Preparing Masters level mental health nurses to work within a wellness paradigm: findings from the eMenthe project

Doyle, Luoise; Ellil�, Heikki; Jormfeldt, Henrika; Lahti, Mari; Higgins, Agnes; Keogh, Brian; Meade, Oonagh; Sitvast, Jan; Sk�rs�ter, Ingela; Stickley, Theodore; Kilkku, Nina

Abstract

Mental health promotion remains an important component of mental health nursing practice. Supporting wellness at both individual and societal levels has been identified as one of the key tenets of mental health promotion. However, the prevailing biomedical paradigm of mental health education and practice has meant that many nurses have not been equipped to incorporate a wellness perspective into their mental health practice. This paper reports on an exploratory study which details the knowledge, skills and attitudes required by Masters level mental health nurses to practice within a wellness paradigm from the perspective of three groups of key stakeholders; service users and family members (n= 23), experienced mental health nurses (n=49) and Masters level mental health nursing students (n=37). Findings, which were reported from individual and focus group interviews across five European countries, suggest a need to re-orientate mental health nursing education to include a focus on wellness and resilience to equip mental health nurses with the skills to work within a strengths-based rather than a deficits-based model of mental health practice. Key challenges to working within a wellness paradigm were identified in the prevailing dominance of the biomedical model of cause and treatment of mental health problems which focuses on symptoms rather than the holistic functioning of the individual, and positions the person as passive in the nurse-service user relationship.

Citation

Doyle, L., Ellilä, H., Jormfeldt, H., Lahti, M., Higgins, A., Keogh, B., …Kilkku, N. (2018). Preparing Masters level mental health nurses to work within a wellness paradigm: findings from the eMenthe project. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 27(2), 823-832. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12370

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 23, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Aug 7, 2017
• Publication Date: Apr 10, 2018
• Deposit Date: May 1, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 8, 2018
• Journal: International Journal of Mental Health Nursing
• Print ISSN: 1445-8330
• Electronic ISSN: 1447-0349
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 823-832
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12370
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/924505
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/inm.12370
• Additional Information: This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article Doyle, L., ; Ellilä, H., Jormfeldt, H., Lahti, M., Higgins, A., Keogh, B.,; Meade, O., Sitvast, J., ; Skärsäter, I., Stick; l; e; y, T. & Kilkku, N. (2017). Preparing Masters level mental health nurses ; to work within a wellness paradigm: Findings from the eMenthe project. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/inm.12370, which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/inm.12370 . This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving