Just Another Patient? Student Reflections on Providing Mental Health Care to Transgender and Gender Expansive People During Simulated Encounters.

AIM: This study analyzed psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) students' reflections following a virtual simulated encounter with a patient who identified as transgender or gender expansive (TGE). BACKGROUND: To reduce mental health disparities, PMHNP students must be prepared to deliver affirming care. Engaging in and reflecting on simulated encounters with standardized patients can improve PMHNP students' affirming care competency. METHOD: A thematic analysis process was used to analyze student reflections during simulation debriefings. RESULTS: Five themes emerged: application of affirming care principles, recognizing minority stressors, treating all patients the same, desire to learn more, and valuing authentic practice. CONCLUSION: PMHNP students' reflections on the experience of providing care to a standardized patient who identified as TGE support the use of virtual simulations to prepare future providers to deliver affirming, person-centered care.

Students' Perceptions of a Tobacco Education Intervention.

Persons living with a mental illness represent an especially vulnerable and disadvantaged subgroup of smokers. Compared to those in the general population, they smoke more, die younger, and suffer disproportionately from cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, and cancer, all diseases and conditions directly associated with, and exacerbated by, smoking. Despite strong evidence that tobacco cessation counseling by a health professional can approximately double patients' odds of quitting, clinicians across disciplines are reluctant to offer these individuals effective means by which to quit smoking. This disinclination is due, at least in part, to inadequate tobacco cessation training during degree education. The purpose of this qualitative study was to assess undergraduate nursing students' perceptions of a tobacco education intervention. Findings support the integration of tobacco education into undergraduate nursing curricula.

Evaluation of a theory-based education program to motivate nursing students to intervene with their seriously mentally ill clients who use tobacco.

Tobacco dependence is a major health problem for persons with a serious mental illness (SMI). Nurses working with psychiatric clients often lack the knowledge, ability, and confidence to offer their clients meaningful, effective help to quit smoking. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a tobacco education program on the perceived competence and motivation of baccalaureate nursing students (BSN) to intervene with SMI clients who use tobacco. The education program significantly improved the competence and motivation of BSN students to deliver cessation interventions to this vulnerable population of smokers.

Making a case for systematic integration of theory-based tobacco education into graduate psychiatric/mental health nursing curriculum.

Tobacco use and dependence is a serious public health issue that disproportionately affects the mentally ill client population. Mental health professionals, including psychiatric/mental health advanced practice nurses (PMHAPNs), are disinclined to integrate tobacco cessation interventions into their practice, due in part, to a general lack of tobacco-related knowledge (C. Essenmacher, C. Karvonen-Gutierrez, J. Lynch-Sauer, & S. A., Duffy, 2008; A. J. Molina, T. Fernandez, D. Fernandez, M. Delgado, S. de Abajo, & V. Martin, 2012; L. Sarna, L. L. Danao, S. Chan, S. Shin, L. Baldago, E. Endo, & M. E. Wewers, 2006); D. Sharp, S. Blaakman, R. Cole, & J. Evinger, 2009). This paper provides an in-depth literature review of tobacco education in nursing curricula and proposes the systematic integration of theory-based tobacco content into psychiatric/mental health graduate nursing programs.

Curricular Innovations in Tobacco Cessation Education for Prelicensure Baccalaureate Nursing Students.

BACKGROUND: Tobacco use is the primary preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, resulting in enormous health care expenditures. The burden of smoking is higher among disadvantaged populations, such as individuals with mental illness. As the largest group of health care providers, nurses must assume a leading role in tobacco control efforts to decrease the deleterious impact on health outcomes. METHOD: Investigators used a randomized control group design to assess the effectiveness of a theory-based tobacco education program on the perceived competence and intrinsic motivation of prelicensure BSN students (N = 134) to engage in cessation interventions with patients with mental illness. RESULTS: Students completing the program reported a significant increase in perceived competence, compared with their peers who received standard instruction only. Intrinsic motivation did not increase significantly for either group. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that the program improves students' perceived competence, but further research is needed to determine its effect on motivation and its usefulness in other health care contexts. [J Nurs Educ. 2016;55(8):425-431.].