Standing out on the Margins: Using Dialogical Narrative Analysis to Explore Mental Health Student Nurse Identity Construction and Core Modules

Mental health deserves better: Resisting the dilution of specialist pre‐registration mental health nurse education in the United Kingdom

“…We argue the NMC have endorsed a narrow skill set based on the underlying assumption that all nurses, regardless of speciality/field, are best supported and prepared for professional registration through the acquisition of generic, technical competencies that measure and define all nursing practice by a set of standardized skills, procedures and proficiencies predominantly in relation to physical health needs and at the expense of other, more nuanced, specialist mental health skills. The current approach fails to adequately capture the contested philosophical, conceptual, social and ethical dimensions of contemporary mental health care (McKie & Naysmith, 2014) and is failing to adequately prepare students for mental health practice contexts (Buescher & McGugan, 2022). As a result, service users, families, carers and wider communities are, too often, being failed.…”

“…However, in this post‐COVID‐19 pandemic period, which has spotlighted the demand for high‐quality mental health nurses, overstretched academic staff and curricula lack the scope for these qualities to be embedded into a skillset that enables our students to be there and interact therapeutically (Connell et al, 2022). Mental health nursing students have already described feeling marginalized in core modules, with generic components of a course lacking mental health content, and theory and skills not being contextualized to mental health care environments (Buescher & McGugan, 2022). Academics too have been embarrassed by the courses they offer and questioned their future in nurse education (Warrender, 2022b).…”

Narrative Education Combined With Experiential Teaching in the Development of Empathic Competence of Undergraduate Nursing Students: Pre-Test Post-Test Design

“…The impact of narrative education is not limited to the resonate emotionally with students of the teacher in telling stories or experiences, the values and professional outlook embedded and conveyed in the story or experience, but also the experience of nursing students in practice, independent thinking and creation, introspection, and internalization in the reflective journal. These aspects enable nursing students to have greater empathy for patients, deeper understanding of their profession, and stronger professional awareness (Buescher & McGugan, 2022). The content of narrative education is not limited to textbook knowledge, and the teaching method developed around the core of sharing stories broadens the learning horizon of nursing students.…”