Becoming an Expert by Experience: Benefits and Challenges of Educating Mental Health Nursing Students

The Wisdom of Hindsight: Allies Reflections on Their Role in Supporting the Implementation of Expert by Experience Positions in Academia

Experts by experience involvement in mental health education has consistently demonstrated positive attitudinal outcomes including a greater appreciation for recovery-focused practice. Mental health academic allies have played a crucial role in supporting implementation of expert by experience academic positions. To date the inclusion of their views in research is limited. The aim of this study was to explore and present allies' reflections on their involvement in supporting expert by experience academic roles in relation to "hindsight" and "foresight." A qualitative descriptive design was used, involving in-depth semi-structured interviews with allies who had supported the implementation of academic roles for experts by experience. Participants described the wisdom of hindsight. Based on their own experiences they emphasised the importance of, laying the groundwork, facilitating a supportive environment, contributing to meaningful, credible, and sustainable roles, and vision for the future as key to successful implementation. They also described a vision for the expansion of expert by experience roles in mental health education in the future. Allies' reflections suggest the importance of preparation to facilitate a smooth as possible implementation process and enhance the likelihood of successful outcomes. The transition to recovery-focused mental health services requires the attitudes of health professionals to change. The potential of experts by experience to influence attitudinal change can be enhanced by understanding the experiences and reflections of academic allies.

Stakeholder perspectives on co-designing a post-registration mental health nursing curriculum: A case study

INTRODUCTION

Globally, healthcare regulatory bodies require providers of academic programs to involve service users in the design and delivery of education, yet concrete and tested directions for operationalising this are lacking. Service users' involvement in education is often passive, ad-hoc and tokenistic, with limited input at the program development level.

AIM

To explore the co-design processes and outcomes of a collaborative revision of an Australian post-registration mental health nursing curriculum.

METHOD

Using qualitative case study design, the experiences and collaborative practices of five stakeholders (one mental health service user, two carers and two academics) co-designing a post-registration mental health nursing curriculum were explored.

RESULTS

Commonly identified barriers to meaningful involvement were overcome through planning and collaborative execution of the group's work. Participants reported a strong sense of successful collaboration in reviewing the curriculum, trusting relationships and mutual respect.

DISCUSSION

While it was possible to support and augment stakeholder knowledge in the context of post-registration education, co-design processes were ultimately bound by the university's relatively inflexible bureaucratic context.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

To ensure effective stakeholder collaboration beyond classroom teaching, mental health nurse academics must prepare service users for the role, explaining the language and practices of the tertiary health education and nursing context. As part of co-design processes, organisational mandates must be explored and negotiated, and mutual clarity regarding expectations and roles must be established. A Design Thinking approach can support meaningful engagement of stakeholders in curriculum development.

Effect of online modified mindfulness-based stress reduction training on the resilience of nursing interns in China

AIM

This study aimed to adopt online mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) training to increase the resilience of nursing interns and help them to achieve a smooth transition.

DESIGN

A one-group pretest-posttest study design was used.

METHODS

A total of 119 college nursing interns were recruited from 12 tertiary hospitals in Beijing on Feb.20, 2021. The MBSR training was organized into 4 weeks of courses, conducted online using Tencent Meeting and taught by a certified teacher at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre. Resilience was assessed before and 2 weeks after the training, respectively, using Resilience Scale for Chinese Adolescents via an online questionnaire tool.

RESULTS

Seventy-nine college nursing interns finished both of the resilience questionnaire surveys. The mean resilience values before and after the training were 98.7 ± 13.69 and 104.57 ± 16.64 respectively. The 4-week online MBSR training considerably increased the resilience of nursing interns. This can be an effective measure to maintain a balanced state among nursing interns and help them smoothly transition from school to clinical practice. No Patient or Public Contribution.

Exploring the benefits and challenges of being a consumer educator in nursing education: A scoping review

What is known on the subject The mental health needs of individuals are increasing following the COVID-19 pandemic, with a need to focus on the education of nurses to be equipped to respond. Stigma around mental health still exists for nursing students, with the implementation of mental health education by an individual with lived experience having a known positive effect on stigmatizing attitudes. Research on consumer involvement in nursing education identifies that the consumer role is often varied and casual, with no existing review on the consumer experience. What the paper adds to existing knowledge The study emphasizes the importance of consumer involvement in nursing education. Alongside the literature focussing on the student benefits, this review highlights both the benefits of being an educator, and the challenges of being an educator from the consumer's perspective. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The knowledge around the consumer perspective mapped in this review has the potential to impact and transform education protocols for consumer involvement in education. This can maximize on the meaningful contribution that lived experience has within mental health nursing education. This review enforces the need for an awareness of the challenges consumers face in their role as an educator, and highlights the need for further understanding of how to overcome these challenges. There is also an opportunity to capitalize on the benefits identified by consumers in their role within nursing education and sharing their lived experience. ABSTRACT: Introduction While the mental health needs of populations are increasing, the targeted training of mental health professionals, specifically nurses, is required. Stigma surrounding mental health from nursing students exists, highlighting educational gaps. To address this, the involvement of consumers in undergraduate education has resulted in a positive effect on the stigmatizing attitudes of nursing students. There is still a limited understanding, however, of the consumers experience in this process. Aim To explore the experiences of individuals living with mental illness in educating nursing students. Methods The Joanna Brigg's Institute's (JBI) methodology for scoping reviews was used to search CINAHL, Medline, PsychInfo, Web of Science and Scopus including grey literature. The eligibility criteria for participants included individuals (a) diagnosed with a mental illness; (b) over 18 years of age; and (c) who participated in the educating of nursing students surrounding mental health in any context. Articles were only considered that were in the English language, and no time constraint was enforced during the search strategy for article selection. The search yielded 2640 results, of which 26 articles were included. Results Results found two prominent categories, including both benefits and challenges of being the educator from the consumer perspective. The benefits included: (a) the person behind the diagnosis; (b) reciprocal relationships; (c) positive effects on well-being; (d) unique contribution; and (e) purpose in storytelling. Challenges identified included: (a) vulnerability; (b) voyeuristic; (c) lack of preparation; (d) negative effects on well-being; (e) support; (f) not a real consumer; (g) variation of involvement; and (h) acknowledging consumer perspective. Discussion As consumer-led education for mental health nursing curriculum becomes mandated, amplifying the voice of the consumer in nursing education is crucial. While the benefits and challenges voiced by consumers in their involvement in mental health nursing education have been outlined here, further knowledge focussed on the consumer's experience as an educator outside the classroom setting, and in clinical practicum, alongside consumer involvement in specialized mental health education sessions, could aid in transforming consumer involvement. Implications for practice This review offers an incentive for nurse educators to capitalize on the benefits of educating for consumers to promote a meaningful contribution, while also practicing with an awareness of voiced challenges.

Mental health nursing capability development: Perspectives of consumers and supporters

Mental health nursing requires a specialist range of capabilities and values. In Australian contexts, the preparation of nurses to work in mental health settings has attracted criticism from government reviews, academics, and graduate nurses. Insufficient mental health content and clinical placement experience in undergraduate nursing courses have been central to this criticism. The study aim was to identify the areas and modalities of capability development of graduate mental health nurses, from the perspectives of end point users. In order to meet the aim, a four-item cross-sectional online survey with three additional and open-ended questions was developed. The questions were co-designed with consumer academics and reviewed by consumer and carer organizations. The survey was widely distributed across Australian consumer and carer organizations, with 95 useable responses. Findings indicated strong support for lived experience being integrated into teaching teams for nurses, as well as support for undergraduate direct entry for mental health nursing. Themed content from open-ended responses reflected the survey outcomes as well as prioritizing skill development to support better therapeutic relating and nurse self-care. Key findings included strong support for greater lived experience input into mental health nurse education, specialist undergraduate preparation and a focus on developing relational capabilities in the mental health nurse workforce.

Nurse Educators' Pedagogical Approaches Addressing Student Nurses' Mental Health Care Competence: A Qualitative Study

Nurses' mental health care competence is vital for addressing the current mental health care crisis' demand for quality in mental health care and services. These challenges also involve educational institutions. In the mental health course of the bachelor's nursing curriculum, nurse educators face multiple tasks and challenges concerning preparing students for their clinical placement. This study aimed to explore and describe nurse educators' pedagogical approaches across three universities. The study applied a qualitative and descriptive design, and data were collected from individual qualitative interviews with 13 experienced nurse educators. A content analysis approach in lines with Graneheim and Lundman was used to analyse the data. The content analysis resulted in one theme and three categories, and each category was characterised by three subcategories. The theme intentionally preparing student nurses for mental health care competence served as an overarching theme describing the educators' overall reflections and descriptions. The three categories were: activating students for the mental health context; caring for students on a personal level; and supporting students in grasping the scope of nursing within the mental health context. These categories described the varieties and complexity of nurse educators' pedagogical approaches addressing student nurses' mental health care competence.

Fusion of Clinical and Lived Experiences of Psychosis: Lessons Learned and Implications for Future Clinical Teaching

Psychosis is a clinical syndrome that can cause significant distress leading to hospitalisation/long term stays in psychiatric services. However, limited academic evidence is available examining the lived experience of psychosis. Additionally, no evidence is available looking to combine both learned and experiential knowledge as it pertains to psychosis. As such this article was created to combine both knowledge subsets in order to provide a more complete interpretation of the syndrome itself. This was achieved through academic input from a psychiatrist’s perspective as well as a reflective, autoethnographic input from a service user who has experienced psychosis. Following this collaboration, several recommendations were made to support health professionals to engage appropriately with service users with psychosis. However, the lived experiences of psychosis itself requires further investigation to identify commonalities in experiences that can support clinicians in the diagnosis and co-production of treatment regimens for these service users.

'What's she doing here?' Overcoming barriers to the implementation of Expert by Experience positions in academia

INTRODUCTION

Experts by Experience involvement in the education of health professionals has gained momentum as an important strategy in ensuring quality, person-centred education. Despite being a requirement for occupational therapy programs in Australia and internationally, involvement is variable and limited. Barriers to the implementation of academic roles have been identified, including negative attitudes of colleagues, systemic barriers, and insufficient evidence of their value. Mental health academics who do not identify as having lived experience (referred to as allies) have provided crucial support for Experts by Experience. Understanding their perspectives on implementation barriers and how they can be addressed is crucial to facilitating a broader level of meaningful involvement.

METHODS

A qualitative exploratory research project was conducted, involving in-depth interviews with mental health academic allies (n = 16) from Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. Participants were from the disciplines of nursing, occupational therapy, social work, and psychiatry. Data were analysed thematically.

FINDINGS

Two main themes were identified from the data analysis process: convincing colleagues and dealing with university barriers. Participants described varying attitudes from colleagues towards Experts by Experience, with many not understanding or appreciating their contribution to education and student outcomes. At the university level, reluctance to embrace innovation and funding and other resource shortages presented impediments to the implementation of Expert by Experience roles. Participants described using creative measures to overcome institutional barriers and encourage greater acceptance of such roles by colleagues.

CONCLUSION

This research describes how allies experienced and overcame barriers they faced when supporting the implementation of academic positions for Experts by Experience. Allies have an important role to play in overcoming systemic barriers, and the approaches they have taken to achieve this may be an important source of learning for others with similar aspirations.

Creating or taking opportunity: Strategies for implementing expert by experience positions in mental health academia

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Experts by experience involvement in the education of health professionals demonstrate positive attitudinal change. Meaningful positions for Experts by Experience are limited and ad hoc, due to attitudinal and other barriers to innovation within the higher education sector. Experiences of allies who have supported the implementation of Expert by Experience positions have not been researched. This is important knowledge that could be utilized by potential allies. WHAT THE PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: Academic allies to experts by experience have a crucial role to play in identifying opportunities to establish, implement and sustain expert by experience positions. Allies who have successfully implemented positions for experts by experience have identified influential factors including: right person, right role, collaboration and coproduction, support, and career pathways. Understanding these factors can provide an important basis for other academics to support a widespread increase in academic roles for experts by experience in mental health education. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Establishing and maintaining genuine relationships with service users require significant attitudinal change on the part of mental health professionals. Involving experts by experience in mental health education provides an innovative approach to the challenging of attitudes and the enhancement of more collegial relationships with service users as colleagues in the workplace. This paper demonstrates the importance of allyship to the establishment, implementation and sustainability of expert by experience roles, and highlights critical factors allies have utilized in support of such roles. Nurses and other mental health professional academics have the potential to become allies and support change and innovation. ABSTRACT: Introduction Experts by experience in academia have demonstrated more positive student attitudes towards relationships with service users. Notwithstanding this supportive evidence, academic positions for EBE have not grown substantially. Enhanced understanding of positions that have been implemented is important knowledge for others with similar aspirations. Aim To enrich understanding of the role of allies in identifying and pursuing opportunities to support academic positions for experts by experience. Methods Qualitative exploratory approach, involving In-depth interviews with allies with expertise in supporting academic positions for experts by experience. Results Participants were enthusiastic about creating or taking opportunities to secure expert by experience involvement within their programs. Factors facilitating success included right person, right role, collaboration and coproduction, support and career pathways. Conclusions Significant barriers have prevented proliferation of academic roles for experts by experience. Despite barriers, allies have been successful in supporting the implementation and sustaining of positions, and gained considerable expertise, which may be invaluable to academics with similar aspirations. Implications for practice Realization of policy goals regarding service user involvement in mental health services requires health professionals with the will to embrace partnerships. By creating and taking opportunities, allies have developed expertise to facilitate implementation of positions more widely.