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Factors related to undergraduate nursing education are among the issues inhibiting interest in mental health nursing as a field of practice. To gain more understanding about views about mental health nursing, a survey was conducted with undergraduate nursing students at a major university in Australia after implementation of a mental health nursing course. The data provide information about student beliefs, concerns, and how mental health nursing might be promoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 17 October 1989, an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale struck the San Francisco Bay Area, causing the collapse of .76 miles of a double-decker roadway (known as the Cypress Street Viaduct), resulting in the death of 42 people. A study examined the effects of rescue work at 6 and 20 months after the event, among 42 people including: military pararescuers, firefighters, transportation workers, and coroner-investigators. The researcher explored the rescuers' motivations, actions, coping strategies, interactions, and understanding of their responses to the event, as well as the practical wisdom each acquired. This article focuses on the 6-month data, and reports the specific work meanings and practices that shaped forms of involvement, issues of stress, and sources of coping that influenced the experience of rescue work in this disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are a number of hard to reach and underserved communities who experience inadequate health care. In Australia, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples experience low life expectancy, higher levels for chronic disease and elevated smoking and drinking. These problems are further exacerbated when living in regional and rural Australia and poverty. There are growing concerns over helping such groups in order to close the health disparity gap. A student-led clinic (SLC) was developed to address clinical placement shortages while providing free health and social services in an underserved community in regional Australia. Health data was collected from 2086 attendees enrolled in the SLC to determine health changes and outcomes of student-delivered services. A series of health data was routinely collected at all contact points. This included physical health care, behavioural health risk, and chronic disease measures. All data was recorded in an electronic monitoring system. Population data identified some significant and positive changes to health patterns-smoking, waist size, and body mass index. Unfortunately, gaps in data entry precluded more robust findings. It was clear that this community suffered from experiences commonly associated with health disparity and poverty. There were higher risks of drinking alcohol and smoking with raised levels of lifestyle disease including diabetes. Some of these issues were mitigated by the community being able to attend a locally situated community driven clinic.

Approaches using self-help have proved successful at treating a range of mental and physical conditions. Guidance by a trained worker enhances the effects of self-help materials, in particular those based on Cognitive-Behavior Therapy. In the United Kingdom, the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) program was introduced to provide better outcomes for people experiencing mild or moderate anxiety and depression. This stepped care approach included low intensity, guided self-help offered by a newly trained workforce of Psychological Wellbeing Workers. The IAPT program has been extensively evaluated and shown to be cost effective and leads to positive treatment outcomes. This paper describes how the IAPT model has been adapted for use in Australia with gamblers. Two case studies illustrate the application of this guided approach to systematically accessing existing self-help treatments for problem gamblers. Assessment information is gathered, before a plan of action, including a problem statement and achievable goals, is agreed upon by the worker and the person with the gambling problem. The worker then gives the person options based on self-help CBT interventions and, once an option has been chosen, the worker guides the person as they work through various activities. The benefits of this approach are discussed.

Background: The University of New England (UNE), Australia decided to develop innovative placement opportunities for its increasing numbers of nursing students. Extensive community and stakeholder consultation determined that a community centre in rural New South Wales was the welcomed site of the student-led clinic because it fit the goals of the project-to increase access to health care services in an underserved area while providing service learning for students., Methods: Supported by a grant from Health Workforce Australia and in partnership with several community organisations, UNE established a student-led clinic in a disadvantaged community using an engaged scholarship approach which joins academic service learning with community based action research. The clinic was managed and run by the students, who were supervised by university staff and worked in collaboration with residents and local health and community services., Results: Local families, many of whom were Indigenous Australians, received increased access to culturally appropriate health services. In the first year, the clinic increased from a one day per week to a three day per week service and offered over 1000 occasions of care and involved 1500 additional community members in health promotion activities. This has led to improved health outcomes for the community and cost savings to the health service estimated to be $430,000. The students learned from members of the community and community members learned from the students, in a collaborative process. Community members benefited from access to drop in help that was self-determined., Conclusions: The model of developing student-led community health and wellbeing clinics in underserved communities not only fulfils the local, State Government, Federal Government and international health reform agenda but it also represents good value for money. It offers free health services in a disadvantaged community, thereby improving overall health and wellbeing. The student-led clinic is an invaluable and sustainable link between students, health care professionals, community based organisations, the university, and the community. The community benefits from the clinic by learning to self-manage health and wellbeing issues. The benefits for students are that they gain practical experience in an interdisciplinary setting and through exposure to a community with unique and severe needs.

Purpose: To better understand a diagnosis corresponding to mental distress and sleep disturbance associated with seasonal change known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD)., Design: This ethnographically guided investigation, conducted from 1993 through 1995 in Tromsøo, Norway at a latitude of 69 degrees north describes how the residents experience extreme seasonal change., Method: Qualitative interview data from 28 participants plus observation, folk wisdom, and literature were used to describe local understanding of seasonality and illustrate how cultural values, meanings, and practices can contribute to alternative experiences that differ from scientists' expectations., Findings: While there is evidence that human physiologic alterations occur in response to the changing seasonal patterns of light and dark and to a greater extent, at latitudes further from the equator, the findings related to psychological changes and their causes remain inconsistent and controversial., Conclusion: Investigators concerned with the effects of seasonal change should be aware of and develop an appreciation of cultural perception and adaptation.

1. Post-traumatic stress disorder and seasonal affective disorder represent two diagnostic entities that have gained tremendous popularity and have, at the same time, obscured the fact that humans have somehow managed to endure hardship for millennia without "treatment." 2. Nurses stand in the midst of two traditions, one of supporting reliance on medical experience and the other, of attending to the natural course of human resilience. 3. Nurses must learn about the personal and cultural meanings that enable individuals and societies to deal with life in constructive, self-enhancing ways, in addition to assisting patients in the context of diagnoses.