MENTAL HEALTH

Mental Health Assessment



Mental Health Assessment

Introduction Mental health is a concept that aims to create stable living conditions and environments that enable individuals to maintain a normal lifestyle and share in the benefits of the state. These efforts include measures to increase the chances of more people living a normal health life with full mental well being and stability. Barker (1997) describes mental health promotion as promoting positive mental health by increasing psychological well-being, competence and resilience and by increasing supportive living conditions and environments.

In this essay, we will be discussing the skills that are necessary for the nursing student to practice mental health assessment. In addition, we will also be discussing assessment strategies, planning and implementing mental health assessments, appropriate documentation recording skills, appropriate referral skills, and risk assessment in mental health. A concluding statement will be made to signify the importance of mental health for human beings.

1. Mental Health Assessment Skills

While assessing an individual with mental health problem, it is essential for the practitioner to have necessary skills in order to avoid problems. Since, it has been observed that when a person starts a new job, he or she worries about facing issues that he or she has no knowledge of dealing with similar problems. Therefore, it is necessary for medical personnel to understand the concepts of mental illness to deal with it appropriately. For this purpose, necessary skills require proper planning to deal with such problems that are to list down the tasks that need to be performed for assessment of mental health.

The skills are to amalgamate art of human behavior with the framework of science and medicine and present this in nursing practice. A psychiatric nurse coordinates with other medical staff and interdisciplinary health treatment teams for the mental and emotional well being of a patient. Therefore, nurses must have skills of effective communication, active listening, and counseling.

Effective Communication Skills

The nursing process is a joint work between patient and nurse. In order for this cooperation works well, they need to talk to each other that means, nurses must have effective communication skills. Nurse and the patient should talk together so that they can understand each other better. The nurse, who makes the maintenance process, should dominate communications in order to ensure success. Communication may be written - and in oral form, which in turn has a verbal and a nonverbal portion (Heller 1996: 5).

The nurse needs to know enough of the customer to respond strongly and accurately with the client's feelings. Sometimes nursing students feel that you are putting words into the mouth of the customer when choosing a thrill of a customer's perception of the message. Reflection is a different interpretation that is simply put into words the feelings you feel or hear a nurse on customer feedback without having to add or remove them.

Active Listening

The nurses must have the ability to listen with understanding and care, being attentive to the conversation, making it clear that we are listening to the ...