Using simulated practice in pre-registration education to explore mental health issues

UK policy advocates that all nurses should have the skills to work with individuals experiencing mental health problems. However, barriers exist in that mental health placements for child student nurses are brief or difficult to arrange. This hinders opportunities to develop a therapeutic working relationship with young people, consolidate skills and ultimately develop confidence in working with young people presenting with mental health problems. A 3-day simulated practice strategy with child nursing students was designed to give students the knowledge, skills and confidence to work with young people who present to services with mental health problems. Students were approached 6 months after their simulated practice training to evaluate their opportunities to put their skills into practice while on placement. Once back in practice, 100% of students said they had improved confidence in working with young people who present with mental health problem

An Investigation into the early detection of psychosis and depression in individuals via Social Media (Twitter)

In this paper, we describe a pilot study undertaken to analyse Tweets that identify possible online signs of distress. 20,800 tweets were collected between July and November 2013 that contained potential indicators of depression and psychosis. In order to identify tweets that contain signs of distress, a subset of 2,500 tweets was judged by the author as to whether they contain ‘worrying’ phrases. In order to establish levels of inter rater reliability, 100 of these tweets were then assessed in the same way by 3 independent judges with a mental health background. The results suggest that Twitter users feel comfortable expressing low self esteem issues as well as mental health difficulties to online friends, family and other Twitter users