Individual Focused Reflection

Question: 1 a) Reflect on and describe how your beliefs and attitudes towards people who have mental health issues have changed from before you started this mental health unit and since being involved in the unit. In your answer discuss factors that may have influenced your opinions prior to your study such as your own experience of mental health issues or that of someone you know; your knowledge base; your age, beliefs, ethnicity, etc. b) Consider the application of the model cultural safety in nursing care that we discussed in lectures in week 1 and in the tutorial in week 2. Thinking about your response to Part 1a, discuss how your own culture including your beliefs/opinions, values and attitudes may present challenges to your capacity to give care. 2a)Consider the material covered in his unitup to and including week 4 of the semester including the therapeutic use of self. What do you think you might find difficult about mental health nursing and the therapeutic use of self what do you think you will do well? That is, discuss your strengths and possible limitations. b)Following on from Part 2a, explain how you will use your learning in this unit to enhance your practice from a mental health perspective in two (2) specific nursing practice settings. The practice settings must not be mental health specialty practice settings. Demonstrate how your knowledge and skills of mental health and mental health nursing will enhance the care you provide in the settings you choose. Answer: 1 a)Unfortunately, many people hold a negative view about the people having mental health issues. My beliefs and attitudes towards the people suffering from mental health have changed as one of my uncles suffers from it. I have been with the uncle as a kid and did not understand much about mental health issues. I used terms such as mad and crazy observing his aggression issues. I felt insecure and scared around people with mental health issues. But, with time my knowledge base has expanded. With my growing age, I started researching about the mental health issues on the internet. I extended my knowledge base regarding prenatal issues and post-birth defects. As I belong to Asian background, with Nepalese ethnicity, I only know English and Nepali as the two languages. My family has visited several medical centres and educational institutions for these special cases. Therefore, my beliefs, attitudes and values changed as I observed the issue in many people. My respect and sympathy for t he special people increased. I felt sorry for the people undergoing mental health issues as it is not only devastating for them, but the entire family. They are undergoing pain and might not be able to express or communicate the issues surrounding them. My attitude towards psychiatric treatment has changed and I feel free to talk about the issues surrounding mental illness. I seek recommendations from psychiatrists or acquaintances that can provide me knowledge for the same. My compassion towards the people has also increased as I can feel and connect with them. b) Cultural safety is essential in nursing practice and it empowers the healthcare practitioner and the patient. As a mental care practitioner, I would have to work with people of different gender, generation, different ethnicity, religious belief and different levels of disability. My own culture, beliefs and opinions might challenge the capacity to give care. I feel sympathetic towards the patients suffering from mental health issues. My aim is to improve the health status and wellbeing of the patients. Having extreme concern can disrupt the medical treatments necessary for the patients. The patients may be provided with Electroconvulsive Therapy that is a shock treatment to relieve people from psychiatric illness. I must never make assumptions about the individuals beliefs and try to know more about the health problems faced by the individual. I am not very comfortable with dealing severe cases. As I have had a personal experience of my uncle with aggression, I might be unable to provide quality care to such patients. I might hesitate to serve people with a huge generation gap. I may also find it problematic to coordinate with people who have use language other than English. As I do not know language other than English, it would be difficult to communicate and coordinate with the patients not understanding or speaking English. Lack of cultural awareness and failure to provide culturally competent care can greatly increase the stresses experienced by critically ill patients and can result in inadequate care provided by healthcare professionals. 2a)According to Knight (2012), therapeutic use of self is recognized as an important tool as it shall give me the ability to use my personality in full awareness to establish relatedness and structure nursing interventions. With my caring personality, I have the ability to put patients at ease. I possess effective team working skills that enable me to work well with doctors, physicians and other nurses. I can control the stress levels so that the patients can remain calm in medical situations. With excellent communication skills, I can establish strong connections with the family members of patients. Effective communication also helps in building their faith in me. I have reliable time management skills that allow me to properly administer medical concerns. However, I am unable to handle pressure that may restrict me from performing duties effectively in the nursing practice. I get nervous easily and lack confidence. I plan for the worst try to do everything in my power to make sure it doesn't happen. I guess my weakness would be that I am a perfectionist. I am an "A" type personality. I want everything to be just perfect and it bothers me when things are not arranged in the manner I want. But retrospectively it is also strength in a manner as I don't stop till I am satisfied. I want the best working conditions to work and I want peoples respect if they want my respect in return. I prefer my nursing leaders motivating me for work rather than acting as a transactional leader. b) In the first nursing setting, I shall play the role of mental health counsellor. As one of my greatest strengths is communication, I can use that skill for mental health counselling. I can involve the patients in getting to know their issues and help solve them. As a mental health counsellor, I can regularly interact with the patients. I can use psychotherapy to improve the individuals mental health and resolve compulsions or emotions (Bearman et al., 2013). The range of factors affecting mental health of the individuals shall be assessed using different therapeutic tools. I shall provide them with social stigma and help develop their relationship with others. Counselling shall not just be available for the patients, but also their family members. In the other nursing setting, I can provide occupational therapy in which the mental health patients can lead fulfilling and meaningful lives. I can engage with some of the hardest service users who are enduing mental illness. I shall pr ovide quality care and involve the patients in productive roles where they can develop in a collaborative manner. I shall bring the patients in environment in which they could engage by doing pottery or woodwork. I shall use empathetic skills and ensure patients and their family that they can lead good quality of life. I shall look at their strengths and provide a different perspective to their life. Occupational therapy shall be used to make the individuals independent. The client-centred treatment shall help in great recovery of mental health patients (Sturkenboom et al., 2014). References Bearman, S. K., Weisz, J. R., Chorpita, B. F., Hoagwood, K., Ward, A., Ugueto, A. M., ... Research Network on Youth Mental Health. (2013). More practice, less preach? The role of supervision processes and therapist characteristics in EBP implementation.Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research,40(6), 518-529. Knight, C. (2012). Therapeutic use of self: Theoretical and evidence-based considerations for clinical practice and supervision.The Clinical Supervisor,31(1), 1-24. Sturkenboom, I. H., Graff, M. J., Hendriks, J. C., Veenhuizen, Y., Munneke, M., Bloem, B. R., ... OTiP Study Group. (2014). Efficacy of occupational therapy for patients with Parkinson's disease: a randomised controlled trial.The Lancet Neurology,13(6), 557-566.