MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION, ENRICHMENT AND ACCOMPANIMENTCelente FrenchVPEK 875Module 2Dr.E. Du Plessis

OBJECTIVE

1. Analyse mental health education, enrichment and accompaniment as ways of promoting community mental health.

2. Evaluate the contribution of mental health education, enrichment and accompaniment to community mental health.

1. ANALYSE MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION, ENRICHMENT AND ACCOMPANIMENT AS WAYS OF PROMOTING COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH.

The psychiatric Community health nurse forms a large link between patients in the community, and accessibility to treatment. Often nurses situated within the community come across patients that suffer from severe mental illness but have never been diagnosed. The mental health nurse is responsible for assessing patients within the community for signs and symptoms of mental disorders.

The who proposed the development of community based mental health services worldwide for some time, however a lack of resources is hampering the development of these facilities. Currently specialist care is mainly available at psychiatric institutions and mental hospitals and very little patients actually receive mental health care in the community. Because mental health establishments could not be performed, mental health has now become an integrated into primary healthcare and

community facilities.

The reason why community based mental health nursing is

becoming so popular is because when patients live within the community, there is often family available so support the mentally ill, patients have access to all benefits that everyone has access to and can be assisted and supported to live their lives optimally and as ‘normal’ as possible without being ‘isolated” from the outside world.

With the availability of trained professionals in mental health facilities, it is possible for patients to have easy access to nurses who are trained to assist them in receiving treatment, being referred to members of the professional team, and being assessed on a monthly basis. Community based mental health nursing enhances prognosis of patients and has showed increased amounts of patient diagnosed.

Recommended development of standardized training packages, complemented by in-service training. The necessity for ongoing monitoring with specialist back-up is stressed to enhance quality of community based mental health. Regular refresher courses are of importance, preferably short courses presented on a regular basis.

Nurses within the community have the basic skills to do a mental health evaluation and refer to the appropriate channels and to check for basic aspects such as medication use, compliance to treatment and side effects.

Economic, political, technologic, legal and demographic aspects are continuously changing mental health care provision. Patients within the community is increasing community mental health movement.

Deinstitutionalization bringing mental health patients out of institutions and allowing them to function within a community setting, began in world war 2 when public mental health hospitals were overcrowded.

Resources available for community mental health delivery:

•Hospital based treatment patient’s admitted must meet admission criteria. GAF of 10-50 qualifies a patient for admission. This is because patients with this extent of discomfort require intense skill and care to ensure coping and to provide for needs.

Resources:

COMMUNITY BASED TREATMENT

Community mental health centers Mobile outreach units Assertive community treatment Psychiatric home care

• Community based treatment programs for persistently ill mentally ill patients, mental health clinics for the homeless.

• Adult day care settings, AIDS support programs, assisted living facilities, halfway houses, hospices, nursing homes, mobile outreach teams, schools, youth centers, primary care centers

THE ADVANCED PSYCHIATRIC PRACTITIONER IN PSYCHIATRIC NURSING

Community mental health nurses play a key role in the multidisciplinary team, assessment, diagnosis, counseling, therapy, referral to correct channels if necessary.

The ability to reach those who are unreachable. integrating PHC and mental health as suggested

by WHO. Monitor coping, teach skills, identify gaps,

support the unsupported. Diagnose new patients within the community

HOW I SEE COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH NURSING AND THE ROLE OF THE COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH NURSE.

BIBLIOGRAPHY