Requirement
An 1800 word essay on the following:
Referring to evidence-based literature and your selected consumer or family/carer group, discuss: the benefits of consumer or family group education, consider any potential barriers to providing group education, strategies nurses require to provide effective education and discuss how you can apply these findings to your own nursing practice development.
Approaches:
• Select a mental health consumer or family/carer group for whom the education is intended. This could be a group of young people aged18-26 years who have had a first episode of psychosis; parents of young people aged 18-26 years who have had a first episode of psychosis; a group of adults recently prescribed psychotropic medications; women experiencing postnatal depression; carers of a family member who has dementia, consumers who have an eating disorder and their families, and there are many more for you to choose.
• You are advised to discuss this assignment with your tutor during opportunities within the tutorials.
• In the introduction you should identify the consumer group your education will target, define key terms and outline the purpose and parameters of the essay: specifically what you intend to discuss in the body of the essay.
• In the body of your essay you must include a discussion of the following:
– benefits of consumer-centred education for your selected group; you will not be able to discuss all benefits, so clearly identify which ones you will discuss.
– therapeutic communication strategies that nurses require to deliver effective group education. They are numerous, so clearly identify those that you have selected to discuss.
– potential barriers to group education. Not all people understand and learn in the same way. Factors to consider could include: age and developmental stage of the consumer group, gender of the consumer group, preferences of consumers for receiving information, educational needs of the consumer group, and many more. Clearly identify the barriers that you will be discussing in the essay.
– relevance of the findings from research of this topic to your own nursing practice development. It is acceptable to write in the 1st person in parts of this section of the discussion (‘I’ statements) because this is about relating the knowledge and skills you identified to the development of your practice, as a soon-to-be registered nurse. RNs are required to provide consumer-centred education, in all health care settings, not only in mental health care.
N.B. This section also requires references to supporting literature regarding practice development/roles of the RN.
• In your summary you should succinctly outline your major findings, conclude the discussion and make recommendations. It shouldn’t include any new information. This section usually requires one-two paragraphs and is not simply one or two sentences.
Evidence:
• You need to demonstrate broad reading of the literature, including research-based literature, to support your discussion of the communication skills, benefits of and possible barriers to effective group education and application to your own nursing practice development. All sections require supporting references to the literature that you consulted.
• The textbook for this subject is a starting point for your research; however, you must demonstrate broader reading beyond nursing textbooks.
• All ideas that are not your own must be supported by references to the relevant literature.
• You are required to demonstrate judgement about the supporting literature you incorporate in your discussion – wikipedia is not acceptable, nor are dubious websites. If you use websites, it is advisable to select Government and Non-Government Organisations’ sites.
• Supporting references ideally will be recent: published in the last 7 years; however, older references can be used judiciously if they support the claims you make.
• Whilst there is no minimum number of references, it is anticipated that an 1800- word essay will require between 12-15 relevant references.
• HARVARD is the only accepted referencing format for the essay.
• Prior to submission, check your essay for spelling and grammatical errors, clarity, logical flow and supporting evidence.
• Plagiarism will not be accepted and if suspected, the essay will be referred to the Faculty’s Responsible Academic Officer for determination.