The required role of the psychiatric-mental health nurse in primary health-care: an augmented Delphi study

A clinician-monitored 'PTSD Coach' intervention: findings from two pilot feasibility and acceptability studies in a resource-constrained setting

Background: The high prevalence of trauma exposure and consequent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is well documented in low- and middle-income countries, and most individuals with PTSD have limited access to treatment in these settings. Freely available internet-based interventions, such as PTSD Coach (web-based and mobile application), can help to address this gap and improve access to and efficiency of care. Objective: We conducted two pilot studies to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of PTSD Coach in a South African resource-constrained context. Method: Pilot 1: Participants with PTSD (n = 10) were randomized to counsellor-supported PTSD Coach Online (PCO) or enhanced treatment as usual. Pilot 2: Participants (n = 10) were randomized to counsellor-supported PTSD Coach Mobile App or self-managed PTSD Coach Mobile App. Feasibility and acceptability were assessed by comparing attrition rates (loss to follow-up), reviewing participant and counsellor feedback contained in fieldnotes, and analysing data on the 'Perceived helpfulness of the PTSD Coach App' (Pilot 2). PTSD symptom severity was assessed with the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5), changes between treatment and control groups were compared, the reliable change index (RCI) was calculated, and clinically significant changes were determined. Results: Three participants in Pilot 1 and two participants in Pilot 2 were lost to follow-up. Fieldnotes indicated that PTSD Coach Mobile App addressed identified computer literacy challenges in Pilot 1 (PCO); and a shorter duration of intervention (from 8 to 4 weeks) was associated with less attrition. The RCI indicated that four participants in Pilot 1 and eight participants in Pilot 2 experienced significant improvement in PTSD symptom severity. Conclusions: The preliminary results suggest that both platforms can alleviate PTSD symptoms, and that the involvement of volunteer counsellors is beneficial. The use of PTSD Coach Mobile App may be more feasible than the online version (PCO) in our setting. HIGHLIGHTS Research on supported PTSD Coach interventions is limited in resource-constrained settings.Both volunteer counsellor-supported PTSD Coach Online and the PTSD Coach Mobile App showed preliminary reliable and clinically significant changes.The use of PTSD Coach Mobile App seems more feasible than the volunteer counsellor-supported PTSD Coach Online.

Defining outcome measures of hospitalization for assessment in the Japanese forensic mental health scheme: a Delphi study

Background

A new legislation concerning forensic mental health was established by the Japanese Government in 2005, the “Act on Medical Care and Treatment for the Persons Who Had Caused Serious Cases under the Condition of Insanity,” or the Medical Treatment and Supervision (MTS) Act. Since it was passed, however, there has been broad controversy over Hospitalization for Assessment (HfA), the first stage of the MTS scheme.

Methods

Following a comprehensive literature search to assemble a list of candidates, we conducted a Delphi study to establish standard outcome measures for HfA.

Results

Five Delphi rounds were conducted by 19 panelists including medical practitioners and lawyers. A total of 139 items were accepted as outcome measures for HfA based on panel agreement.

Conclusion

The Delphi study established a list of HfA outcome measures for the MTS act, which will contribute to the optimization of the new forensic mental health system in Japan.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1752-4458-9-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The Mental Health Nurse Incentive Program: the benefits from a client perspective

It is now acknowledged that a substantial proportion of the Australian population will experience a mental health condition at some time during their lives. Only a small proportion will access care and treatment for these conditions, and those who do are more likely to access general medical practitioners than specialist mental health providers. The Mental Health Nurse Incentive Program (MHNIP) was introduced by the Commonwealth Government to enhance access to mental health care by engaging mental health nurses in collaboration with general practitioners and private psychiatrists. The aim of the current study was to explore the experiences and opinions of clients utilising these services. A qualitative exploratory approach involving in-depth semi-structured interviews was utilised to enhance understanding of the client perspective. Interviews were conducted with 14 clients. Data were analysed using NVivo to assist with the identification of major themes. The findings revealed the major themes to be: initial reactions; a comfortable setting; flexibility; holistic care; and affordable care. These findings suggest that clients perceive the MHNIP as a valuable intervention that met the mental health needs of clients to a greater extent than had previously been possible.

Mental Health Nurse Incentive Program: contributing to positive client outcomes

Mental health conditions are likely to affect almost half of the population at some stage in their lives. Despite the magnitude and potentially serious consequences of mental illness and disorders, access to services is a significant problem. In 2007, the Mental Health Nurse Incentive Program (MHNIP) was implemented to improve access to mental health care in Australia. Mental health nurses are engaged under the MHNIP to work with general practitioners, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals to treat clients experiencing a mental health condition. This paper presents findings from a qualitative exploration of nurses working under the MHNIP in Australia. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 nurses currently working under the MHNIP to gain an understanding of their roles and their perceptions of the effectiveness of this new programme. Data were analysed using NVivo. Four major themes emerged: developing the role, a holistic approach, working collaboratively, and benefits to clients. The findings suggest that mental health nurses have the potential to make a significant contribution to enhancing access to, and the quality of, mental health care through flexible and innovative approaches.

"On the spot" interventions by mental health nurses in inpatient psychiatric wards in Greece

The objective of this research was to explore the "on-the spot" clinical interventions mental health nurses make in critical incidents on inpatient psychiatric wards. Mental health nurses play a key role in the management of psychiatric critical incidents. Nurses' autonomy, decision-making, and training in clinical interventions are important issues in psychiatric nursing practice. A descriptive study was conducted among mental health nurses working on inpatient wards of three major psychiatric hospitals in the greater Athens area, using semi-structured interviews. Nurses' personal views also were documented. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 103 mental health nurses, who were encouraged to make personal remarks. The results of this study show that in the majority of critical incidents, the nurses were found to be in contact with the psychiatrist on call; physical restraints were used frequently in violent episodes; reassurance and support were common interventions; the majority of nurses would have preferred not to intervene with critical incidents; and nurses expressed a need for skills training and higher autonomy. The nurses implemented a specific number of interventions in confronting the various types of crises. The need for specialized training was noticed and problems like accountability, autonomy, and medication administration, were considered crucial by the mental heath nurses.

Effectiveness of home visits by mental health nurses for Japanese women with post-partum depression

Post-partum depression affects 10-13% of Japanese women, but many do not receive appropriate treatment or support. This intervention study evaluated the effectiveness of home visits by mental health nurses for Japanese women with post-partum depression. Eighteen post-partum women met the inclusion criteria and were randomly allocated into the intervention (n = 9) or control (n = 9) group at 1-2 months after giving birth. The intervention group received four weekly home visits by a mental health nurse. Control group participants received usual care. Two women in the intervention group did not complete the study. Depressive symptoms and quality of life were measured at 1 and 6 weeks' postintervention. In addition, participants completed an open-ended questionnaire on satisfaction and meaning derived from the home visits. Women in the intervention group had significant amelioration of depressive symptoms over time and reported positive benefits from the home visits, but there were no statistically significant differences between groups. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were observed at times 2 and 3 between groups in terms of increased median scores of physical, environmental, and global subscales, and the total average score of the World Health Organization/quality of life assessment instrument. On the psychological subscale, significant differences (P = 0.042) were observed between groups at time 2. The qualitative analysis of comments about home visitation revealed four categories related to 'setting their mind at ease', 'clarifying thoughts', 'improving coping abilities', and 'removing feelings of withdrawal from others'. These results suggest that home visits by mental health nurses can contribute to positive mental health and social changes for women with post-partum depression. A larger trial is warranted to test this approach to care.

Conducting clinical post-conference in clinical teaching: a qualitative study

AIM AND OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to explore nurse educators' perceptions regarding clinical postconferences. Additional aims included the exploration of interaction characteristics between students and faculty in clinical postconferences.

BACKGROUND

Nursing students are challenged to think and learn in ways that will prepare them for practice in a complex health care environment. Clinical postconferences give students the opportunity to share knowledge gained through transformative learning and provide a forum for discussion and critical thinking. Faculty members must guide students as the latter participate in discussions, develop problem-solving skills and express feedings and attitudes in clinical conferences.

METHODS

The study used qualitative research methods, including participant observation and an open-ended questionnaire. Participant observers watched interaction activities between teachers and students in clinical postconferences. A total of 20 clinical postconferences, two conferences per teacher, were observed. The Non-Numerical Unstructured Data Indexing Searching and Theory-building qualitative software program was used in data analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Research findings indicated that, of the six taxonomy questions, lower-level questions (knowledge and comprehensive questions) were mostly asked by faculty members' postclinical conferences. The most frequently used guideline was task orientation, which is related to practice goals and was found in discussions of assignments, reading reports, discussions of clinical experiences, role plays, psychomotor skill practice, quizzes and student evaluations.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

It is an essential responsibility of nurse educators to employ postconferences to assist students in applying their knowledge in practical situations, in developing professional values and in enhancing their problem solving abilities.

Towards a strong virtue ethics for nursing practice

Illness creates a range of negative emotions in patients including anxiety, fear, powerlessness, and vulnerability. There is much debate on the 'therapeutic' or 'helping' nurse-patient relationship. However, despite the current agenda regarding patient-centred care, the literature concerning the development of good interpersonal responses and the view that a satisfactory nursing ethics should focus on persons and character traits rather than actions, nursing ethics is dominated by the traditional obligation, act-centred theories such as consequentialism and deontology. I critically examine these theories and the role of duty-based notions in both general ethics and nursing practice. Because of well-established flaws, I conclude that obligation-based moral theories are incomplete and inadequate for nursing practice. I examine the work of Hursthouse on virtue ethics' action guidance and the v-rules. I argue that the moral virtues and a strong (action-guiding) version of virtue ethics provide a plausible and viable alternative for nursing practice. I develop an account of a virtue-based helping relationship and a virtue-based approach to nursing. The latter is characterized by three features: (1) exercising the moral virtues such as compassion; (2) using judgement; and (3) using moral wisdom, understood to include at least moral perception, moral sensitivity, and moral imagination. Merits and problems of the virtue-based approach are examined. I relate the work of MacIntyre to nursing and I conceive nursing as a practice: nurses who exercise the virtues and seek the internal goods help to sustain the practice of nursing and thus prevent the marginalization of the virtues. The strong practice-based version of virtue ethics proposed is context-dependent, particularist, and relational. Several areas for future philosophical inquiry and empirical nursing research are suggested to develop this account yet further.

Sacrificing the personal to the professional: community mental health nurses

BACKGROUND

The study of stress in mental health nurses has almost always focused on factors intrinsic to their job roles and has neglected the interaction between work and home roles, which may also be a source of stress. Moreover, role theory has not provided an adequate account of either personal or occupational change, especially when this results from the experience of stress.

METHODS

Twenty community mental health nurses agreed to participate in semi-structured interviews about the stresses they experienced at work and at home. A grounded theory analysis disclosed the centrality of conflicts between work and home roles in participants' accounts and this provided the focus for subsequent detailed readings of the interview transcripts.

FINDINGS

Participants described how difficult and often demanding family situations were integrated with professional careers in a climate of rapid organizational change in the health service. As well as being an ongoing source of strain, these competing role demands were often described as leading to sudden changes for individual workers, such as periods of illness or re-evaluation of their work role. To assist in making sense of this process, the term 'punctuated equilibria' was adopted to illuminate the build-up of tension between work and domestic lives, which was described by some workers as leading to a sudden reformulation of their relationship to their work roles and employing organizations.

CONCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS

The study was small-scale and relied on retrospective self-reports. Nevertheless, it emphasized the importance of considering all the roles that individuals play and highlights the possibility that, even when staff are apparently coping with their roles at work and home, difficulties may be building up which could lead to a sudden period of absenteeism or disillusionment.

Quality indicators for primary care mental health services

OBJECTIVES

To identify a generic set of face valid quality indicators for primary care mental health services which reflect a multi-stakeholder perspective and can be used for facilitating quality improvement.

DESIGN

Modified two-round postal Delphi questionnaire.

SETTING

Geographical spread across Great Britain.

PARTICIPANTS

One hundred and fifteen panellists representing 11 different stakeholder groups within primary care mental health services (clinical psychologist, health and social care commissioner, community psychiatric nurse, counsellor, general practitioner, practice nurse/district nurse/health visitor, psychiatrist, social worker, carer, patient and voluntary organisations).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Face validity (median rating of 8 or 9 on a nine point scale with agreement by all panels) for assessing quality of care.

RESULTS

A maximum of 334 indicators were rated by panels in the second round; 26% were rated valid by all panels. These indicators were categorised into 21 aspects of care, 11 relating to general practices and 10 relating to health authorities or primary care groups/trusts. There was variation in the total number of indicators rated valid across the different panels. Overall, GPs rated the lowest number of indicators as valid (41%, n=138) and carers rated the highest number valid (91%, n=304).

CONCLUSIONS

The quality indicators represent consensus among key stakeholder groups in defining quality of care within primary care mental health services. These indicators could provide a guide for primary care organisations embarking on quality improvement initiatives in mental health care when addressing national targets and standards relating to primary care set out in the National Service Framework for Mental Health for England. Although many of the indicators relate to parochial issues in UK service delivery, the methodology used in the development of the indicators could be applied in other settings to produce locally relevant indicators.

Identification of priorities for nursing research in Spain: a Delphi study

AIM

The aim of this work was to identify priorities for nursing research in Spain. The Co-ordination and Development of Nursing Research Centre (Investén-isciii group) carried out the study using the Delphi technique during the period April 1998 to January 1999.

METHODS

Study subjects were professionals involved in different nursing activities. From 1250 eligible professionals initially contacted, 452 (38%) responded in round 1 and 258 (57%) in round 2. But only 189 filled out correctly the questionnaires from both rounds of data collection (overall response rate was 21.6%).

RESULTS

The participants identified priorities related to continuity and co-ordination of nursing care, quality of nursing care, impact of invasive techniques and treatments on the quality of life of patients, needs of the primary care givers, quality of life among elders, satisfaction of customers and needs of terminal patients and their families.