Knowledge, skills and values of the future acute mental health practitioner: a Delphi study Tracy Flanagan – Nurse Consultant, Humber Foundation Trust & Senior Lecturer, University of Hull Jane Wray – Research Fellow, FHSC, University of Hull 3rd International Nursing and Midwifery Conference 4 th - 5 th April 2011

Background: UK national context Change the way you think about Hull Mental Health Tsar suggests a high quality mental health service is delivered by a skilled, motivated workforce (Appleby, 2000) KSF (DoH, 2002) and Agenda for Change (DoH, 2005) – imperative for staff to develop specialist knowledge and skills via academic accreditation New Horizons (DoH, 2009) emphasised need for skilled workforce Acute Care Declaration NMHDU (2009) No Health without Mental Health (DoH 2011) Care In Crisis- MIND enquiry into acute care (2011)

Background to the degree Local training analysis (n=42) revealed lack of post- registration qualifications among senior acute care staff in Hull and Humber region Only two of 42 had completed post-registration training to degree/diploma level BSc Acute Mental Health Care Degree (2 years part time) developed in 2006 to respond to this skill deficit 4 cohorts 30 students Change the way you think about Hull

BSc Acute Mental Health Care: degree content 6 modules in 6 semesters: Context and Culture in Acute Mental Health Care Medication Management Approaches and Interventions in Acute Care Care and Management of Complex Needs Appraising Evidence in Acute Mental Health Care Leading Developments in Acute Mental Health Care Change the way you think about Hull

Outline of the study Aim: To achieve consensus on the essential knowledge, skills and values needed to be taught as part of a BSc in Acute Mental Health Care. Method: 1.Delphi study (10 panellists) 2.Interviews with graduates 3.Constructive alignment of evidence with existing provision Change the way you think about Hull

Summary of Delphi study stages Change the way you think about Hull Round one: Open question – what are the essential knowledge, skills and values for inclusion in an acute mental health care degree? Round two: Rank items on a four-point scale (essential, desirable, not required, ambiguous) Round three: Feedback and scores adjustment Round four: Rate items on a scale of one (not at all important) to ten (very important) Round five: Feedback and scores adjustment 162 items were generated from round 1 responses 4 items were lost from Knowledge (Financial management), Skills (Diligence and Vocational rehabilitation) and Values (Recognition of professional contributions)

Knowledge The items achieving the greatest degree of consensus included: multi-disciplinary team working the importance of the therapeutic relationship Change the way you think about Hull

Knowledge (continued) the recovery approach the value of service user/carer involvement Change the way you think about Hull

Skills The items achieving the greatest degree of consensus included: communication skills promotion of social inclusion risk assessment/management training/supervision skills Change the way you think about Hull

Skills (continued) ability to translate policy into practice analytical/judgement skills person-centred care planning carer assessment/involvement Change the way you think about Hull

Values The items achieving the greatest degree of consensus included: recovery social inclusion least restrictive interventions Change the way you think about Hull

Values (continued) working in partnership with service users understanding the needs of carers openness to users' perspectives respecting diversity Change the way you think about Hull

Constructive alignment Constructive alignment theory, developed by John Biggs, (1999) has its roots in curriculum theory and constructivism. It currently plays a significant role in higher education programme development and is the underpinning concept behind the development of programme specifications, learning outcomes, course content and assessment criteria. As a systemic theory it sees the teaching milieu as a system in which content, teaching and assessment tasks are aligned with learning outcomes, thereby ensuring the programme is responsive, professionally valid and consistent. Change the way you think about Hull

Next steps The findings from the Delphi provide an evidence base for the realignment of the content of the programme reflecting the essential and desirable knowledge, skills and values required by acute MH care practitioners Programme re-design, development and re- validation Interviews with service managers/training leads Staff survey (practitioners) Change the way you think about Hull

For further information please contact a member of the project team Jane Wray – Tracy Flanagan – Tim Welbourn – Maya Goia – Change the way you think about Hull