An Exploratory Pilot Study Into Undergraduate Physiotherapy Students' Perceptions Of Working With Patients With Mental Illness And Working Within The Mental Health Sector Of Health Care

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 10-10
Author(s):  
Samantha McIver ◽  
Jane Toms
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Core Competencies ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Physiotherapy Students

Background/Aims Mental illness is widespread throughout the United Kingdom with increasing prevalence. As mental illness affects such a large proportion of the population, it is likely that healthcare professionals, including qualified and student physiotherapists, will work with patients in all areas of healthcare, who have mental illness alongside co-morbidities. Physiotherapy students are placed into a wide range of placements throughout an undergraduate degree to develop skills and autonomy in rehabilitation. Understanding students' perspective appears relatively unexplored and was stimulated by personal experience of the first author where patients' rehabilitation could be impacted by mental illness. The impact varied depending on the severity of their illness, as well as the understanding of that illness by the multidisciplinary team involved in their care. The aim of this phenomenological study was to: explore physiotherapy students' lived experiences and perceptions of working with patients with mental illness, despite no mental health specific placement and understand their views of working in the mental health sector of healthcare Methods Ethical approval was obtained from Coventry University Ethics and a qualitative methodology was applied. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit six participants, who were all Undergraduate physiotherapy students at Coventry University, and data were collected via a focus group. The focus group explored their lived experiences, opinions and perceptions. Results A number of themes were discovered from the data, with associated sub-themes: ‘Lack of clarity’ with sub-themes: ‘Definitions, Terminology and understanding’, ‘Mental illnesses’ and ‘Physiotherapist role’ ‘Emotional Roller-Coaster’ with sub-themes: ‘Negative reactions’ and ‘Positive sentiments’ ‘Transferable skills’ with sub-themes: ‘Core competencies’ and ‘Core skills to elevate’ ‘Everyone has a story to tell’ with sub-themes: ‘Job’, ‘Placement’ and ‘Personal experience’ The themes influenced their ‘curious intrigue’, which related to their views of working in the mental health sector of health care. Conclusions All participants in the study had experiences to discuss and found it challenging to provide effective rehabilitation, appropriate to the patients' needs. Discussing these experiences evoked a complex range of perceptions and emotions.

scholarly journals Report review: Not for service: experiences of injustice and despair in mental health care in Australia

2006 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 261
Author(s):  
Michael Summers ◽  
Peter McKenzie
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
National Standards ◽  
Summary Report ◽  
Current State ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Service Experiences

IT IS ONLY BY EXAMINING the impact of public policies on the lives of people that we can begin to assess the success or failure of those policies. With this as a starting point, Not for service presents an extensive (just over 1000 pages) and balanced picture of the impact of policies on the lives of people with mental illness and their families and friends. The authors take care to state that their research is not a rigorous examination of the extent to which the National Standards for Mental Health Services have been implemented, but do observe that the ?volume and consistency of the information demonstrate the gaps and difficulties governments have had in meeting these standards? (p 14). The report is lengthy, but is well laid out and ?easy? to read, although the content will leave any reader feeling uneasy about the current state of our mental health system. There is also a shorter (96 page) summary report available.

scholarly journals BARRIERS TO ACCESSING MENTAL HEALTH CARE IN THE EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE OF SOUTH AFRICA

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Strümpher ◽  
R.M. Van Rooyen ◽  
K. Topper ◽  
L.M.C. Andersson ◽  
I. Schierenback
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Eastern Cape Province ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
Professional Nurses

The aim of this study was to explore and describe the perceptions of professional nurses concerning barriers to care for people with mental illness in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The study was based on a qualitative, explorative and descriptive design.  A total of nine professional nurses working in primary, secondary and tertiary health care facilities were purposively selected. Unstructured interviews were conducted to collect data. Participants’ responses were captured on an audio recorder and later transcribed verbatim.Participants’ responses were then analysed thematically. Two main themes and their related sub-themes were identified. The first theme concerns the perceptions of professional nurses regarding the societal barriers that may hinder people with mental illness from accessing and utilising mental health services. These barriers include socioeconomic hardships, lack of knowledge and insight, lack of family support, embedded cultural beliefs and practices and stigma. The second theme highlights the barriers that professional nurses perceive within the health care system that influence access and utilisation of mental health services. These barriers include inadequate support from stakeholders and leaders in the mental health sector and lack of financial, human and infrastructure resources. Professional nurses made recommendations to improve mental health care. Those of high priority included enhanced mental health literacy among members of the public and a need for mental health stakeholders and leaders to increase their support of the mental health sector in an effort to improve access to mental health care.

Women with Serious Mental Illness, Resilience, and the Recovery Movement

2020 ◽  
pp. 24-44
Author(s):  
Lauren Mizock ◽  
Erika Carr
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Serious Mental Illness ◽  
Treatment Team ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Recovery Movement ◽  
Mental Health Issues ◽  
Clinical Strategies ◽  
The Impact

This chapter reviews the recovery movement and the importance of its role in the mental health care of women who experience serious mental illness. This chapter explores the foundations of recovery and how this perspective seeks to decrease the impact of stigma and increase self-determination, while still recognizing the role that stigma and marginalization have played in women’s experience of serious mental illness. Literature is presented regarding the basic components of recovery in serious mental illness. Ways that recovery programs for people with serious mental illness can become more sensitive to woman’s issues are discussed. The biological and developmental concerns uniquely faced by women with serious mental health issues are addressed, as well as the value of a multidisciplinary, recovery-oriented treatment team. Case narratives, a clinical strategies list, discussion questions, activities, and a clinical worksheet (“My Recovery Journey”) are included.

Healing the heart of recovery

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (7) ◽  
pp. 660-667
Author(s):  
Jackie Liggins
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Iterative Process ◽  
Mental Illness Stigma ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Research Material ◽  
Historical Writings

Background and Aim: Medicine is traditionally considered a healing profession, yet concepts of healing are rarely applied to mental illness, recovery being the dominant discourse. This article reports one aspect of the results of a broader exploration, through a service user lens, of aspects of place that facilitate healing in mental health care, with a resulting conceptualisation of healing. Method: The research material comprised the author’s historical writings of her experience of mental illness and recovery and in-depth individual interviews with 10 mental health service users. Analysed thematically, emerging ideas were further developed through an autoethnographically informed, reflexive and iterative process. Results: Healing is necessary when there has been a disruption of integrity and wholeness, experienced as suffering. Offering opportunities for connection, integration and transformation, and acquiring wisdom along the way, healing is a journey of exploration that takes time and is hard work. Discussion: Healing is conceptualised as the intensely personal experience at the heart of recovery, reminding us of the fundamental personal processes at the heart of our journeys. As a universal human experience, healing potentially removes the sense of othering that is at the heart of mental illness stigma.

Social factors and mental health

2018 ◽  
pp. 65-72
Author(s):  
Tom K. J. Craig
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
High Population Density ◽  
Social Interventions ◽  
Ethnic Populations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Stressful Experiences ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Minority Ethnic

The social environment plays a significant role in the onset, course and outcome of mental disorders. The impact has been conceptualised in two broad ways. First, in terms of unspecified aspects of how society is structured, as for example the observation of much higher rates of mental illness in areas of high population density or among minority ethnic populations. Second, through an attempt to drill down to what it is about these environments that is toxic—typically exploring associations between illness and stressful experiences, especially those involving abusive and bullying interactions. Both models also suggest preventive and restorative social interventions that could modify how mental health care is delivered.

A Review into E-Health Services and Therapies

2013 ◽  
pp. 267-279
Author(s):  
Alice Good ◽  
Arunasalam Sambhanthan
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Patient Records ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Health It ◽  
The Impact

E-health has expanded hugely over the last fifteen years and continues to evolve, providing greater benefits for patients, health care professionals, and providers alike. The technologies that support these systems have become increasingly more sophisticated and have progressed significantly from standard databases, used for patient records, to highly advanced Virtual Reality (VR) systems for the treatment of complex mental health illnesses. The scope of this chapter is to initially explore e-health, particularly in relation to technologies supporting the treatment and management of wellbeing in mental health. It then provides a case study of how technology in e-health can lend itself to an application that could support and maintain the wellbeing of people with a severe mental illness. The case study uses Borderline Personality Disorder as an example, but could be applicable in many other areas, including depression, anxiety, addiction, and PTSD. This type of application demonstrates how e-health can empower the individuals using it but also potentially reduce the impact upon health care providers and services.

scholarly journals Integrating mental health into primary care: Evaluating the Health Action for Psychiatric Problems In Nigeria including Epilepsy and SubstanceS (HAPPINESS) pilot project

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theddeus Iheanacho
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Health Action ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Psychiatric Problems

Abstract Background The Health Action for Psychiatric Problems In Nigeria including Epilepsy and SubstanceS (HAPPINESS) project trains non-specialist and primary health care workers in Imo State, Nigeria, using the World Health Organization’s Mental Health Gap Action Programme-Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG) to treat common mental and neurological disorders in the primary care setting. This study evaluates the impact of the HAPPINESS pilot project training on trainees’ beliefs and attitudes about mental disorders and explores the perspectives of trainees, trainers, and health services officials on its implementation using a convergent, mixed-methods approach. Methods Trainees completed a 43-item questionnaire, before and after their 5-day training, to assess perceptions of mental disorders and attitudes towards people with mental illness. Paired-sample t-tests were conducted with respect to four subscales of the questionnaire: acceptance of socializing with people with mental illness, normalizing activities and relationships with people with mental illness, supernatural causation of mental illness, and endorsement of a biopsychosocial approach to mental illness. Semi-structured Key Informant Interviews with trainees, trainers, and local health officials who participated in or supported the HAPPINESS Project were also analyzed. Findings from the questionnaire and interviews were merged using a convergent, mixed method approach. Results Trainees showed significant improvements on socializing, normalizing, and supernatural causation subscales of the stigma questionnaire (p < 0.05). No significant effect was seen on the biopsychosocial subscale; however, evidence of biopsychosocial beliefs was found in interview responses. The HAPPINESS Project enhanced trainees’ diagnostic and treatment abilities, mental health awareness, and empathy towards patients. Misinformation, stigma, inadequate funding and lack of road access to clinics were identified as barriers to mental health care integration into general care in Imo State. Lastly, respondents suggested ways that the HAPPINESS Project could be improved and expanded in the future. Conclusion This study adds to the limited existing evidence on the impact of mhGAP-IG-based training for primary care workers in Nigeria. Notably, it quantitatively evaluates pre and post training change in stigma level among trainees. Future efforts should focus on clinical support, supervision and implementation outcomes as well as scaling up and assessing the cost-effectiveness of the HAPPINESS Project intervention.

Primary Health Care, Mental Health, And the Dietitian's Role

2006 ◽  
Vol 67 (S1) ◽  
pp. S47-S53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Davison
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Nutritional Risk ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Consumer Experiences ◽  
Mental Health Programs

Purpose: Individuals with mental illness are at nutritional risk because of health, social, and economic factors. To address this problem, the Canadian Collaborative Mental Health Initiative (CCMHI) and Dietitians of Canada (DC) commissioned the development of a toolkit that outlines the role of the registered dietitian (RD) and advocates for RDs in primary health care (PHC) mental health programs. Methods: The development of the toolkit followed a fourstage process: a comprehensive literature review, a focus group discussion with a national working group, interviews with consumers about RD services, and evaluation of the toolkit. Results: The costs of mental illness in Canada are at least $6.85 billion per year. Currently, little evidence exists on how RD services can reduce these expenses. The focus group identified accessibility as the predominant issue facing individuals with mental illness. To explain consumer experiences with RD services, a three-tier theory based on in-depth interviews was developed. Consumer experiences with RDs occur in five categories: financial concerns, perception of service, status of mental illness, engagement, and self-esteem (tier 1). These are further influenced by five individual and contextual factors, e.g., social environment, the mental illness (tier 2), which are weighed as benefits and barriers instrumental in determining actions (tier 3). Conclusions: The evaluation of the final draft of the RD toolkit confirmed that it reflected the visions of PHC. The toolkit is intended to act as a blueprint for action. Dietitians are encouraged to use its contents to advocate for positions in mental health PHC settings.

scholarly journals Examining women’s health through a psychosocial lens

2021 ◽  
pp. 290-293
Author(s):  
Sathyasree Goswami
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Psychosocial Health ◽  
Traumatic Experiences ◽  
Unpaid Care ◽  
Psychosocial Disability ◽  
Subordinate Category ◽  
The Impact

During the COPASAH Global Symposium 2019, a group of therapists and mental health practitioners tried to highlight the issue of women’s mental health with two specific focuses, one being the lived experiences of persons living with mental illness and the secondary burn-out and shame faced by their caretakers. The second session explored the contours of somatisation that is often seen in the human body as a result of the impact of trauma. The participants reflected on the value of lived experiences and also discussed the challenges faced in getting representation for people living with mental illness. The challenges listed by participants were concentrated around the participation and representation of persons living with intellectual disability and psychosocial disability. Somatisation of traumatic experiences needs recognition in a country like India where women’s life-stressors exist right from childhood which keeps them on the threshold of mental illness and/or psychosomatic illnesses. Psychosocial health issues are relegated to a subordinate category of discussion while public health, reproductive health, and health rights feature in mainstream discussions in various seminars, researches and conferences in India. This paper is based on two sessions of the COPASAH Global Symposium 2019 and focuses on the gender and psychosocial dimensions of health from the framework of women being subjected to unpaid care work, through social and reproductive labour and stressors resulting in psycho-social distress. It concludes that, it is important to build a community of practitioners that looks beyond the reproductive health of women.

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