Assessing students’ mental health crisis skills via consumers with lived experience: a qualitative evaluation
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JMHTEP-01-2019-0007 |
| Pages | 361-371 |
| Date | 29 August 2019 |
| Published date | 29 August 2019 |
| Author | Claire L. O’Reilly,Rebekah J. Moles,Evelyn Boukouvalas,Sarira El-Den |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Assessing students’mental health crisis
skills via consumers with lived experience:
a qualitative evaluation
Claire L. O’Reilly, Rebekah J. Moles, Evelyn Boukouvalas and Sarira El-Den
Abstract
Purpose –Suicide is a major cause of preventable mortality and primary healthcare professionals, including
pharmacists, require appropriate training to communicate with and support people at risk of suicide. Mental
Health First Aid (MHFA) training teaches participants how to communicate with and support people
experiencing suicidal thoughts. The purpose of this paper is to use a novel MHFA assessment approach
involving simulated role-plays enacted by people with a lived experience of mental illness and explore MHFA
participants’and simulated patients’views of participating in simulated role-plays of mental health crises.
Design/methodology/approach –MHFA is embedded into the Sydney School of Pharmacy curriculum.
Post-MHFA training, pharmacy students were randomly allocated to participate in or observe a simulated
role-play of one of three suicide crisis scenarios, with a person with a lived experience of mental illness. Two
purpose-designed, semi-structured interview guides were used to conduct student focus groups and
interviews with simulated patients to explore their views. Focus groups and interviews were digitally recorded,
transcribed verbatim and thematically content analysed using a constant comparison approach.
Findings –In total, 22 pharmacy students participated in two focus groups and three simulated patients
participated in interviews. Five themes emerged including: the benefits of participating; the value of having a
lived experience; challenges with suicide assessment; communication; and the value of immediate feedback
and debrief.
Originality/value –Students and simulated patients both benefited from participating in the role-plays.
Students valued practicing their MHFA skills post-training with simulated patients with lived experiences. This
unique approach to post-training assessment provides an opportunity to practice skills realistically and
authentically, in a safe, learning environment.
Keywords Suicide, Assessment, Pharmacy, Mental Health First Aid, Simulated patient
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Suicide contributes to approximately 800,000 deaths per year and is the second leading cause
of mortality among people aged 15–29 years, globally (World Health Organization, 2018). In
Australia, the standardised suicide death rate has increased from 10.6 per 100,000 in 2007 to
11.7 per 100,000 in 2016 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017). A variety of healthcare
professionals (HCPs) may be involved in the care of people at risk of suicide. HCPs require
appropriate training to ensure that they are confident in assessing and supporting people at risk
of suicide. It is recognised that community pharmacists regularly come into contact with people
in crisis (Murphy et al., 2015, 2018). Furthermore, the Mental Health Commission of NSW (2018)
Strategic Framework for Suicide Prevention also recognises pharmacists’roles in “strengthening
the community response to suicide and suicidal behaviour”, through their roles as respected
members of the community and gatekeepers who are likely to encounter people at risk of
suicide. Due to their accessibility and trust in the community, pharmacists may potentially
identify the warning signs of mental health problems and crises and accordingly direct
people to the appropriate professional care (Carpenter et al., 2019). However, pharmacists
Received 29 January 2019
Revised 15 May 2019
5 July 2019
Accepted 5 July 2019
The authors thank the study
participants (pharmacy students
and simulated patients) and are
grateful to One Door Mental Health
for their assistance in
implementing the mental health
consumer-led simulated
assessments.
Claire L. O’Reilly,
Rebekah J. Moles,
Evelyn Boukouvalas and
Sarira El-Den are all based at
the Sydney Pharmacy School,
Faculty of Medicine and Health,
The University of Sydney,
Sydney, Australia.
DOI 10.1108/JMHTEP-01-2019-0007 VOL. 14 NO. 5 2019, pp. 361-371, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1755-6228
j
THE JOURNAL OF MENTALHEALTH TRAINING, EDUCATION AND PRACTICE
j
PAGE361
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