No abstract

Compassionate care within mental health services is often taken for granted as something that can be made visible and authentic. However, recent government reports and policy suggest that we are far from providing compassionate care and may be more focused upon risk and surveillance. This paper will discuss the visibility of compassionate care and explore outcomes that consumers and practitioners could measure in practice. Separating the fact from fiction within compassionate care will make authentic involvement practices more visible and open to discussion around consumer collaboration. In a qualitative analysis of a small study with mental health consumers, compassion was found to be a major factor in whether consumers became more involved in their own health care. Demonstrating compassionate care may therefore also demonstrate consumer participation and engagement. This paper will argue that compassionate care can be observed in the relationships between practitioners and consumers that are collaborative and use presence and persistence as methods of practice. Emancipatory practices can be made more visible in mental health care in order to make compassion measurable and to encourage consumer participation and engagement.

Government policy has directed local services to address the needs of carers as a way of maintaining care in the community. This study was initiated to enable carers to develop an information pack based upon their identified needs. Co-operative inquiry, was the method used to ensure full participation of the carers. Group meetings were already in existence through a charity organisation which provides a carers support network. The first author participated in a number of carers group meetings. Co-operative inquiry was used to clarify a number of themes identified and reflective cycles ensured that those themes remained relevant. It was found that carers do want to be involved in their relative's care, not as passive recipients but as collaborative care providers. To do this they need to be fully informed of the processes of care provision. Carers need information that is relevant, easily accessible and obtainable in varying degrees of comprehension. This study suggests that a culture shift within mental health nursing is necessary if professionals are to recognise that a perceived lack of support may lead to a breakdown in relationships between the carer, the person being cared for and the professionals.

Abstract

Narrowing the theory–practice gap through clinical education of pre‐registration nurses is of international importance. Difficulties arising from supervising students in clinical education have been reported in Nepal, Hong Kong and Turkey and different countries also make various provisions for pre‐registration clinical experience. In the UK, pre‐registration nursing education standards and course content equip nurses to practice safely and are defined in statute. Students spend 50% of the course in clinical practice where they apply theoretical concepts under the guidance of a mentor, lecturer practitioner (LP) and link tutor. This paper presents the results of the first phase of a three‐phase study, which sought to explore differences between mentors, LPs and link tutors and how they work together to enable pre‐registration nursing students to integrate theory and practice. The aim of this phase of the study was to explore how LP roles were implemented across the study area and how they worked with mentors and link tutors to enable students to integrate theory and practice. Eleven semistructured interviews of LPs were conducted. The constant comparison method was used to analyse the data. Three themes emerged from the data — participants’ perceptions of their role and how they relate to others (a foot in both camps); participants’ concern to fit students for practice (look at it the right way); participants’ perceptions of how their work could be enhanced (making the job better). This paper discusses these three themes in relation to how the LP role differs from that of mentors and link tutors and how they work together to facilitate theory/practice integration in pre‐registration nursing students.