Resources for non-mental health nurses and midwives
Identifying the gaps
In 2019 Sheffield Hallam University was awarded funding by the RCN Foundation to carry out a scoping review into early nursing-led interventions to support children and young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing (CYP MH&EW).
Findings from the scoping review identified that nurses working in a variety of non-specialist settings were often the first to identify children and young people as they began to develop symptoms of poor mental health. These included school nurses, health visitors and emergency care nurses.
The research also found that these nurses, whilst ideally placed to identify and support children and young people, often lacked the specialist skills and training needed to address the challenges facing children and young people in crisis.
Creating a toolkit
These findings have led to the launch of a three-year programme of grant-making to create an online toolkit that develops bespoke resources for non-specialist nurses working with children and young people.
The RCN Foundation is working with the University of Huddersfield, University of York and other partners to create an online toolkit to support registered nurses and midwives who are not mental health trained, but who work with children and young people.
Phase 1
For the first phase of this toolkit, the University of Huddersfield have developed the Huddersfield App for Mental Health Assessment (HAMHA) - a web-based app that can be readily accessed by non-mental health registered nurses and midwives to assess the child or young people within the areas they work in, such as school clinics.
Phase 2
The second phase has focused on developing and identifying an evidence-based app for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) informed interventions to support children and young people's mental health as an initial response, whilst referrals to other services and support take place. This app will act as a guide for nurses and midwives as they cultivate therapeutic relationships with the children and young people they care for, and help them identify other interventions which may help. This work also explores the effect of digital interventions on the therapeutic relationship between the nurse/midwife and young person.
Phase 3
The University of York have developed and will deliver the third phase of the toolkit - a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that makes training in this area accessible to nurses, midwives and other healthcare professionals in every part of the UK, and beyond. Feedback from the above apps will shape the curriculum offered through the MOOC. The course is now open. To book your place, click here.
Outputs
Once these three phases are complete, the resources will be put together as a one-stop online toolkit for nurses, midwives and healthcare support workers on the RCN Foundation website.