BackgroundCancers are a leading cause of death worldwide. People with mental illness are 30 % more likely to die from cancer than the general population. One reason for this may be low uptake of nationally offered cancer screening tests by people with mental illness. We aimed to identify barriers and facilitators for breast, cervical and bowel cancer screening uptake by people with mental illness in order to inform interventions to promote equal access.MethodsThe interview study was conducted in both urban and rural settings. The study was informed by the Theoretical Domains Framework, using framework analysis and triangulation across participant groups. Participants included 45 mental health service users (service users) eligible for cancer screening, 29 mental health professionals and 11 professionals involved in cancer screening.ResultsThemes emerging from the data that affected uptake included knowledge of screening programmes by both service users and healthcare providers; knowledge of, and attitudes towards, mental illness; health service-delivery factors; service users’ beliefs and concerns about cancer screening, and practical issues. These are relevant to different stages of the screening process. Service users do not receive invitations to screening or cancer testing kits if they are admitted to hospital. They are not routinely invited for screening if they are not registered with a general practitioner (GP). Lack of integrated care means that mental health staff do not know if someone is overdue for a test and cancer screening is often not considered during health promotion. Barriers including information processing problems, the extent to which the screening process aggravates symptoms, poor staff client relationships and travel difficulties vary between individuals. Screening professionals are motivated to help, but may lack time or training to manage mental health needs. Reactive measures are available, but service users must request help which they may find difficult.ConclusionsThere are specific barriers to cancer screening uptake for mental health service users that prevent equality of care. Interventions that can be personalised are needed at individual, policy and service-delivery levels. Primary and secondary care staff and policy-makers should work together to develop an integrated approach to cancer screening in this population.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1505-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

An increasing number of students with a pre-existing mental health condition are enrolling on preregistration mental health nursing programmes. The challenges faced by these students in managing the demands of the programme have not been fully explored. Mental health and well-being is an integral part of providing a healthy university in which students can flourish. The purpose of the study was to explore how students with an underlying mental health issue manage the demands of the mental health nursing programme. The outcomes of the study are aimed at informing inclusive teaching and learning and current student support provision. Ethics approval was given. Students from two universities in South East England who met the criterion of having a pre-existing mental health condition when enrolling on the mental health preregistration nursing programme were invited to take part. Nine students took part in the study. Using an interpretative descriptive design, 1:1 face-to-face, audio-taped, semistructured interviews were undertaken. The data were analysed using a framework approach, and this revealed four main themes: timing of disclosure; managing lived experience in learning environments; students' coping mechanisms, and experience of support. Recommendations for practice was that approved education institutes (AEIs) should ensure they have a robust, inclusive practice by implementing strategies to develop these students' resilience, and enhance their learning and the current support provisions. This will ensure the barriers to disclosing their mental health conditions are recognized and minimized to enable these students to fully contribute to their own learning and teaching experience.

The key themes identified were understanding self-harm, building relationships, organizational issues, occupational issues, and care management of self-harm. The findings suggest that most prison staff felt unsupported and inadequately equipped to manage self-harm, and reported interdisciplinary conflict on its collective management.

The prevalence of physical and mental health problems is high in prisoners compared with the general population, although health services are closing the gaps. These disparities and the unique setting make for a potent environment for research into offender health. However, conducting research in prison does present difficulties. This paper presents an 'insider's' view of the process, from setting up a qualitative research project through to obtaining relevant approvals and support in this paradoxical world of regulatory bodies.

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There is substantial evidence that people (service users) living with a serious mental illness experience poorer physical health than the general population and die prematurely from life-threatening illnesses. Mental health nurses are best placed to address the physical health needs of service users but evidence points to numerous challenges, including a deficit in their proficiency to meet these needs. Nurse education and mental health services are being reshaped to better equip nurses with the skill set to meet the care needs of service users. The aim of the present study was to gain an in-depth insight into final-year mental health nursing students' views (MHNS) of their preparation to address the physical health needs of service users. Using a qualitative exploratory approach, the views of final-year MHNS learning experiences of physical care were explored through a focus group and in-depth interviews. The focus group generated broad issues, which were then explored in semistructured, individual interviews. The transcribed audio-taped data were analysed using a framework approach to identify the emerging key themes. The themes identified were the comprehensiveness of physical care content, delivery and method of teaching, exposure to physical care in practice, and confidence to address physical health needs. The findings of the present study indicate that there is a need to enhance both the theoretical and practical components of preregistration education for MHNS on physical care.

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