The Importance of Values and Attitudes in Mental Health Services

Discuss about the Principles of Recovery Oriented Mental Health Practice.

Values and attitudes of Mental Health Services determine the way these services are provided and received. The values of the National Mental Health Services are Respect, Advocacy, working in partnership with the healthcare facilities and aiming towards recovery of the patients. Further, the attitudes include respectful, collaborative, self as well as culturally aware, positive open-minded and hopeful attitude, ethical and professionally responsible. These attitudes are important in making an inclusive society so that people can change their beliefs, attitudes and feelings regarding mental health and associated inabilities.

There is a pivotal role and rights of people associated with mental health in healthcare facilities. The healthcare professionals and nursing professionals should work in the direction of upholding different rights such as right to equality and discrimination, equality rights related to men and women, self-discrimination and rights associated with effective remedy. Theyalso possess the right to be free from arbitrary retention, forced employment and security in healthcare facility. For successful implementation of these laws, I will try to implement these laws I my practice so that while dealing with such people, I do not breach their rights.

Prior to work in healthcare facilities, nursing professionals are provided with training related to maintaining and protecting the rights of mental health condition associated people and hence, it becomes the ethical duty of nurses to value the self-respect of self and others, diversity in workplace, quality for all and promote healthcare inclusive of each person. Therefore, I will ensure this by applying all these practice in my profession and proving such people with their rights so that they can be empowered and inclusion can be achieved.

The four main categories depending on the involvement of brain and associated with impaired mental function include –

• problem with memory
• shift or change in the behavior of the person
• problem in understanding the language
• Difficulty in carrying out activities of daily life.

I was able to recognize the mentalhealth condition by identifying the 5 warning signs such as-

• presence of life risk associated behavior
• lack of self-esteem and prevailing hopeless ness
• isolation tendency from society and people gatherings
• prevailing anxiety, and anger in their behavior
• Finally, the frequent change in the personality of the person.

My response was to include them into the system and make them understand their worth so that they can be included in the process of healthcare.

The psychosocial factors that affect the mental health of people, specified by the Australian Department of Health are: food, educational facility, and physical environment, effect of healthcare system, financial stability and the communal or social context. These are the social, biological; and physical factors that determine the health status of human brain.

Negative stereotyping is a condition due to which, healthcare professionals focus more on the patients physiological condition but they forget about the needs, related to emotional, and mental condition. Hence, due to this, the patients develops the feeling of discrimination and in extreme cases such discrimination becomes life threatening for the patients suffering from mental conditions. The patients starts believing in the negative remarks and hence, they lose their confidence and self-esteem.

Rights of People with Mental Health Conditions in Healthcare Facilities

The top five skills or strategies that can be implemented in the process for the use of negotiation with people suffering from mental health condition. The first skill will be application of communication skills with the person affected with mental health condition. Secondly, the primary aim will be identifying different causal factors that are responsible for such condition. The third strategy will be active listening so that the person affected with mental condition can related to the healthcare professionals. Further, the healthcare professional should implement proper staffing for care facility of the patient so that needs of the patient can be addressed. Finally, changing the behavioral skills so that competency to the preferred behavior of the patient can be achieved.

In my nursing practice, as per my observation, self-harm or suicidal mentality is the prime vulnerability that the mental health condition ignites in several patients. The patients are always with intention to harm themselves or performsactions that can severely injure themselves or can be the reason of their death. Therefore, I make sure that while treating these patients can provide them equal treatment and make them understand their importance so that their suicidal activities can be gradually decreased.

In the previous care plans I took part in the interdisciplinary team and worked as an assistant to the enrolled nurses so that they can develop plan of care with each of the element that can improve the health of patients. However, in the upcoming care plan, I would like to take up a role where I will communicate with the patients and implement the interventions. Providing health promotion and educational strategies will also be a part of this participation.

While providing healthcare education or while health promotional activity with patients having the signs of reduced physical health, I will primarily focus on prioritizing the goals of that patient so that a specific health aim can be decided. Further I would provide the patient with the resources that ca help the patient in recovery. For the continuity of care, assistance required and transitional plans will be decided. Furthermore, I would try to include collaborative efforts of different healthcare professionals and specialists so that overall health can be achieved for the patient (Slade et al. 2015).

While participation in interdisciplinary team, collaboration is the primary aspect that helps to create a healthcare invention, which is focused to provide the patient with overall care. Further, as a nurse, I would be working with several healthcare professionals, hence, I should have the collaborative and team work spirit so that I can provide the patient with quality care. Hence, while choosing interdisciplinary team, I will assess my competency with the team so that I can utilize my practice for the betterment of the patient (Fairweather et al. 2017).

1. Unique ness of the individual; it determines that recovery is not associated with curing, but making the life of patient peaceful and satisfactory.
2. Real choices; it empowers the patients by supporting them to make choices for themselves.
3. Attitudes and rights; it protects the rights of individuals by making them understand what is correct for them.
4. Dignity and respect; while interacting with patients, it demands the healthcare professionals to be respectful and protect the dignity of the patient.
5. Partnership and communication; it allows the patients to take part in the healthcare decisions so that their involvement can be entertained.
6. Evaluating recovery; it makes sure that patients and their carers can track their progress (Department of Health 2018).

Ethical Duties of Nursing Professionals

While providing the legal responsibilities and duty of care to the patients, in the nursing environment, nurses should be aware of several responsibilities. The nurse should be able to balance between the duty of care and the legal support to the patients so that there is a scope of positive risks for healthcare and the healthcare expert can take that opportunity to implement new interventions. Further, the support should support to enhance the strength of the individual without making them dependent on the carer.

While supporting the rights of individual and their decisions, I will make sure that I will interact with them so that their thinking ability, their habits and positive or negative aspects can be understood. Further, I will ask them to provide their comment on the intervention they are going through so that they can feel important and their rights can be protected.

The strategy I will use to assist or encourage the person, his or her family or the associated carer to take part in the therapeutic intervention will be my communication skills. I will communicate with all of them and make them understand the effectiveness of this intervention that can benefit the mental health condition of the patient (Slade et al. 2015).

To ensure that the person understand the time and process of medication application, administration, and are known about its potential side effect, I will carry out evaluation of patients understanding by asking the patient to fill a closed ended questionnaire. This will help to understand the effectiveness of patient education and will also determine the level of patient’s understanding (Fairweather et al. 2017).

The process or strategy I will opt to inform the patient and the family about the beneficial opportunity in care process will be by educating them about the process and answer all their concerns within that session. This will help to resolve all the query of the patient and their family and they will be able to take part in the intervention for its benefits.

It is the responsibility of the nurse to empower the patient and provide them with their rights that promotes inclusion and diminishes discrimination in healthcare facility. For this the nursing professional should be able to communicate with the individual and support them emotionally and morally. Further, they should be aware of the rights, so that breaching cannot occur.

Identifying and implementing the contemporary and evidence based nursing practice can be implemented on the patients affected with mental health condition. Further, depending on the severity and complexity of the condition, this can range from very less or little to large amount of responsibility.

References

Department of Health (2018). Department of Health | Principles of recovery oriented mental health practice. [online] Health.gov.au. Available at: https://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/mental-pubs-i-nongov-toc~mental-pubs-i-nongov-pri [Accessed 26 Jun. 2018].

Fairweather, G.W., Sanders, D.H., Cressler, D.L. and Maynard, H., 2017. Community life for the mentally ill: An alternative to institutional care. Routledge.

Slade, M., Bird, V., Clarke, E., Le Boutillier, C., McCrone, P., Macpherson, R., Pesola, F., Wallace, G., Williams, J. and Leamy, M., 2015. Supporting recovery in patients with psychosis through care by community-based adult mental health teams (REFOCUS): a multisite, cluster, randomised, controlled trial. The Lancet Psychiatry, 2(6), pp.503-514.