Lived Experience with Mental Illness and Clinical Placements

[eaddg1]

Hey folks,

I'm a newbie on here, but I come with a very important question (or at least very important for me). For a Theory and Research paper I am currently studying towards, I am conducting a literature review and critical analysis of arguments - culminating in an essay and formulation of recommendations - into the experience had by student nurse of mental illness with a family member, and thus how they respond to mental health clinical placements. My formal question is as follows:

"Is there a relationship between student nurses' lived experience of a family member with mental illness and the responses had on, or how they respond to, mental health clinical placements"

I am a student nurse myself and am in this exact position, hence my drive to learn whether there are any trends related to this and what studies have been conducted. In addition, I would like to look into how this manifests itself on placement (i.e. becoming over-involved in patients' care, crying often/ getting easily flustered, etc); if there is a drive to get into mental health nursing as a profession in light of the lived experiences (or vice versa); and also whether this lived experience, placement experience, and consequential stress can lead to the development of mental illness in previously asymptomatic individuals. I am open to further suggestions of sub-topics.

I guess why I am here is to, A) get some stories from students themselves who may be in a similar situation; and B) ask if anyone has any great articles (preferably within the last 10 years) or literature they know of that is on this or similar topics... I am a wee bit stuck for information at present. Much appreciated wonderful nursing people!!

Kind regards

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

To be honest, I find this a nearly impossible research question to answer. First, because experiences are so individual. Mental illness could be anything from depression or anxiety, to bipolar disorder, to sociopathy, to psychosis. It may be well managed by therapy and medication or it may be completely untreated. Likewise, how any one individual responds to that experience will differ from another's response. Mental illness is such a broad term, and you've chosen to couple that with a very narrow population- nursing students- further limiting that availability of research. Asking if it has any effect on their "response" is very vague, as "response" could mean their final grade, their stated opinion, emotions felt during the clinical, etc. I believe you would be hard pressed to find even a single research article on this topic, and certainly aren't going to find nearly enough to conduct a full review of literature.

My mother struggled with alcoholism, substance abuse and depression my entire life. However my mental health clinical was done at a long term chronic institution and while a history of substance use/abuse was common for my patients, it wasn't their principle diagnosis or even a current problem given the lack of access to drugs or alcohol in the facility. So while I was a nursing student with a family member with mental illness, the two didn't really overlap. That's the problem with the question you've chosen- every person and situation is unique, making it virtually impossible to quantify any data.

I would highly suggest reconsidering your chosen question and selecting a topic that has evidenced-based research available. If the effect of mental illness on family members is of interest to you, you might consider researching caregiver burnout or prevalence of mental illness in children with parents diagnosed with mental illness. Remember the PICO format for your question, as it will help structure you literature review and final paper.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Wonderful advice. Students have a tendency to cast their research nets much too widely - which never ends well. The purpose of "research" activities for nursing students is to demonstrate their knowledge of the process, not actually create new knowledge. Therefore, keeping it small & simple is the best route.

Choosing a topic that is sufficiently reflected in existing literature should be your first step. Secondly, by focusing all of your 'research' activities in a particular area during nursing school, you will be probably be able to recycle them into thesis or dissertation as time goes on and you seek advanced degrees.

Best of luck to you.

[MMC.RN]

It is an interesting topic, but again like PP have said, it would be difficult to research and is way too broad.

I am a psych nurse. I am dx with Bipolar II disorder, an eating disorder, and most recently PTSD. I know, I sound like a hot mess and it took me awhile to accept the fact that I do have issues and now I wouldn't have it any other way. Well, that's not exactly true but I've learned to live with my illnesses and am learning to accept myself for what I am. Anyway, my experiences are the reason I got into psych nursing. I feel like it's more helpful than a hindrance.

[BriarC]

Hey :) sorry for messaging on here but i can't private message you would you be able to send the state info to my email address ? [email protected]

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Hey :) sorry for messaging on here but i can't private message you would you be able to send the state info to my email address ? [email protected]

who are you talking to? What state information?

[AliNajaCat]

You have to have a certain number of posts on AN before you can participate in the PM system, This prevents people from dropping in, posting once or twice, and then skedaddling without really participating in the community.