The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

Fibbins, Hamish; Ward, Philip; Stanton, Robert; Thom, Jeanette; Burdett, Amanda; Lederman, Oscar; Rosenbaum, Simon

2020 The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

doi: 10.1108/jmhtep-01-2020-0006

Physical activity is increasingly recognised as critical to improving physical and mental health (MH). Understanding the education and training requirements of exercise professionals will support better integration of these emerging MH professionals within the multidisciplinary MH team. The purpose of this study was to determine the exposure to, knowledge and attitudes of final year exercise physiology students towards people with mental illness (MI).Design/methodology/approachStudent exposure to and knowledge and attitudes of people living with MH were assessed via a 24-item online questionnaire.FindingsIn total, n = 63 out of 78 eligible students participated (81%). Of the participants, 81% (n = 51) showed a favourable attitude towards people with MI and 68% (n = 43) of participants had good knowledge of topics relating to MI. Significant correlations existed between the total score for attitude and any exposure to MH issues and having undertaken placement as part of university training and knowledge and total scores. Further training and education are needed to better equip exercise physiology graduates to work with people with MI.Originality/valueThis is the first study to examine the attitudes and knowledge of exercise physiology students towards people living with MI and their association with exposure to MI. Given the growing number of exercise professionals being integrated into multidisciplinary MH teams, this study may help to direct the delivery of associated training and education services.

De Jesus, Nancy Santiago; Maurice, Aurelie

2020 The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

doi: 10.1108/jmhtep-06-2019-0031

France, once a pioneer in psychiatry, is now sinking as its population faces major mental health challenges. This includes the 12 Million French individuals with psychiatric conditions, the lack of appropriate structures and the shortage of skilled mental health professionals, but it also leaves families in critical situations. The purpose of this study is to explore the carers’ caregiving experiences and to suggest ways to organise educational programmes to support mental health carers in France.Design/methodology/approachThe research was conducted from January 2018 to November 2019. It included French carers of patients with mental conditions. Recorded semi-structured interviews were used and findings were analysed through an inductive thematic analysis and regrouped into key themes.FindingsParticipants had overwhelming negative representations of “mental illness”. The fact that they were excluded from participating in the patient’s health management further added to their misconceptions around mental disability, it limited their communication with their family and amplified their burdens.Research limitations/implicationsThere is an urgent need for carer empowerment; carers should be included in educational programmes, they should benefit from French Government subsidies and social-network assistance and receive quality assistance by trained mental health professionals. The critical situation of carers can only be addressed by combining these three steps and through the action of appropriate actors in the field of mental health, thus alleviating the current paradigm of psychiatric care in France.Originality/valueThousands of research papers regarding carers have been published in other countries. In addition yet, to the knowledge, only a few investigations on French mental health carers have been conducted to this day. The singularity of this research lies in the rare individual interviews, which provided us with first-hand testimonies of mental health carers in France. This data could be of vital aid for professionals and for policymakers when advocating for better support of carers in mental health.

Maindonald, Rebecca; Attoe, Chris; Gasston-Hales, Melanie; Memon, Perah; Barley, Elizabeth

2020 The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

doi: 10.1108/jmhtep-11-2019-0062

This study aims to evaluate a training in mental health crisis support for non-mental health professionals who work in urgent care settings. The training consists of an e-learning module, a one-day face-to-face (F2F) interactive study day and simulation training.Design/methodology/approachThis multi-methods study collected data pre and post training and at three to six months post training. Validated questionnaires, rating scales and open-ended questions were used to measure self-efficacy in health-care skills, attitudes towards mental illness and knowledge and confidence in working in mental health. A subsample of participants was interviewed post training about how they had used the knowledge and skills learned.FindingsA total of 706 staff completed the e-learning, 88 attended the F2F training and 203 attended simulation training. Overall satisfaction with the training was high, with F2F and simulation training preferred. Statistically significant improvements in self-efficacy for health-care skills, positive attitudes towards mental illness, and mental health-related knowledge and confidence were found post training. Qualitative analyses of interview and survey data indicated that participants had translated learning to practice through improved attitudes and behavioural changes when working with patients experiencing a mental health crisis.Originality/valueThis training improved mental health-related knowledge, confidence and self-efficacy and reduced mental health-related stigma in professionals who provide urgent care to people in mental health crisis. Participants reported changes to their practice following training; this is important as care has been inadequate for this group. Workforce planners and leaders should consider implementing this or similar training widely.

Long, Matthew Sydney

2020 The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

doi: 10.1108/JMHTEP-08-2019-0036

PurposeThis paper aims to contribute to the debate about the closure of institutional mental health-care facilities, from an experiential perspective of a former mental health inpatient, ongoing service user and campaigner for retention of such facilities. It argues that auto-ethnographic accounts of mental illness by those with multiple social identities can have a greater role in terms of future training of mental health-care professionals.Design/methodology/approachThe paper offers an experiential account of the impact of mental health facility bed closures as a patient admitted to institutional mental health facilities; as a mental health campaigner, fighting for the provision of both places of safety and “safe space” within his own local community; and as an ongoing service user. The research is in the interpretivist tradition of social science in taking an auto-ethnographical methodological stance.FindingsThis paper is underpinned by two key theoretical notions. Firstly, Stuart Hall’s concept of the Familiar Stranger (2017) is used to explore the tensions of self-identity as the author SHIFTS uncomfortably between his three-fold statuses. Secondly, the notion of “ontological insecurity” offered by Giddens (1991) is used with the paper exploring the paradox that admission to a mental health facility so-called “place of safety” is in fact itself a disorientating experience for both patient and carer(s).Research limitations/implicationsNo positivistic claims to reliability, representativeness or generalisability can be made. It is the authenticity of the account which the reader feels should be afforded primacy in terms of its original contribution to knowledge.Practical implicationsThis paper should have practical use for those tasked with developing educational and training curriculums for professionals across the mental health-care sector.Social implicationsThis paper implicitly assesses the political wisdom of the policy of mental health bed closures within the wider context of the deinstitutionalisation movement.Originality/valueThis paper is underpinned by original experiential accounts from the author as patient, campaigner for places of safety and onging service-user of mental health care provision.

Mitchell, Andrew E.P.

2020 The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice

doi: 10.1108/jmhtep-09-2019-0048

The purpose of this paper is to investigate perceived stressors and coping behaviours in student nurses on a pre-registration programme of study. Stress in student nurses has been identified with decreased emotional well-being and poor academic achievement. The significance of stress and coping behaviours in students during training has implications for education and practice.Design/methodology/approachThe present study recruited 87 pre-registration student nurses in a cross-sectional design. Bivariate and multivariate analyses assessed the differences in field and year of study and the students’ perceived stress and coping behaviours.FindingsThe findings showed that stress is a significant issue in nurse training. Fifty-three per cent of the participants had levels higher than the mean. Interestingly, the present study found that high-perceived stress was associated with avoidance behaviours. The most common type of perceived stress and ranked by highest factor were from written assignments and a lack of professional skills and knowledge. Their peer group and everyday life activities were shown as potential ways of coping with stressors. Thus, it seems reasonable to focus support on decreasing avoidant and enhancing stress-reducing behaviours.Practical implicationsPsychological stress and coping behaviours must be considered together, as perceived stress is bound by the ability to ameliorate stress by managing helpful and unhelpful behaviours.Originality/valueThe findings may suggest that a potential benefit could come from the provision of helpful strategies such as peer group support and reduction of avoidant behaviours. Also, there seems to be a need for greater mental health literacy in dealing with stress during training.