaches genuinely outperform is in reach and in cost per person affected, and where they are weakest is in the timescale over which effects appear and the difficulty of attributing them. The brief also asks you to respond to classmates who favour a different approach, so leave your position stated clearly enough to be disagreed with rather than hedging it into agreement with everyone.

Likely learning objectives

Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.

  • 01
    Distinguish three mental health models by the unit each takes as its object.
  • 02
    Assess population and individual approaches as operating at different levels.
  • 03
    State a position clearly enough to sustain disagreement.
Assignment instructionsQuoted verbatim

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

How does community planning compare to the medical or behavioral models of mental health? Is a community approach more productive than an individualistic approach? In your responses to your classmates, support your position with examples and data. Respond to classmates who favor a different mental health approach. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/1… Above is the Article for this discussion
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes. Discussion: Mental Health Model 2 Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages. Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor. The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument. ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours. Discussion: Mental Health Model 2

02

Turn the brief into deliverables

  1. 01
    A comparison of community planning with both individual models.
  2. 02
    A stated position on the productivity question.
  3. 03
    Supporting examples and data.
  4. 04
    Responses to classmates holding a different view, with APA citations.
03

Comparing the models, then judging productivity

01

The medical model

Describe individual pathology with biological causation and clinical treatment.

02

The behavioural model

Describe learned patterns and contingencies as the locus of the problem.

03

Community planning as a different unit

Explain population-level conditions as the object of intervention.

04

Take a position on productivity

Argue where community approaches outperform and where they cannot substitute.

05

Name the weakness of your own view

Acknowledge timescale and attribution difficulties for community approaches.

04

Evidence on population versus individual approaches

Recommended databases

  • SAMHSA
  • The assigned Washington Post article
  • PsycINFO
  • American Journal of Public Health
  • World Health Organization mental health resources

Search sequence

  1. 1.
    Read the assigned article first, since the discussion is built on it.
  2. 2.
    Look for population-level mental health intervention evaluations rather than clinical trials.
  3. 3.
    Find cost-per-person or reach data, which is where community approaches have the strongest case.
  4. 4.
    Search for critiques of community approaches so the weakness section is evidenced rather than conceded.
05

Reference shortlist

These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.

Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.

  1. 01

    About Adverse Childhood Experiences

    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · 2024

    Population evidence that conditions in childhood shape mental health outcomes at scale, which is the community model's empirical basis.

  2. 02

    Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct

    American Psychological Association · 2017

    The professional framework governing individual clinical practice, useful for describing what the medical and behavioural models are accountable to.

  3. 03

    Wealth Inequality

    Pew Research Center · 2024

    Data on the social and economic conditions community planning targets.

  4. 04

    Empathy, sympathy and compassion in healthcare: Is there a problem? Is there a difference? Does it matter?

    Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, via PubMed Central · 2016

    A conceptual analysis distinguishing terms in care that everyday usage blurs, a model for distinguishing these three approaches.

06

Review before submission

Common mistakes

  • Comparing community planning only with the medical model and ignoring the behavioural one.
  • Treating the question as a contest one approach must win outright.
  • Hedging so thoroughly that no classmate could disagree with the post.
  • Supporting the position with assertion rather than the data the prompt requires.

Submission checklist

  • Are all three models addressed and distinguished by their unit of analysis?
  • Is a position taken on the productivity question?
  • Are examples and data supplied rather than asserted?
  • Could a classmate disagree with what you wrote?

Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.

Written by

Aaron Bishop

MA, Education

assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines

Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.

Reviewed by

Dr. Nathan Cole

PhD, Rhetoric & Composition

Argumentation and thesis development

Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.

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