The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

Sutton, Rebecca; Lawrence, Kate; Zabel, Elisabeth; French, Paul

2019 The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

doi: 10.1108/jmhtep-06-2018-0038

The purpose of this paper is to provide an exploration of Recovery Academy influences upon employment and service use amongst individuals with lived experience of mental health difficulties.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilised a questionnaire design over a nine-month period. Participants’ baseline and follow-up data were analysed to explore the influence of course attendance upon employment and service use.FindingsAt follow-up, there was a significant association between participants attending Recovery Academy courses and paid or self-employment (p<0.05). However, there were also no significant differences in service use over time between those who attended courses and those who did not attend any courses.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is required to explore the cost-effectiveness of the Recovery Academy. As participants were all enroled onto the Recovery Academy findings may not be generalisable to other Recovery Colleges. There is a need for more robust research such as a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate multiple Recovery Colleges and establish definitive conclusions as to their economic implications.Social implicationsThere may be value in the Recovery Academy as a gateway to employment, speaking to the transformative powers of Recovery Colleges. The Recovery Academy may serve as a vehicle to support service users to obtain paid or self-employment, and thus promote community reintegration.Originality/valueThis paper offers an important contribution to the Recovery College literature, which remains limited in evaluative evidence, particularly regarding associated economic factors, such as employment and service use.

Sutton, Rebecca; French, Paul

2019 The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

doi: 10.1108/JMHTEP-04-2018-0027

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to reflect upon experiences of measuring the influences of the Recovery Academy within Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) NHS Foundation Trust amongst a student population of health professionals. This paper aims to present considerations for future quantitative research surrounding the efficacy of Recovery Colleges such as the Recovery Academy.Design/methodology/approachThis paper utilised baseline data collected from health professionals as part of a quantitative evaluation of the Recovery Academy. The paper discusses challenges experienced in measuring change amongst this student population within GMMH.FindingsHealth professionals reported positive attitudes towards recovery at baseline presenting challenges in measuring attitudinal change associated with the Recovery Academy. The experiences of conducting research amongst health professionals within GMMH offers insights into the selection and use of self-report measures in Recovery College research; the representativeness of health professional student populations; and models of course attendance within Recovery Colleges.Originality/valueThe existing literature specific to Recovery College influences upon health professionals remains predominantly qualitative and anecdotal. It is important to gather empirical evidence regarding Recovery Colleges to establish their ability to re-orientate health professionals around principles of recovery. This paper therefore offers considerations for future researchers aiming to gather empirical evidence which may facilitate quantitative evaluations of Recovery Colleges such as the Recovery Academy amongst staff populations.

Li, Luming; Gupta, Nikhil; Wasser, Tobias

2019 The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

doi: 10.1108/JMHTEP-10-2018-0060

PurposeMental health providers will be increasingly called on to lead psychiatric efforts to improve care and care redesign. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in the USA requires residency programs to teach quality improvement (QI) and systems-based practice (SBP) to all trainees as part of training requirements. However, teaching QI and SBP concepts without a clinical context can be challenging with low trainee engagement. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachThe authors describe curricular redesign with a specialized educator faculty task force that aimed to create a longitudinal curriculum that integrated abstract QI concepts into clinical practice settings, and helped trainees apply SBP concepts throughout residency. In addition, the authors describe the utilization of resident prescriber profiles to contextualize clinical practice habits, and the implementation of an educational case conference series with emphasis on QI-specific educational tools such as root cause analysis (RCA).FindingsFormal resident feedback from 2016 to 2018 has demonstrated improved trainee satisfaction. The resulting curricular change has also led to a new chief resident role and sustained engagement in QI and SBP education by trainees.Research limitations/implicationsThe faculty task force and curricular design changes described in this paper were implemented at one large academic institution. Thus, additional assessment and research is necessary to address the generalizability of the interventions described.Originality/valueSince QI and SBP are becoming more prominent requirements for medical education accrediting bodies such as the ACGME, the innovative curricular design can benefit other residency and medical student education programs that attempt to integrate clinical practice with education incorporating QI and SBP concepts.

Liem, Andrian

2019 The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

doi: 10.1108/jmhtep-03-2018-0018

As part of a nationwide research about knowledge, attitude, experiences and educational needs towards complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among Indonesian clinical psychologists (CPs), the purpose of this paper is to explore CPs’ perceptions of CAM research and their interest in learning CAM.Design/methodology/approachA link to an online survey was e-mailed to all 1,045 CPs across Indonesia. At the end of the survey, two open-ended questions were asked: “What do you think about CAM research in Indonesia?” and “Why are you interested in learning about CAM?”, which were responded to by 127 participants (87 per cent of females; Mage=36.67, SD=9.02). Participants’ responses were analysed using inductive qualitative content analysis.FindingsIt was found that two global themes for CPs’ perceptions of CAM were to improve participants’ professionalism and as part of continuing education and development for mental health professionals. The favourable responses in this study may reflect participants’ willingness to be involved in collaborative CAM research and education. Moreover, CAM was perceived as part of Indonesian culture and participants viewed CAM research and knowledge as a chance to promote Indonesian local wisdom to complement conventional psychotherapy.Research limitations/implicationsThese findings might call for stakeholders to integrate CAM knowledge into psychology education, facilitate CAM research in psychology settings and encourage collaborative CAM research. However, self-selection bias may limit the findings of this study.Originality/valueThis study explored perceptions of CAM research and interest in learning CAM that have rarely been investigated among mental health professionals and particularly, until now, have not been investigated in Indonesia.

Kotera, Yasuhiro; Van Gordon, William

2019 The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

doi: 10.1108/jmhtep-06-2018-0033

Though several work-related mental health training initiatives have been implemented in Japan, the effectiveness of such approaches remains unclear. Consequently, some Japanese corporations prefer using interventions such as neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) to improve employee mental health and wellbeing. This language-based development methodology has been the subject of debate in terms of the quality of the underlying empirical evidence. However, a perspective missing from this debate is an evidence-based understanding of the first-hand experiences of employees that have undertaken NLP training. The purpose of this paper is to inform this debate by conducting a rigorous qualitative examination of the experiences of Japanese senior managers who had recently received training in NLP.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews attended by 11 Japanese NLP master practitioners were analysed using thematic analysis.FindingsFour themes emerged from the data set: improving work-related mental health, NLP fosters a better understanding of the mind, NLP helps to reframe perspectives relating to work and mental health, and challenges of NLP training.Originality/valueWhile managers found NLP training skills such as reframing and neuro-logical levels useful to their managerial practice and mental health more generally, they raised concerns about NLP’s reputation as well as the utility of some of the techniques employed in NLP.

Garwood, Peter Thomas; Hassett, Alexander

2019 The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

doi: 10.1108/jmhtep-02-2018-0014

The last two decades have seen an increase in service user involvement (SUI) in the training of Mental Health Professionals (MHP). There is developing empirical support for SUI in MHP training, however, there is no published research into SUI in the training of Cognitive Behavioural Therapists. The purpose of this paper is to explore cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) trainees’ experience of SUI in their training. The study focuses on how an individual service user (SU) led training session is experienced and how this differs to routine CBT training.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants. Transcripts of the interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.FindingsData revealed three superordinate themes: first, predisposing influences on learning; second, factors associated with emotional processing of experience; and third, impact upon learning outcomes. The results suggest that participants’ appraisal of their learning from SUI maybe influenced by how they accommodate the emotional impact of the experience.Originality/valueThe paper makes recommendations for educators on courses involving service users (SUs), acknowledges the study’s methodological limitations and suggests areas for future research.