NURS20150 - Contextual Foundations of Mental Health Nursing Practice
Unit Synopsis
The evolution of the role of the mental health nurse from asylum attendant to specialist practitioner has been influenced by a range of social, cultural, ethical, political, and scientific factors. This unit challenges you to evaluate the historical and contemporary influences shaping the professional identity and contemporary practice of mental health nurses. You examine the ongoing importance of the therapeutic relationship in the strengths-based, trauma-informed, consumer-centred, and recovery-oriented approaches that dominate current mental health service delivery. You also debate the continuing effects of stigma on people with the lived experience of mental illness and the role of mental health nurses in empowering consumers and their families or carers.
Details
| Level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 8 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | 7 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Be Different Intakes
Higher Education Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Annotated bibliography | 60% |
| 2. Presentation | 40% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2019 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 41.18% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: self reflection
(i) Self evaluation
Maintaining the consistency and integrity of the previous unit coordinator's work in constructing the unit was important. Pre-existing resources and alignment of assessments to learning outcomes was achieved through minor edits to reflect updates or additional resources and/or to match my facilitation style. Consistent use of approved Moodle icons helped to standardise the Moodle site. In my reflection of the unit, student engagement through forums was nominal and likely due to differing adult learning styles and priorities. Attempts were made to introduce clinical supervision as a resource/support for students which unfortunately had very little uptake or response.
The unit was reviewed and updated prior to opening to students in Term 1.
Source: DDLT
(ii) Staff feedback
Consultation was sought in relation to a significant number of non-submitting students, options offered to students to promote use of student support services and engagement. Unfortunately, despite contact and support efforts, n=6 students or 26% of students did not submit their assessment items for grading.
Students were contacted throughout the term if there was a lack of engagement. This appears to have improved engagement in this area.
Source: Survey feedback
(iii) Student feedback
Based on the responses, students were pleased with the range and depth of the resources utilised, the delivery of the unit, and the appropriate turnaround times for assessments. Suggestions for improvement related to Moodle Navigation of resources. An issue had arisen during the start of term with EBSCO links being broken; Students were encouraged to contact the Library to activate EBSCO account which was recently updated and required a log-in.
Links continue to need review to ensure they are current. The difficulties with the EBSCO links have been rectified.
Source: Industry
(iv) Broader feedback
Industry contacts indicated their support for this unit that provided a strong historical perspective coupled to emphasis on the mental health nursing role in the clinical setting and global context.
Industry continues to support the content of this unit.
Source: Student Survey
The Mahara portfolio is difficult to navigate.
Explore alternative options to improve the portfolio experience.
In Progress
Source: Student Survey
The portfolio was confusing.
Review the information offered to students on portfolio development and simplify. Develop a more user-friendly approach to describing portfolio requirements.
In Progress
Source: Feedback from students in portfolio development sessions.
The portfolio created good opportunities.
Continue with the portfolio.
In Progress
Source: Observation from Coordinator.
The learning outcomes and graduate abilities section of the portfolio covers too many areas.
Review learning outcomes mapping and create a unit change proposal to change learning outcomes demonstrated through portfolio.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Evaluate the social, cultural, ethical, political, and scientific factors that have shaped the professional identity and contemporary practice of mental health nurses.
- Examine the strengths-based, trauma-informed, consumer-centred, and recovery-oriented approaches that dominate current mental health service delivery.
- Critically review the ongoing importance of the therapeutic relationship when supporting people with the lived experience of mental illness.
- Debate the continuing effects of stigma on people with the lived experience of mental illness and the role of mental health nurses in empowering consumers and their carers.
Provisionally accredited with The Australian College of Mental Health Nurses (ACMHN).
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Annotated bibliography | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Presentation | • | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Communication | • | • | • | |
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | • | • | • | |
| 7 - Leadership | • | • | • | |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |