How professionals should communicate with children who have mental healthcare needs

Abstract

Young people with mental health needs are often cared for on children's wards by generalist children's healthcare professionals (CHCPs). Generalist CHCPs find these encounters challenging and difficult but they are viewed as an opportunity to improve the healthcare offered to these young people. The authors secured funding from Health Education South London to design and deliver interactive workshops to improve the communication skills of CHCPs with adolescents in challenging circumstances. In this article, the authors outline the design and content of the workshops and discuss how the workshops explore and challenge the attitudes the participants have that could prevent a young person from seeking support or engaging with professionals. They also describe how the workshops have improved generalist CHCPs' confidence and communication skills when talking with young people and how participants now use these encounters as an opportunity to improve healthcare for children and young people.

Enhancing the care of children and young people with mental health issues

“…Bingham (2018), identifies health professionals can appear to discriminate or have stigmatising views towards people with mental health illness, and these can be sub-conscious. A study of these biases validated the incorporation of a guided clinical experience in an acute mental health unit during the first year of undergraduate studies to limit stigmatising beliefs (Bingham, 2018) (McDougall, 2016), current research identifies the lack of funding for specialist mental health units being detrimental to the child or young person's future as they are not receiving the care they deserve (Bolland et al, 2017;Buckley, 2010;Greening & Hunt, 2017;Thomas, 2017;Wollaston, 2014). If a CPG were in place for overnight admissions there would be an increase in service user safety as an initial care plan would be created, avoiding the risk of these service users potentially having missed referrals due to oversights.…”

“…Children and adolescents being cared for in non-suitable environments dates back to the beginning of the millennium (Buckley, 2010;Greening & Hunt, 2017;McDougall, 2016;Thomas, 2017), however, it is increasing to a point that there is often at least one mental health service user on the ward at all times (McDougall, 2016). Childrens nurses often have little or no mental health training (Thomas, 2017), which previously was a contributing factor to why 82% of nurses refuse to be allocated or accountable for patients with mental illness (Reeves, 2011).…”

“…The number of children and young people requiring admission for treatment of an acute episode of mental illness has increased by 68% over the last ten years; this increase leading to a greater demand on the NHS for the vital inpatient and outpatient services, ultimately resulting in extended waiting times (House of Commons Health Committee, 2014). (Bolland, Richardson, & Calnan, 2017;McDougall, 2016;Reeves, 2011;Thomas, 2017). Thomas (2017), conducted a retrospective study of third year students, which identified a lack of mental health education for children's nurses.…”

“…A mental health specific CPG would ensure that gold standard care is given to each service user on admission and throughout their stay on the ward leading through to discharge into a stable and safe environment (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2012). To assist in maintaining a gold standard of care the need for in-house training from the CAHMS team for the nurses in the children's ward is apparent (Bolland et al, 2017;Greening & Hunt, 2017;McDougall, 2016;Thomas, 2017;Thongpriwan et al, 2015;Wollaston, 2014). With the increase of young metal health service users attending the ward at an all-time high (Thongpriwan et al, 2015), it is imperative that hospitals begin educating post graduate children's nurses as soon as possible to support and meet the needs of service users.…”

A systematic review into healthcare professionals’ attitudes towards self-harm in children and young people and its impact on care provision

“…An attitude is an evaluative judgement about a stimulus entity that can be liked or disliked, differing in terms of valence and strength, and can be used to predict and influence behaviours (Maio and Haddock, 2009;Price, 2015).The influence of healthcare professionals' attitudes towards patient care is extremely significant, not only because a change in individuals' values is challenging but it can influence the compassion and emotional intelligence required for their daily work (Price, 2015). Also, providing effective treatment for CYP who self-harm can be emotionally challenging due to direct contact with high levels of physical and emotional distress (Bolland et al, 2017).…”