Stigma in the media: Investigating journalism students attitudes towards mental illness.

Given the profound role that media play in public opinion, there exists an ongoing necessity to understand the portrayal of mental illness by journalists. There is a plethora of studies that have examined how mental illness is portrayed in the media, but few studies have sought to understand what journalist opinions about mental illness are, and none could be found regarding journalism students' opinions. This study aimed to bridge this gap by examining journalism student's attitudes towards mental illness using the Social Distance Scale (SDS). This study adheres to STROBE guidelines for cross-sectional studies. One hundred and seventy-two undergraduate journalism students (n = 172) completed the SDS with findings suggesting that students had moderate stigmatizing attitudes, with varying degrees of stigma present depending on the social context. Positively framed reporting and constructive media coverage surrounding mental illness may be improved by shared communication and education with health professionals who specialize in mental health: mental health nurses.

Creating a dementia enabling university using a Knowledge Translation approach: Innovative practice.

Universities can promote social impact by developing a dementia literate workforce. The Dementia Enabling University Strategy utilised a knowledge translation framework in an Australian university to inspire and support academics to engage students and consider how their skills and knowledge could contribute to the creation of more supportive environments for people with dementia. Dementia Enabling University Strategy ran across eight disciplines: law, media, social sciences, public health, engineering, business, marketing and psychology and was successful in engaging university academics and students. However, a longer term strategy is needed to embed 'dementia' as core business to the university impact agenda.

Student beliefs about their practice within a non-traditional mental health clinical placement.

Therapeutic recreation programs utilize leisure to maximize a person's overall health and well-being. The focus of this study is a professional experience placement held within an outdoor recreation center involving student nurses and people with a lived experience of mental illness. The study aimed to explore student nurse's beliefs about their practice within the program setting. An ethnographic case study approach was used to focus on the development of student nurse practice in this setting. The analytic strategy derived the themes of the ethnographic case study, namely 'who's who', 'clinical contrast' and 'recreation as practice'. A non-traditional mental health clinical placement would seem to have the potential in providing a new set of skills and experiences to these future nurses that may complement the scope of recovery-orientated care. The therapeutic recreation program provided the student with an experience where they could develop therapeutic relationships with people a lived experience of mental illness.

Examining mental health clinical placement quality using a self-determination theory approach.

Nursing clinical placements provide a unique opportunity for students to develop and hone the skills and knowledge that will be used upon graduation in their future professional practice. There is an on-going inquiry into elements that may facilitate better leaning outcomes in a variety of teaching and learning settings, including clinical experiences. Using a Self-Determination Theory approach, this study examined whether undergraduate nursing students would benefit from immersion in an autonomy-supportive clinical setting. Using a two-group pre and post-test design, students were classified into either an autonomy-supportive or comparison clinical placement cohort and measured on their learning using the Mental Health Clinical Placement Survey. Results of a repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance indicated a significant difference on some of the measures of learning housed within the Mental Health Clinical Placement Survey with students in the autonomy-supportive group reporting higher scores at the post-test time point. Findings support the value that teaching and learning in an autonomy-supportive setting has, on the skills and educational development of students.

Expert by Experience Involvement in Mental Health Research: Developing a Wellbeing Brochure for People with Lived Experiences of Mental Illness.

This is a process paper that describes the development of a wellbeing brochure, shared between university researchers, a consumer research advocate, and fully informed by people who are living with mental illness (experts by experience). The purpose of this brochure was to provide strategies for maintaining wellbeing for EBEs, after attending a psychosocial intervention. Brochure development was guided by a mixed-methods research design, using a survey and focus group. The findings illustrate five key themes in EBEs strategies for maintaining wellbeing: good sleep hygiene, regular physical activity, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, relaxation techniques and social support. This process paper demonstrates how collaborating with experts by experience represents a valuable approach for developing mental health research and resources.

Do Help-Seeking Behaviors Influence the Recovery of People With Mental Illness?

Personal recovery is a primary focus for health care professionals and people with mental illness, with current research focused on understanding the concepts and factors that facilitate a positive recovery journey. A person's ability to seek help is an area that has demonstrated promise. Although there is a wealth of literature that exists on the barriers to someone seeking help, there is little empirical evidence to demonstrate the connection between help-seeking behaviors and personal recovery for people with mental illness. The current study used quantitative measures to examine whether help-seeking behaviors would facilitate personal recovery. One hundred twenty people with mental illness completed two valid and reliable surveys that measured help-seeking behaviors and personal recovery. Using multiple linear regression analysis, results revealed that help-seeking behaviors significantly influenced the personal recovery of participants. Understanding the constructs that facilitate a positive personal recovery journey for a person with mental illness may be viewed as a critical area of inquiry. These results allow for future inquiry into the connection between intention and behavior, as there has been an identified disparity between the need for assistance and use of services. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 57(12), 33-38.].