Refocusing on physical health: Community psychiatric nurses’ perceptions of using enhanced health checks for people with severe mental illness

Abstract

In the present qualitative, descriptive study, we explored Hong Kong community psychiatric nurses' (CPN) perceptions of using comprehensive physical health checks for service users diagnosed with severe mental illness (SMI). Research interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 11 CPN in order to explore their perceptions about the use of the Health Improvement Profile (HIP) over a 1-year period. Interview data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. The analysis revealed that the majority of CPN appreciated the comprehensive focus on the physical health of their clients and reported positive changes in their clinical practice. Many of them observed an increase in the motivation of their clients to improve their physical health, and also noted observable benefits in service users' well-being. The use of the HIP also helped the CPN identify implementation barriers, and highlighted areas of the tool that required modifications to suit the local cultural and clinical context. To our knowledge, this is the first study conducted in an Asian mental health service that explores nurses' views about using comprehensive health checks for people with SMI. The findings suggest that such approaches are viewed as being acceptable, feasible, and potentially beneficial in the community mental health setting.

Effects of the Thai Health Improvement Profile intervention on the physical health and health behaviours of people with schizophrenia: A quasi‐experimental study

“…Our research also demonstrated utility of the modified HIP in a Hong Kong mental health care setting (Bressington et al . , , ).…”

“…We also conducted a qualitative study exploring Hong Kong community psychiatric nurses (CPNs) experiences of using the HIP (Bressington et al . ) with the same patient population. The nurses were positive about how the intervention had led to enhanced patient motivation to address their physical health.…”

Chinese Health Improvement Profile for people with severe mental illness: A cluster‐randomized, controlled trial

“…The HIP intervention and tool was modified for use in Hong Kong based on our previous research findings (Bressington et al . , ) to develop the Chinese HIP (CHIP), which is tested in the present pilot, cluster‐randomized, controlled trial. The modifications included translation into the Chinese language, revisions to supporting/educational materials, terminology changes, and the introduction of a ‘traffic light’ warning system to highlight the health relevance of findings for all individual CHIP items.…”

The Health Improvement Profile for people with severe mental illness: Feasibility of a secondary analysis to make international comparisons

“…The physical health screening tool administered in the current study, the Health Improvement Profile (HIP), is based on guidelines for health screening in those with SMI and is intended to be used by nurses and other health professionals to produce an individualized physical health risk profile. The HIP was originally developed by White and colleagues in the UK; subsequently, it has been adapted for use in Hong Kong (Bressington et al, 2014(Bressington et al, , 2016, Thailand (Meepring et al, 2018), Finland (Werkkala et al, 2020) and the USA (Bos, 2018) Given the insufficient physical health screening rates and poor medical outcomes in people with SMI (Reilly et al, 2013), it is important to clarify how a standardized approach may facilitate screening and help to directly compare physical health promotion needs (Doherty & Gaughran, 2014;Happell et al, 2015;Vasudev et al, 2010) in a different international settings. However, to date there have been no studies that have contrasted physical health profiles of patients with SMI in different countries using the same screening tool.…”