Impact of Changes in Mental Health Nursing Practice on Younger

Question: Discuss about the Impact of Changes in Mental Health Nursing Practice on Younger People. Answer: Introduction: Mental health nursing practice is a significant component of health care system which helps to provide comprehensive and holistic mental health care to patients with physiological disorders (Rickwood et al., 2014). It is not just restricted to the management of mental disorders but also includes mental health promotion, prevention of mental illness, planning an early intervention to reduce the risk of mental illness, promote the well-being of an individual, rehabilitation and health restoration. The World Health Organisation has stated that nearly 25 % of global population is affected by mental illness every year and it causes nearly 14 % of global burden of disease (Bor, Dean, Najman, Hayatbakhsh, 2014). The Australian Bureau of Statistics has suggested that one in five people in Australia have a mental disorder. Approximately 14 % of Australian teenagers and children have a mental disorder or behavioural problem. It is found that the risk of mental illness and behavioural problems is more in boys when compared to girls of same age group (McCloughen, Foster, Huws?Thomas, Delgado, 2012). The mental health problems increase the risk of other health behaviours such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and illicit drug use. Poor mental health in young children increases the risk of learning difficulties, bullying at school, physical or sexual abuse. It is often associated with low-family income, poor family relationships, parental illness, substance abuse, and poor conduct (Lawrence, et al., 2015). Over the past two decades, different types of political, social and economic trends brought changes in mental health service provision. These changes have a positive impact on the holistic development of young people with mental disorders. In the past, the treatment and care focused on addressing the deficit criteria such as lack of sense of achievement, alcohol abuse and low-income family situations. The individuals who are not capable of achieving optimal psychosocial well-being are believed to experience adverse health effects. But, recently with the changes in mental health practice, the medical professionals and mental health nurses are focusing on the optimism. They are encouraging the children and young patients to improve their condition irrespective of their adverse circumstances (McCloughen, Foster, Huws?Thomas, Delgado, 2012). Nowadays, the mental health care professionals are focusing on the strengths of the children and young people such as social functioning, emotional competency as these are the essential components for improving the mental well-being of an individual (Long, 2016). The concept of positive psychology helps the young people to develop resilience, confidence, and self-efficacy. To practice positive psychology, the health care professionals should actively listen to the patients, understand their needs and identify their strengths and beliefs (Mills, Fleck, Kozikowski, 2013). The evidence based nursing practice gained importance in the mid-1990s, since then several studies and documents related to psychiatric nursing have been published which provides the provision of evidence-based nursing practice. Evidence based practice is implemented by most of the professionals as it helps them to make best clinical decisions which improve the patient outcomes provides the scope of professional development (Wong, et al., 2015). The evidence based practice suggests that cognitive behavioural therapy is highly beneficial for the treatment of anxiety and depression. However, the CBT should be provided flexibly to the children and adolescents as the thinking transforms from concrete to abstract in most of the children at 10 to 12 years. Children above 12 years have sophisticated thinking, social awareness and complex sense of morality. Therefore, the mental health nurses should be able to differentiate the abilities of younger and older children before delivering CBT (Sturmey, Hersen, 2012). Social Effectiveness Therapy is another novel treatment method which is used to decrease the social anxiety in children and adolescents (Long, 2016). It helps to increase interpersonal skills by involving them in some social activities. This program is appropriate for children of age group 7 to 17 years. It combines the group therapy which provides social skill training and personalized behavioural treatment to decrease social anxiety (James, et al., 2013). Parent child interaction therapy which was developed by Dr. Sheila Eyberg is used to treat disruptive behaviours in the children aged 2 to 7 years. It is a kind of positive psychology in which child learns specific positive attention skills. This therapy helps to increase positive parenting and parent-child interaction (Pearl, et al., 2012). Multidimensional family therapy, functional family therapy, and strength oriented family therapy are useful for young people who use illicit drugs or substance abuse. The interventions in these programs involve treatment, family involvement, and retention protocol and development appropriate interventions. They focus on broad outcomes such as decreased substance use, improved family functioning, peer relations, school attendance, and reduced antisocial behavior(Celinska, Furrer, Cheng, 2013; Gehart, 2012; Rigter et al., 2013). In conclusion, the changes in the mental health nursing practice have enabled the nurses to implement holistic interventions which focus on the biological, psychological and social determinants of the young people. Family based interventions help the children and their parents to know each other and facilitates the development of effective child-parent relationship which promotes well-being of the children and young people (Rickwood et al., 2014). Understanding the child development is a key factor in mental health nursing as it helps to set realistic goals while caring for children or young people at different ages. It is also important to understand the social functioning and peer-relationship while caring for young people (Long, 2016). Further, evidence based practice helps to make individualised care plans which help to focus on the mental health needs of the young people and provide competent care. References: Bor, W., Dean, A. J., Najman, J., Hayatbakhsh, R. (2014). Are child and adolescent mental health problems increasing in the 21st century? A systematic review.Australian New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry,48(7), 606-616. Doi: 10.1177/0004867414533834 Celinska, K., Furrer, S., Cheng, C. 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