The forest as a classroom: preparing for mental health practice.

BACKGROUND: Positive effects of physical activity, health promotion and disease prevention, in treatment of mental illnesses are well documented. Mental health practice for nursing students highlights the important connection between physical activities and mental health. This study aims to examine the outcome from nursing students' participation using The forest as a classroom. Students' collaboration by problem solving, theoretical discussions and performance of activities in the forest serves as a repertoire of non-medical treatment strategies in mental health. METHODS: The forest as a classroom was evaluated by means of an ad-hoc questionnaire including both standardized and open-ended questions. Data was analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and content analysis. RESULTS: The results indicated enhanced knowledge about physical activity and its impact on mental health. However, the nursing students' experience challenge preserving theoretical exercises outdoor because sensory stimulation took attention away from learning. CONCLUSIONS: For nursing students it is essential to build a repertoire of treatment activities to care for patients having mental health problems. This kind of approach is supported by the students' learning in the forest. The pilot study highlights the importance of multiple methods of learning in nursing education.

Stages of Change--continuous measure (URICA-E2): psychometrics of a Norwegian version.

AIM: This paper is a report of research to translate the English version of the Stages of Change continuous measure questionnaire (URICA-E2) into Norwegian and to test the validity of the questionnaire and its usefulness in predicting behavioural change. BACKGROUND: While the psychometric properties of the Stages of Change categorical measure have been tested extensively, evaluation of the psychometric properties of the continuous questionnaire has not been described elsewhere in the literature. METHOD: Cross-sectional data were collected with a convenience sample of 198 undergraduate nursing students in 2005 and 2006. The English version of URICA-E2 was translated into Norwegian according to standardized procedures. FINDINGS: Principal components analysis clearly confirmed five of the dimensions of readiness to change (Precontemplation Non-Believers, Precontemplation Believers, Contemplation, Preparation and Maintenance), while the sixth dimension, Action, showed the lowest Eigenvalue (0.93). Findings from the cluster analysis indicate distinct profiles among the respondents in terms of readiness to change their exercise behaviour. CONCLUSION: The URICA-E2 was for the most part replicated from Reed's original work. The result of the cluster analysis of the items associated with the factor 'Action' suggests that these do not adequately measure the factor.