The provision of physical health care by nurses to young people with first episode psychosis: A cross‐sectional study

Abstract

Background Registered nurses working in the area of mental health complete either a psychiatric/mental health or comprehensive/generalist nursing program, and their education preparation influences their physical health care nursing practices. The differences in educational preparation may be a contributory factor to nurses' delivery of physical health care to young people experiencing first episode psychosis. This paper addresses an identified gap in nursing practices related to physical health care of young mental health service users. Aim To examine the relationship between the educational preparation of nurses and attitudes, confidence level, perceived barriers and physical health care nursing practices. Method A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2015 with 207 nurses using the modified Physical Health Attitude Scale for Mental Health Nurses (PHASe). Results Comprehensive/generalist prepared nurses were more likely to provide education on heart disease prevention and sexual health and support young people to stop cigarette smoking than psychiatric/mental health nurses. However, as the length of service progresses, the propensity for psychiatric/mental health nurses to be involve in smoking cessation increases. Implication for practice It is important to identify how nurses' educational preparation affects their nursing practices so as to address the gaps in their physical health literacy.

Mental health nurses’ attitudes, experience, and knowledge regarding routine physical healthcare: systematic, integrative review of studies involving 7,549 nurses working in mental health settings

“…However, the reference group only outperformed the other studies on two of the eight possible comparisons on the subscales ‘Physical Healthcare’ and ‘Confidence in Providing Physical Healthcare’ and was poorer for three comparisons. The PHASe total score difference was greatest (large effect size) between the reference sample and Chee et al’s [41] Australian sample (Cohens d = 1.13) followed by Bressington et al’s [19] Japanese mental health nurse sub-sample ( d = 0.72). For subscale scores, effect sizes for differences were also largest between the reference sample and that of Chee et al [41].…”

“…The PHASe total score difference was greatest (large effect size) between the reference sample and Chee et al’s [41] Australian sample (Cohens d = 1.13) followed by Bressington et al’s [19] Japanese mental health nurse sub-sample ( d = 0.72). For subscale scores, effect sizes for differences were also largest between the reference sample and that of Chee et al [41]. Effect sizes were in favour of the reference sample on the attitudes to smoking and barriers to physical healthcare subscales ( d = 1.48 and 1.78 respectively).…”

“…Motivators for providing physical healthcare; 4. Needs if physical health care is to improve.Chee et al [41] [2015]AustraliaCross sectional survey. Physical healthcare in First Episode Psychosis careQuestionnaire: Amended PHASe [11] N = 207 MHNs and Generalist nurses working in mental health servicesRoutine practiceNationalVarying levels of physical health practice.…”

“…The number of items per sample differing from the reference sample ranged from 7 to 13 ( Mdn = 10). Japan [19] provided the only sample of mental health nurses whose responses compared favourably with the reference sample (7/10 significantly differing responses being more favourable in the Japanese sub-sample), while Ganiah et al’s [42] sample (0/11 favourable comparisons among significantly differing responses), Happell et al’s [30] (0/14 favourable comparisons), Chee et al’s [41] Australian sample (1/11 favourable comparisons), Haddad et al’s [43] UK sample (1/10 favourable comparisons) and Bressington et al’s [19] Hong Kong sample (2/12 favourable comparisons) all fared poorly. Items relating to checking GP-status, advising on exercise, weight management, healthy eating, contraception, and eyesight checks were all rated less favourably by at least two other samples (range 2 to 6, Mdn = 4) and more favourably by none compared with the reference sample.…”

“…This, of course, may well reflect different approaches to mental health nurse preparation; for example, in Australia, all pre-registration nurses undergo the same core programme whereas in the UK mental health nursing is a specialist branch of pre-registration training. Therefore, results from Chee et al’s [41] recent study are enlightening since they reveal equivalent attitudes to physical healthcare specifically, more confidence in delivering physical healthcare but poorer scores in relation to barriers to physical healthcare delivery and smoking cessation. Given the non-equivalence of results on the attitudes to smoking subscale between Chee et al [41] and Wynaden et al [44], both conducted in Western Australia by related research teams, there are questions about the extent to which results are sample specific.…”