The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

Margaret McAllister; Shirley Morrissey; Donna McAuliffe; Graham Davidson; Harry McConnell; Prasuna Reddy

2011 The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

doi: 10.1108/17556221111171711

Purpose – It is now common place for mental health services to operate using multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) where several health professionals simultaneously maintain their disciplinary distinctiveness and assume complementary professional roles. This requires awareness of other team members' disciplines and good team‐work skills. Yet in Australia, the preparation of health professionals continues to occur primarily in single‐discipline programs, where interaction with other disciplines often only occurs in an ad hoc, time‐limited way during clinical placement. This paper seeks to provide serious reflection on preparing students for the multidisciplinary practice within the mental health system. Design/methodology/approach – The authors introduce a student placement preparation learning package that was developed and trialled with a range of health professional students at two Australian universities. Transformative learning principles underpinned the development of the education materials and related activities, which were designed to sensitise students to the potential problems that arise within MDTs and to equip them with communication strategies for use in their university placement experiences, as well as in their future professional practice. Findings – The very large majority of student placement preparation workshop participants rated the workshop activities as extremely helpful. After participating in the activities, the very large majority of participants strongly endorsed the workshop learning objectives of understanding the different roles of MDTs members, skills required for working in MDTs, principles of collaborative team‐work and respectful, positive attitudes to MDTs members. Originality/value – The transformative learning approaches to education of health professionals which are described in this paper help students to examine ways to think more critically and constructively about MDTs.

Jenny Weinstein; Markella Boudioni

2011 The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

doi: 10.1108/17556221111171720

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the need for a more holistic approach to mental health training that brings together the medical and the social knowledge and skills required by today's practitioners. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on the authors' experience of developing, delivering and evaluating a joint mental health programme at London South Bank University between 2004 and 2008. Findings – The authors suggest some advantages of the model as indicated by the scant literature, the findings of a small pilot evaluation study and from information recorded and shared by other university providers of joint programmes – the Joint Programmes Forum. Further investigation is recommended. Research limitations/implications – The absence of systematic evaluation of joint programmes over the 20 years of their existence and the limitations of the evaluation undertaken by the authors is acknowledged. Originality/value – It is suggested in the paper that a specialist holistic training that incorporates nursing, social work (and in the future possibly occupational therapy and psychology) knowledge and skills would create well‐prepared professionals to work with mental health and learning disability service user groups (and a similar model could equally be explored for older people and people with physical disabilities or long‐term health conditions). This may be considered as a more successful solution to the effective integration of interprofessional education than the current struggles to superimpose it on uni‐professional courses.

Marjorie Lloyd; Liz Lefroy; Stephen Yorke; Richard Mottershead

2011 The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice

doi: 10.1108/17556221111171739

Purpose – It is generally agreed that carers in mental health care play a vital role in helping people to maintain their place in the community and reducing the time clients spend in hospital or residential settings. The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual approach to involving carers in higher education by acknowledging their contribution to improving practice and identify the impact upon student learning in mental health and social care professions. Design/methodology/approach – A brief review of the policy and literature on involving carers in mental health services and education explored the historical and current influences upon practice. This was then applied to the experience of the authors when teaching nursing and social work students in a higher educational setting and evaluated as developing outcomes in carer involvement practice. Findings – Relationships between carers and students in health and social care may be created in higher education settings that can develop supportive, informative and recovery‐focused care in practice. Creating such relationships in the higher educational setting helps students to prepare for developing relationships with carers in practice. Originality/value – Involving carers in education may improve outcomes in recovery for the client and carer experience and the development of professional and self awareness skills in students. Developing involvement practices in higher education begins the process early in the experience of health and social care students, providing a safe environment in which to master such skills.

Peter Nolan; Eleanor Bradley; Neil Brimblecombe

2011 The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

doi: 10.1108/17556221111171748

Purpose – As the beliefs people hold exert more influence over their behaviour than any other single factor, the purpose of this paper is to elicit those held by service users about being cared for in acute mental health settings. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected by means of a semi‐structured, non‐standardised, 17‐item interview schedule from an opportunistic sample of 44 respondents (18 men and 26 women) following their admission over a nine‐month period. Findings – Findings suggest that those admitted to acute care settings harbour very different beliefs about what to expect, what is being offered and how it will affect them. While some respondents saw admission as an event simply to be endured, others saw it as a means of gaining relief, accessing better care and treatment as well as providing respite for their families. Whereas previous knowledge and experience of acute care did influence their beliefs, this was largely due to how they interpreted experiences rather than the experiences themselves. The data also suggest that service users can be assisted to reframe their beliefs by means of genuine, consistent and empathic relationships, thus putting services users in a position to derive maximum benefit from being admitted. Originality/value – Relatively little attention has been paid to the beliefs that service users have on entry to mental health services, in comparison to that paid to problem‐identification, care planning and intervention regimens. A starting point for any health care intervention, especially mental health care, should be the identification of the beliefs held by those about to embark on treatment programmes. This area deserves much more attention than it has been given hitherto.

Yasir Abbasi; Mark Broadhurst; Allan Johnston; Sathya Vishwanath

2011 The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

doi: 10.1108/17556221111171757

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe how an adult liaison psychiatry service was established at a hospital introducing the special interest service provision model, which is a cost‐effective method of developing new services. Design/methodology/approach – The paper describes a step‐by‐step process of setting up a new service. Nearly, 20 months after its introduction, the new service was evaluated using a retrospective survey design that involved reviewing the patient referral forms. The authors looked at the demographical data, reasons for referral and the outcome of assessment for patient assessed by this service. Findings – Results revealed that the majority of the referrals (51 per cent, n =136) were from the medical ward, 56 per cent of the psychiatric assessments were done within 24 hours of the referral, 37 per cent of the assessed patients were provisionally diagnosed with a depressive episode and 24 per cent with substance misuse. Originality/value – The paper describes a new model of service provision. From the above findings it can be extrapolated that this model of service provision is generalisable and can be replicated anywhere in the UK. This paper would interest clinicians and individuals interested in service development and improving patient care.