TY - JOUR
T1 - Public health nurses’ perinatal mental health training needs
T2 - A cross sectional survey
AU - Noonan, Maria
AU - Galvin, Rose
AU - Jomeen, Julie
AU - Doody, Owen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
PY - 2019/11/1
Y1 - 2019/11/1
N2 - Aim: To examine public health nurses’ education, training, and professional support needs in perinatal mental health. Background: Public health nurses have a key role in supporting maternal mental health including screening, support, referral, and decreasing stigmatization. Design: A cross-sectional survey. Methods: Data were collected from a convenience sample of Irish public health nurses (N = 105) from December 2016–February 2018. The anonymous postal survey consisted of the Perinatal Mental Health Questionnaire, Mental Illness: Clinician's Attitudes scale and Perinatal Mental Health Learning Needs questionnaire. Results: Public health nurses reported good levels of knowledge (77.2%) and confidence (83.8%) in recognising women experiencing stress, anxiety and depression. They indicated less confidence in caring (50.5%) for women. The average score for the Mental Illness: Clinician's Attitudes scale was 35.9 (SD 5.9), suggesting positive attitudes towards women with significant mental illness. Conclusion: Public health nurses require educational opportunities to explore expressions of psychological distress across cultures and their own personal attitudes to mental health, systems of clinical supervision, and support pathways. Impact: Generating new knowledge on the importance of incorporating an attitude component in perinatal mental health education for public health nurses.
AB - Aim: To examine public health nurses’ education, training, and professional support needs in perinatal mental health. Background: Public health nurses have a key role in supporting maternal mental health including screening, support, referral, and decreasing stigmatization. Design: A cross-sectional survey. Methods: Data were collected from a convenience sample of Irish public health nurses (N = 105) from December 2016–February 2018. The anonymous postal survey consisted of the Perinatal Mental Health Questionnaire, Mental Illness: Clinician's Attitudes scale and Perinatal Mental Health Learning Needs questionnaire. Results: Public health nurses reported good levels of knowledge (77.2%) and confidence (83.8%) in recognising women experiencing stress, anxiety and depression. They indicated less confidence in caring (50.5%) for women. The average score for the Mental Illness: Clinician's Attitudes scale was 35.9 (SD 5.9), suggesting positive attitudes towards women with significant mental illness. Conclusion: Public health nurses require educational opportunities to explore expressions of psychological distress across cultures and their own personal attitudes to mental health, systems of clinical supervision, and support pathways. Impact: Generating new knowledge on the importance of incorporating an attitude component in perinatal mental health education for public health nurses.
KW - attitudes
KW - confidence
KW - integrated care pathways
KW - nursing
KW - perinatal mental health problems
KW - public health nurses
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071322846&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/jan.14013
DO - 10.1111/jan.14013
M3 - Article
C2 - 30937923
AN - SCOPUS:85071322846
SN - 0309-2402
VL - 75
SP - 2535
EP - 2547
JO - Journal of Advanced Nursing
JF - Journal of Advanced Nursing
IS - 11
ER -