Classroom-Based Parent Interview in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing

A classroom-based parent interview was designed and implemented in an undergraduate psychiatric mental health nursing class to fill the gap between nursing students and parents of child or adolescent patients with mental health issues faced during clinical. The goals of this learning activity were to increase understanding of what parents experience when dealing with their child’s mental health problems and to increase student engagement and attention. The class using this learning activity consisted of three parts: 1) an assigned pre-class reading;2) a mini-lecture;and 3) a parent interview presentation. Students were pre-assigned a reading chapter and faculty-developed interview questions. During the mini-lecture, important knowledge related to mental health care of children was assessed using CourseKey software. After the mini-lecture, the parent guest speaker delivered her presentation about herself, her child’s strengths and abilities, her child’s mental health problems and their impact, and her family’s strengths based on the interview question prompts for about 30 minutes, followed by 20 minutes of a Q & A session. The set of interview questions was developed by faculty based on the competency questions of the Child Behavior Check List. Despite some limitations, this classroom-based parent interview using a flipped classroom model was found to be a meaningful learning strategy by increasing student engagement and attention, increasing retention of knowledge learned in class, and filling that gap in clinical.

Nurses’ Perceptions of Patient Safety in Community Mental Health Settings: A Qualitative Study

Mental health care has moved from hospital settings to community mental health settings, and there is a need to explore the perceptions of patient safety among registered nurses working in this field. Patient safety is to include everyone and to be the goal in all aspects of health care. The aim of the study was to explore registered nurses’ perceptions of patient safety in community mental health settings for people with serious mental illness. The study was qualitative and descriptive in nature and interviews were carried out during spring 2012, with seven registered nurses working in community mental health settings for people with serious mental illness in five municipalities in the middle of Sweden. The sampling was purposive and data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The findings showed that the registered nurses understood patient safety as providing support to people with serious mental illness in regaining and maintaining health through good treatment and respecting self-determination and avoiding coercion. The terms of daily living in small community mental health settings within the a large community health care organization, communication, sufficient knowledge of psychiatric disabilities among people in the residents’ network, and national laws and regulations, all had implications for patient safety. The registered nurses perceived patient safety as involving a wide range of issues that in other areas of care are more often discussed in terms of quality of care. Determining the boundaries of patient safety in community mental health settings for people with serious mental illness can be a first step in establishing workable routines that ensure safe patient care.

Child Neglect and Perspectives of Nurses Specializing in Mental Health and Psychiatry in Family Violence:Clinical Case

We live in a changing society in which the family plays a role in fostering close relationships among family members,as well as the responsibility to pass on values and principles to them.When the actions of parents and other families impair the child‟s rights and needs in terms of psychomotor,intellectual,moral,emotional or relationship development,we will face situations of neglect,abuse or violence.Since these behaviors can be active(sexual,physical or psychological violence)or passive(by default,to ensure the well-being of the child).Neglect is a form of abuse that leaves the child feeling ostracized and guilty.

The feelings and thoughts of mental health nurses concerning the management of distressed and disturbed in-patients: A comparative qualitative European study

High levels of distress and disturbance amongst those experiencing acute mental illness can be a major problem for mental health nurses. The feelings experienced by these nurses when caring for and supporting disturbed and/or distressed patients along with their concurrent thoughts are not well described in the literature. To date, this complex issue has not been explored within a comparative European context. The objective of this qualitative study was to explore the feelings and thoughts of mental health nurses when supporting and caring for distressed and/or disturbed patients in 6 European countries. Methods: Focus groups were used to collect data from 130 mental health nurses working in acute inpatient psychiatric settings. Results: Data were analysed using content analysis. Findings highlighted 6 broad themes: 1) Mixed emotions: expressive and responsive, 2) Procedure for caring for and supporting disturbed and/or distressed patients, 3) Use of guidelines for caring and supporting disturbed and/or distressed patients, 4) Team and organisational support, 5) Ethical concerns: Cognitive dissonance and 6) Education and training. Commonalities and differences were?found across all themes. Approaches to care, nurses’ role and education, clinical guidelines and/or standards vary from country to country, therefore the care, treatment and management of distressed and/or disturbed patients are various. As a result, mental health nurses have different experiences, various emotional quandaries concurrent with cognitive dissonance and different coping strategies when caring for and supporting distressed and disturbed patients. Conclusions: More emphasis needs to be given to the emotional quandaries and concurrent cognitive dissonance experienced by mental health nurses caring for distressed and/or disturbed inpatients in acute psychiatric settings. Increased access to education and training with particular attention to interpersonal communication and relationship building within clinical teams needs to be a priority given the experiences described by mental health nurses.

The feasibility of an internet-based intervention for Chinese people with mental illness: A survey of willingness and attitude

Background:The easy accessibility,increasing usage,and low cost of internet make it a desirable way of providing health information and delivering interventions for health consumers.Studies in other countries have verified and confirmed the effectiveness of internet-based interventions among people with mental health problems.Similar programs have yet to commence in China.Purpose:This study investigated the willingness for,and attitude toward internet-based intervention in Chinese mental health service users and explored the feasibility of such an intervention.Methods:A cross-sectional survey utilizing a self-developed questionnaire was administered to 186 mental health service users in Beijing,between April and May 2011.Results:Most participants held a positive attitude toward online information and expressed interest in getting assistance from the internet.Some advice and suggestions were provided such as more ways of getting assistance,setting up more professional websites,increasing interaction,as well as having government funding and guidance.Conclusion:Internet-based programs are feasible and applicable,and worth implementing with Chinese people with mental illness.

Establishing and reporting content validity evidence of periodic objective treatment review and nursing evaluation

Objective:To design,create and validate an evaluation tool to measure progress of the patient within the national forensic mental health service.Methods:A methodological study with two sequential stages was used for this study.Stage 1 was the instrument development;stage 2 was expert judgment and each for these stages had 3 steps.Results:The 28-item questionnaire was submitted to 20 experts.Both descriptive and quantitative analysis were undertaken.The descriptive analysis included item ambiguity,median and percentage agreement.The quantitative method included a content validity index,content validity ratio and content validity coefficient.The acceptable values for item ambiguity,median and percentage agreement,content validity index,content validity ratio and content validity coefficient were a range of 3 or more between scores,median of 2.75 and above,80 percent criterion,0.79,0.75 and 0.79 respectively.Conclusion:The 28-item tool met all the set criteria for content validity meeting the parameters established in the literature.

The nurses’ voice of working in a newly established community based 24-hour support center for people with psychiatric disabilities

This study explores the perceptions of a small group of nurses working at a newly established 24-hour community-based service enter (SC) for users with psychiatric disability using a qualitative approach. Since the mental health reform in Sweden in 1995 where the communities (in Sweden called municipalities) were given the responsibility to establish service and support to people with severe psychiatric disabilities, they have struggled in finding suitable forms of these kinds of areas. In 2010, this led to the creation and development of a new center aiming to provide services and support based on the expressed needs of people with physchiatric disability in a community located in southern Sweden. During 2011, a total of three group interviews were performed to capture the employed nurses’ perceptions of this newly established SC. The interview texts were analyzed by way of qualitative content analysis. A first reading of the interview texts revealed that the nurses’ perceptions of the service center were unwaveringly positive but that their beliefs about who the specific target group were differed. The main finding was summarized by the theme: Making a difference—on an individual, professional, and organizational level. The sub themes were: 24-hour availability, unclear assignment, and preventing mental illness. The findings indicate a need for a community round-the-clock service center in this Swedish community and a more clear definition of the target group.

The lived experience of a 24-hour support center for persons with psychiatric disabilities: Making me feel almost like an ordinary person

This study illuminates nine psychiatric disabled persons’ lived experience of a newly established community-based service center open around the clock. This new 24-hour support center (SC) was established in 2011 in a Swedish community to better match and facilitate the disabled persons’ needs. In order to illuminate the disabled person’s experiences individual interview was performed. A phenomenological-hermeneutical method inspired by Paul Ricoeur was used to interpret the texts. After a naive reading, a structural analysis revealed two themes: 1), becoming aware of myself as a person, and 2) having a lifeline and belongingness. The comprehensive understanding was interpreted as meaning “Making me feel almost like an ordinary person”, which incorporated the person’s past with their present together with a direction for the future and hope for a more fulfilling life.