The Centre for Psychiatric Nursing Research and practice: promoting excellence in psychiatric nursing

The Centre for Psychiatric Nursing Research and Practice (CPNRP), is funded by the Department of Human Services Victoria, as an initiative to support psychiatric nurses throughout the State of Victoria. At the time of the CPNRPs inception in 1999, psychiatric nursing had been affected by widespread changes in the delivery of mental health services and nursing education in Victoria. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the development of the CPNRP and how this development reflected the significant issues of the time. The CPNRP introduced a number of programs and other initiatives in response to six primary issues: recruitment, retention, leadership, professional development, research: practice gap and communication.     

Strategy for teaching evaluation research in psychiatric/mental health nursing

The evaluation research course presented in this paper is one strategy for introducing needed evaluation research content at the graduate level in nursing. The course was developed for students who were in their final semester of completing requirements for an MSN degree with a major in psychiatric/mental health nursing. To provide for active involvement in the evaluation research process, students evaluated a psychotherapy group in which they were therapists. The theoretical framework for both class content and the evaluation research project was based on Bloch's extension of Donabedian's approach to evaluation. Using the theoretical framework as a guide, students investigated both process and outcome as well as the relationship between process and outcome. Students reported that the knowledge and skills gained were valuable to their clinical practice. On the other hand, students found the course to be very demanding and difficult to complete in a 15 week period. One unexpected benefit, however, was that the course helped students to understand group process better.     

The Mental health Master Class: An innovative approach to improving student learning in mental health nursing

The Master Class was developed as an additional educational innovation designed to promote learning about mental health and illness and mental health nursing as a career option to 2nd‐year undergraduate nursing students. A number of students had approached the mental health nursing academics expressing two polar views on mental health. They either expressed extreme interest in mental health nursing or significant distress and concern related to studying the core 2nd‐year subject. It was considered that the Master Class could potentially provide students with additional support. It was thought the Master Class may either consolidate their interest in mental health or relieve their stress. This article presents the findings of a pre‐ and postevaluation which was employed to explore the effectiveness of the 5‐day intensive mental health Master Class programme on student's mental health learning and their understanding of the role of a mental health nurse. The findings highlighted that prior to participating in the Master Class, there was a significant sense of uncertainty associated with perceived levels of competence required within the profession of mental health nursing. This was coupled with students expressing they wanted to disengage with the profession even before they had commenced any theory or clinical experience. The post‐Master Class findings illustrated a significant improvement in students desire to consider mental health nursing,     

The Tidal Model: developing an empowering, person-centred approach to recovery within psychiatric and mental health nursing

Nursing theories and nursing models have a low profile within psychiatric and mental health nursing in the United Kingdom. This paper describes the philosophical and theoretical background of the Tidal Model, which emerged from a 5-year study of the 'need for psychiatric nursing'. The Tidal Model extends and develops some of the traditional assumptions concerning the centrality of interpersonal relations within nursing practice. The model also integrates discrete processes for re-empowering the person who is disempowered by mental distress or psychiatric services or both. The paper reports briefly on the ongoing evaluation of the model in practice.     

Implementing research findings into mental health nursing practice: exploring the clinical research fellowship approach

ABSTRACT:  The lack of research utilization within nursing practice has been extensively discussed in the literature. The Clinical Research Fellowship (CRF) program was developed to assist nurses to change practice on the basis of high-quality research evidence. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study examining the experiences of four CRF participants and three of their unit managers in completing the program and implementing changes within the clinical setting. The major themes to emerge from the data were: experience of the program, outcomes, implementation, assistance from the Centre for Psychiatric Nursing Research and Practice, Victoria, Australia, benefits and drawbacks to the program and whether it would be recommended to others. The findings indicate a positive view of the program itself although problems with the implementation stage were clearly evident. Further support following completion of the program is required to achieve maximum benefit from the program.     

The use of learning contracts in mental health nursing clinical placement: an action research

This paper examines the implementation of learning contracts with a cohort of undergraduate nursing students in Hong Kong during a mental health nursing clinical placement. An action learning approach was used by the researchers. Data collection methods included questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Results showed that students' autonomy and motivation in clinical learning increased through the use of learning contracts. There was more sharing between students and teachers and the quality of teaching and learning was improved. The report concludes that contract learning should be integrated into the curriculum of nurse education as a learning strategy for nursing students.     

A 'domains of practice' approach to the standards of psychiatric and mental health nursing

A'domains' of practice approach to the standards of psychiatric and mental health nursina
Standards have considerable influence on the practice of a discipline. As the written and explicit expectations of nurses held by their professional group, nursing practice standards serve as a basis for performance evaluation and as a clarification of the areas of nurses' accountability. Delineated here are the issues that the Canadian Federation of Mental Health Nurses faced as they attempted to identify and describe the nursing behaviours essential to this specialty area. A rationale for the 'domains of practice' approach is provided. The problems inherent in creating such a national document are addressed. Seven practice domains are described; the standards for two domains, the 'Helping' and the 'Effective Management of Rapidly Changing Situations', are outlined in detail.     

Transition to psychiatric/mental health nursing programs: Expectations and practical considerations

Mental health services have developed transition programs to attract staff, including new graduates, staff with mental health nursing experience without formal qualifications, experienced nurses wishing to move into mental health, and nurses returning to the workforce. Transition to psychiatric/mental health programs are considered to be particularly significant in the mental health field because of the relative under‐representation of mental health content in undergraduate curricula. Unfortunately, transition programs have received only minor attention in the literature and there is a paucity of published evaluations to determine their effectiveness. The aim of this paper is to examine transition programs and consider how they meet the expectations of stakeholders, such as consumers of mental health services, and program participants' expectations. It is concluded that published systematic evaluations are lacking, particularly those considered from the perspective of stakeholders. Consideration of these expectations should be reflected in the design and delivery of mental health nursing transition programs.     

Literature and music: an educational strategy in psychiatric mental health nursing

The authors believe that literature and music as an adjunct in teaching psychiatric-mental health nursing are enriching for students and faculty. Although a systematic evaluation process has not yet been completed, anecdotal evidence suggests that more interesting classes and greater learning results from a variety of teaching methods (Bloom, 1976; Shipman & Shipman, 1985). The students learn from the life experiences of others portrayed by the characters in literary and musical form. Insights into the psychodynamics of human behavior are gleaned through the study of the reality of the total person rather than a focus on mental disorders. Moreover, students take a more active role in learning since they problem-solve in class rather than the more passive role that usually accompanies the lecture format. Through the increased use of reflection, analysis, and self-discovery, students hopefully will continue to utilize these processes, thereby increasing their awareness of the psychological aspects of everyday media, valuing human behavior, and perceiving the world in a more integral whole.     

Changing the mental health nursing culture: the nursing clinical development unit approach

Developments in nursing as a profession have been accompanied by a perceived need to increase the relevance of research to nursing practice. The increased exposure to research in nursing curricula and the development of nursing academia has had little impact on either the conduct of clinical research or its utilization within the work place culture. Nursing Clinical Development Units (NCDU) were established with the view to overcoming some of these barriers through partnerships between academia and the clinical field. The aim of NCDU is to strive for improved patient outcomes. Education and research activities should be directed to achieve this patient-orientated outcome. The aim of this paper is to describe the NCDU program introduced by the Centre for Psychiatric Nursing Research and Practice (CPNRP) in Melbourne, Victoria. The way in which the program is designed to facilitate the relationship between CPNRP and the clinical field with the aim of contributing to improved patient outcomes will be emphasized. An evaluation of the program to date suggests that such links will be strengthened, and that this partnership will contribute to a greater involvement in clinically based research.     

Psychiatric nursing and mental health funding: the double dilemma

The impact of mental illness on disease and disability burden is receiving more recognition than has previously been the case. It is now commonly understood that approximately 20% of the Australian population will experience a mental illness at some stage during their lives. Unfortunately this recognition is not reflected in the funding of mental health services, or in strategies to identify and rectify shortfalls in the nursing workforce. This paper provides an exploration of two areas. Firstly an overview of the current funding devoted to mental health and secondly an examination of workforce data with a view to recognising likely future trends for psychiatric nursing. The data demonstrates the existence of a double dilemma, firstly that the need for psychiatric nurses is likely to increase, and secondly that the looming workforce crisis may be more severe than has been anticipated.     

Evaluation of the content and interaction in an online clinical conference for students in advanced psychiatric mental health nursing

Clinical conferences have traditionally been a significant part of the education of psychiatric nurses. With the innovation and increasing popularity of Internet courses, the value of these conferences may be diluted or even lost. This study evaluates an online clinical conference for advanced psychiatric mental health students. The issues raised by students in the conferences were relevant to the objectives of the course. Content analysis of representative conferences indicated that the characteristics of involvement: personal, emotion, and metacognition, and interactivity were evident. Students reported advantages to online discussions, but acknowledged the loss of the greater spontaneity in face-to-face meetings.