Introduction
Family nursing has assessed the health of the entire family in order to identify the health issues and risk factors that developing intervention in order to address concerns and improve the health of the individual and family member. Understanding family is an important role of a nurse and thus, engaging them in the treatment has been found to being one of the most effective interventions in the health care setting especially in acute care settings (Kaakinen et al., 2018). Families varied in a number of aspects and have their own cultural belief, values and attributes. The nurse needs to have knowledge in the theory of family, structure, function and processes to assist them in maintaining a state of health and wellbeing. The aim of this assignment is to develop an Education Tool for nurses working in acute care settings about families and mental health.
Nurse knowledge related to Family and Mental Health
Importance of strategies to improve nursing knowledge
Mental illness is one of the most significant issues that many people are facing all over the world. As per the American Psychiatric Nurses Association demonstrates that there is a shortage of nurse at each level and thus, the role of psychiatric mental health nursing is limited. Thus, it is important to raise awareness between the nurse and offer them education strategies and intervention that would help the mentally ill patient and family members. A study by Kroning (2016), stated that importance of role-playing and simulation in learning that would help the nurse to effectively address the issues faced by the family members and thus, utilising mental health clinical experience to resolve the problems.
Use of Psychoeducation
The admission of a family member in an acute care setting with the first episode of psychosis can be distressing and confusing for the family members. The use of Psychoeducation is found to be useful in enhancing the knowledge of families related to the disease progression and the role of supporting in recovery. The study conducted by Nolan and Petrakis (2019) was intended for understanding the efficiency of psychoeducation on addressing the needs of the families in the acute treatment phases of psychosis. Inpatient meeting was conducted for six months and it was found that it offered an individualised and targeted approach that satisfies the need of a family with active listening.
With increasing interest in the role played by the families in the treatment of the patients, some of the interventions were found to be more productive and help in the reduction of the clinical difficulties in a positive manner. In another similar study by Broekema et al. (2018), a quasi-experimental design was used for investigating the effect of the psycho-educational program on the perspective of burden and attributes of schizophrenia among the caregivers. A sample of 50 caregivers of the patient was included in the study. It was found that most caregiver with the burden and has negative attitudes prior to intervention. The experimental group reported having reduced burden and enhanced attitude toward the mental illness after the intervention that the psycho-educational program.
Use of Matrix-based Strategies
The study conducted by de Carvalho da Silva and Cardoso de Souza (2017), the verification of the implementation of Mental Health Matrization which is a resource for the Family Health team and assessment of strategies to have a permanent Educational Tool for nurses to the families related to mental health was conducted. The use of exploratory, descriptive study and qualitative approach was based on two municipal health centres in Brazil. After the mapping of the strategies related to matriciamento in relation to mental health, it was found that there is an association of this with Permanent Education. Thus, the establishment of mental health training workshops for the team for enhancing their knowledge as well as family Health promotion in term of mental illness.
Change in perception of nurses by the implementation of education intervention
In a study conducted by Broekema et al. (2018), the perspective of nurses in relation to their experience of being engaged in a six days educational intervention for the development of competency in family nursing practice mainly focusing on the family nursing conversation was described. The foundation of the knowledge in the intervention was based on the Calgary Family Association Model (CFAM) as well as the Calgary Family Intervention Model (CFIM) where both qualitative and quantitative measurement was used with a sample size of 18. It was reported that there was an increase in awareness related to the importance of family in the nursing care and there was a positive attitude toward family, perceived knowledge and skill related to family nursing practice.
Family Nursing Theory
The family system theory describes that a family acts as a system and each member play a significant role and requirements to follow the rules and regulations. Based on the role in the system, the people interact and respond with each other in a specific manner (Becvar & Becvar, 2017). The theory plays an important in shaping the perception of the nurses to understand the importance of family and helping them.
Family nursing intervention
The family nursing intervention that will help in a positive impact on the treatment and care of patients suffering from mental illness are Awareness and Health Promotion Program. The program involves offering awareness about mental illness, causes, signs and symptoms and other essential detail that will allow in accepting the attitudes and sudden outbreak of behaviour demonstrated by patients. This will allow them to acknowledge the fact that it is related to brain dysfunctioning and is uncontrollable in nature. This, in turn, will be used for promoting the health of the patient by practising various kinds of strategies and intervention specific to the patient in concern. Thus, the efficiency and efficacy of the intervention in the acute care setting will be higher and the nursing professionals will have no hindrance in adopting a change in strategies as per the situation. As per the family system theory, there is a disruption in the system due to inability of an individual to conduct his or her role thus; the nursing intervention needs to be practiced in such a way that it supports the needs of the family member as well as effectively treat the patient to restore the balance in the family. (Refer to Appendix)
References
Ahmed, H. A. A. E., & Ghaith, R. F. A. H. (2018). Effect of psycho-educational program on families’ perception of burden and attitudes toward mental illness among caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. Egyptian Nursing Journal, 15(3), 331. 10.4103/ENJ.ENJ_25_1
Becvar, R. J., & Becvar, D. S. (2017). Systems theory and family therapy: A primer. Rowman & Littlefield. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=uUE7DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=family+system+theory&ots=nLCNGEV0ei&sig=9qpJxxmkVASybFFgaiF9GW2oPQ0
Broekema, S., Luttik, M. L. A., Steggerda, G. E., Paans, W., & Roodbol, P. F. (2018). Measuring change in nurses’ perceptions about family nursing competency following a 6-day educational intervention. Journal of family nursing, 24(4), 508-537. https://doi.org/10.1177/1074840718812145
de Carvalho da Silva, R. O., & Cardoso de Souza, Â. (2017). MATRIX BASED STRATEGIES IN MENTAL HEALTH IN THE FAMILY HEALTH STRATEGY AS A PERMANENT EDUCATION TOOL. Journal of Nursing UFPE/Revista de Enfermagem UFPE, 11(10). https://web.b.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=19818963&AN=126592126&h=uFbI4VuGhJft5Z8pLszZquoa83c1woOQVnaDPOR5cmW4e44XYLdzZbszodcKTQG5jta857WpoWLSBxayghs0Og%3d%3d&crl=c&resultNs=AdminWebAuth&resultLocal=ErrCrlNotAuth&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26profile%3dehost%26scope%3dsite%26authtype%3dcrawler%26jrnl%3d19818963%26AN%3d126592126
Kaakinen, J. R., Coehlo, D. P., Steele, R., & Robinson, M. (2018). Family health care nursing: Theory, practice, and research. FA Davis. https://ners.unair.ac.id/materikuliah/ebooksclub.org__Family_Health_Care_Nursing__Theory__Practice__amp__Research__4th_Edition.pdf
Kroning, M. (2016). Strategies for Improving Nursing Students’ Mental Health Clinical Rotation. Journal of Christian Nursing, 33(3), E31-E37. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maureen_Kroning/publication/303916238_Strategies_for_Improving_Nursing_Students’_Mental_Health_Clinical_Rotation/links/5d287a8a92851cf4407b989a/Strategies-for-Improving-Nursing-Students-Mental-Health-Clinical-Rotation.pdf
Nolan, M., & Petrakis, M. (2019). Delivering family psychoeducation at the mental health acute inpatient service: A practitioner narrative. Journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing, 26(3-4), 101-107. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12516
Appendix
Family Resources
The family resource that has been chosen in relation to the Family nursing intervention stated as Awareness and Health Promotion Program is the website:
It offer information related to various aspects of mental health in addition to the nursing educational program. The collaborative approach of the program and the website will be useful in gain vivid knowledge of the mental health and its impact on an individual. It is a known fact that a normal person will not be able to acknowledge the situation and challenges faced by the affected person. The family members of a mental ill patient will not understand as a result will face a burden of providing care and will deem to have a negative attitude toward the patient. This is one of the most challenging aspects, which require offering more information and awareness to family members prior to engaging them in the care process.
The website will help in offer personalised information or support by healthcare professionals that are working in a continuous manner to help the population with mental illness. It offer a self-screening test that allow in understanding or detecting any mental issue faced by the person or not. In case of more help, they offer helpline numbers, which can be reached at any time from any place for seeking help.
