title: Creating alliances: the views of users and carers on the education and training needs of community mental health nurses.
abstract: The Sussex Education and Training Consortium commissioned a development project to identify the education and training needs of Community Mental Health Nurses (CMHNs) working with people with severe mental illness. The concerns of various stakeholding groups were identified using a qualitative methodology, Responsive Evaluation. This paper reports the views of 52 service users and representatives and 24 carers and career support workers as expressed in semi-structured interviews and focused discussion groups. Users and carers were able to identify specific areas that require attention in the education and training of CMHNs. Users want CMHNs to have wide knowledge of mental illness, medication, therapies and services and the understanding and confidence to work in an empowering way. They also want CMHNs to systematically involve users and their carers in care planning and to make more explicit any communication with other professionals and agencies. Carers want more involvement and information and CMHNs made more aware of the role that carers play and the specific problems they face. Users and their organisations would like significant involvement in the provision of CMHN education and training at all levels. Developments to CMHN education and training are suggested with recommendations for research and evaluation.
authors.affiliation: South Downs Health NHS Trust, Brighton, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Simpson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000193:education*; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000193:education*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom