Physical health proficiencies in mental health nursing education: Student nurses? perspectives

Hemingway, Steve, Shiel, Emma, Turner, James, Stephenson, John, Roberts, Seren ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9678-9357, Heron, Suzanne, Grant, Rhona, Galway, Karen, Hughes, Colin, McLaughlin, Derek, Owens, Mark and Bond, Carmel 2025. Physical health proficiencies in mental health nursing education: Student nurses? perspectives. Nurse Education in Practice 87 , 104493. 10.1016/j.nepr.2025.104493

PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (335kB)

Abstract

Aim. To explore mental health nursing students’ perceptions and experiences of being taught physical health competencies in mental health nurse education. Background Standards for pre-registration nursing education in the UK require students to be taught and assessed on a range of physical health proficiencies. Some mental health nurses argue this is a shift toward a generalised approach to nursing. However, mental health nursing students - key stakeholders in the teaching and assessment process - have not been involved in evaluating the relevance or validity of proficiencies Design. Cross Sectional Methods An anonymous online questionnaire, incorporating quantitative and qualitative elements was administered to mental health nursing students from five UK universities to elicit perceptions regarding the taught content and assessment of the proficiencies. Descriptive and inferential analysis was conducted on quantitative data; thematic analysis was applied to qualitative data. Results 115 mental health nursing students from 5 UK universities participated. Quantitative findings showed agreement on the importance of physical health skills and related taught content. Three themes emerged from qualitative analysis: theoretical learning at university; clinical skills simulation; and practical consolidation during placements. Participants emphasised if taught physical skills were applied to mental health and broader healthcare settings, their perceived value for learning would increase. Conclusions Mental health nursing students value the physical health content of their courses. Greater attention is needed to ensure these skills are effectively experienced and assessed in practice. Further evaluation should include perspectives of registered mental health nurses responsible for integrating these procedures into performance assessments.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Healthcare Sciences
Additional Information:	RRS policy applied
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	1471-5953
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	21 November 2025
Date of Acceptance:	26 July 2025
Last Modified:	24 Nov 2025 10:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/182567

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item