Search results

Given that the workforce constitutes a principal resource of primary care, appraisal of models of care requires thorough investigation of the health workforce in all Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA) countries. This chapter explores this in terms of workforce composition, remuneration, qualifications and training in relation to the needs of children and young people. We have focused on two principal disciplines of primary care; medicine and nursing, with a specific focus on training and skills to care for children in primary care, particularly those with complex care needs, adolescents and vulnerable groups. We found significant disparities in workforce provision and remuneration, in training curricula and in resultant skills of physicians and nurses in European Union and European Economic Area Countries. A lack of overarching standards and recognition of some of the specific needs of children reflected in training of physicians and nurses may lead to suboptimal care for children. There are, of course, many other professions that also contribute to primary care services for children, some of which are discussed in Chapter 15, but we have not had resources to study these to the same detail.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of the process of identifying a conceptual framework of practice to areas of nursing without a current clearly identified scope of practice. Worldwide, nursing is a diverse profession with many recognised sub-specialties, some of which are under threat. Nurses with specialised knowledge, experience and education are needed to provide specific care in nursing sub-specialties. However, some of these characteristics are implicit and not clear to the wider nursing community. This paper presents an overview of research to identify the parameters of practice for a sub-specialty of nursing.

The methodology was interpretive enquiry as it allowed for the interpretation of multiple realities which resulted in a rich description of the work of a sub-specialty. The research used document analysis, focus group interviews and individual interviews as the methods of collecting data. Documents were analysed using iterative and thematic analysis The focus group and individual interview data were analysed using an adaptation of a six-phase thematic analysis process.

This paper presents the findings of the entire analysis and the resultant holistic conceptual framework for the work of the child and adolescent mental health nurse in the inpatient unit. The findings have contributed new knowledge to mental health nursing, specifically child and adolescent mental health nursing making the parameters of practice more explicit. Research is currently being undertaken in Australia to further develop the framework for other sub-specialties of nursing such as community health and orthopaedics. These sub-specialties have been identified as potentially at risk.

This paper discussed the applicability of a broader use of a qualitative research methodology used to identify scope of practice in child and adolescent mental health nursing, for other nursing specialties.

This chapter uses Goffman’s concept of total institutions in a comparative case study approach to explore the role of psychotropic drugs in the process of transinstitutionalization.

This chapter interprets psychotropic drug use across four institutionalized contexts in the United States: the active-duty U.S. military, nursing homes and long-term care facilities, state and federal prisons, and the child welfare system.

This chapter documents a major unintended consequence of transinstitutionalization – the questionable distribution of psychotropics among vulnerable populations. The patterns of psychotropic use we synthesize suggest that total institutions are engaging in ethically and medically questionable practices and that psychotropics are being used to serve the bureaucratic imperatives for social control in the era of transinstitutionalization.

Psychotropic prescribing practices require close surveillance and increased scrutiny in institutional settings in the United States. The flows of mentally ill people through a vast network of total institutions raises questions about the wisdom and unintended consequences of psychotropic distribution to vulnerable populations, despite health policy makers’ efforts regulating their distribution. Medical sociologists must examine trans-institutional power arrangements that converge around the mental health of vulnerable groups.

This is the first synthesis and interpretive review of psychotropic use patterns across institutional systems in the United States. This chapter will be of value to medical sociologists, mental health professionals and administrators, pharmacologists, health system pharmacists, and sociological theorists.

This study aims to synthesize the existing serious games designed to promote mental health in adolescents with chronic illnesses.

This study conducted a review following the guidelines of Joanna Briggs Institute and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. Searches were conducted in databases PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, cumulative index to nursing and allied health literature, PsycINFO, China national knowledge infrastructure Wanfang, VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals and SinoMed from inception to February 12, 2023.

A total of 14 studies (describing 14 serious games) for improving the mental health of adolescents with chronic diseases were included. Of all the included games, 12 were not described as adopting any theoretical framework or model. The main diseases applicable to serious games are cancer, type 1 diabetes and autism spectrum disorder. For interventional studies, more than half of the study types were feasibility or pilot trials. Furthermore, the dosage of serious games also differs in each experiment. For the game elements, most game elements were in the category “reward and punishment features” (n = 50) and last was “social features” (n = 4).

Adolescence is a critical period in a person’s physical and mental development throughout life. Diagnosed with chronic diseases during this period will cause great trauma to the adolescents and their families. Serious game interventions have been developed and applied to promote the psychological health field of healthy adolescents. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to scope review the serious game of promoting mental health in the population of adolescents with chronically ill. At the same time, the current study also extracted and qualitatively analyzed the elements of the serious game.

It is estimated that approximately 10% of children and young people in Scotland have mental health problems (Scottish Government, 2008), resulting in a rapidly increasing need for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Primary mental health workers (PMHW) have been identified as one of the key professional groups within a multidisciplinary CAMHS team to progress the agenda of early intervention and identification of mental health problems among children and young people. One discrete aspect of the PMHW role is the facilitation and delivery of consultation services to a wide range of agencies. Consultation, in this context, is understood as a community activity for disseminating knowledge, creating understanding and facilitating non‐CAMH professionals to support children and young people with psychological difficulties (Scottish Executive, 2005). This paper discusses a smallscale study that aims to deconstruct the concept of consultation and explore the professional expertise and service requirements necessary for effective delivery. It concludes that complex and multifaceted skills are required if a consultation is to be meaningful and effective. Consequently, and despite competing discourse, there remains a strong debate for retaining the role of the PMHW, specifically for the delivery of early intervention and health promotion activities, such as consultation. The study took place in Scotland, but UK‐wide data is drawn on to provide a more comprehensive picture.

This paper provides initial findings from a pilot to introduce graduate mental health workers into primary care, child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) across three localities in the north west of England in the UK. The progress of the pilot was monitored by gathering information from students, managers, supervisors and mentors regularly throughout the 12 month period, during which the pilot cohort were being formally trained. The potential of the new role of primary care graduate mental health workers to address problems of volume and access to services, particularly how the role might contribute to developing nonspecialist primary care services, is considered.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate professional quality of life of mental health nursing staff working within an adolescent psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) setting. Professional quality of life is important, as there is a correlation between staff wellbeing and the quality of healthcare services delivered, particularly within mental health settings. Mental health nursing staff in adolescent PICU services deal with a wide range of physically and emotionally demanding challenges when providing care, yet the potential impact of this demanding work upon staff in this context has not been explored.

The study used a longitudinal non-experimental design with a purposive sample. Quantitative data were collected from a total of 17 registered mental health nurses and healthcare assistants (HCAs) working in an adolescent PICU in the North of England. Repeated measures were administered at three consecutive intervals, three months apart, using a validated self-report measure, the Professional Quality of Life Scale V (ProQOL V, Stamm, 2010). Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical analysis using benchmark data from the ProQOL V instrument for comparison.

Analysis of results compared to ProQOL V benchmark data showed significantly higher than expected levels of compassion satisfaction, and lower than expected levels of burnout and secondary traumatic stress for adolescent PICU nursing staff within the study. There were no significant differences between qualified nurses and HCAs. Potential explanations and practice implications of these findings are discussed.

This is the first published study to investigate professional quality of life within the mental health nursing population working in adolescent PICU, providing empirical insights into a previously unexplored mental health context.

Adolescent mental health issues are on the increase, in particular depression, which is now a major public health concern globally. Mental health education is important and young people’s awareness of mental health is potentially limited. This is one factor that creates barriers to seeking support. School nurses and educational professionals recognise that they do not necessarily have the required skill base to support emotional health concerns with young people. The purpose of this paper is to synthesise qualitative evidence related to the nurse’s role in supporting adolescents.

A literature review using a systematic approach was undertaken, predominantly through collection of primary qualitative research studies. In total, 22 published studies are included in this review, extracted from four databases – CINAHL, Embase, Medline and Scopus.

This review shows that awareness of mental health is needed early in adolescence, while at school, to encourage young people to access support and have knowledge of their own emotional health. The need for further mental health education and provision is asserted.

Young people benefit from someone who is accessible and familiar to them in schools so that they can access emotional support as and when needed. Careful involvement of families (including extended families) is noted. It is proposed that this role should be a mental health nurse role, who should be accessible within the school environment.

This paper is original and adds to existing knowledge that mental health challenges are increasing, and more needs to be done in schools to promote mental health and reduce the stigma associated with seeking support.

Specialist CAMHS provide skilled assessment and interventions for children, young people and their families who have mental health disorders. The training needs of the staff who work in specialist CAMHS are not always clear or prioritised, due to the complexities and differing contexts in which specialist CAMHS are provided. The aim of this paper was to establish stakeholders' experiences of service complexities and challenges that affect training within specialist CAMHS. The project employed interviews to gain wide‐ranging consultation with key stakeholder groups. The sample consisted of 45 participants recruited from policy departments, professional bodies, higher education providers, commissioners, service managers, and practitioners. The participants identified a number of themes that limit training, and put forward solutions on how these could be facilitated in the future. Emerging themes related to leadership and the role of service managers, strategic management of training, commissioning, levels of staff training, resources, impact of training on service users, and availability of training programmes. The findings emphasise the need for the strategic workforce planning of training to meet service delivery goals. Policy, commissioning, workforce training strategies, service needs, and delivery of training should be integrated and closely linked.