John Hurley

Southern Cross University · School of Health and Human Sciences

Inadequate mental health nursing content in pre‐registration nursing curricula has been the topic of debate and concern since the introduction of comprehensive nursing education in Australia. Government‐initiated inquiries and the efforts of mental health professional organizations and leaders have not successfully addressed this problem. The aim o...

This study aimed to examine the experiences of graduates of online interdisciplinary postgraduate mental health programmes in Australia. The program was delivered in 6-week terms. Seven graduates from diverse backgrounds were interviewed about their experiences with the course and its impact on their practice, confidence, professional identity, vie...

Many mental health nurses and academics believe that the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s standards of proficiency for registered nurses, published in 2018, have negatively affected mental health nurse education in the UK. Serious concerns had been raised before the implementation of these standards, but warnings were not heeded and many people thin...

Trauma-informed care has gained increasing popularity in mental health services over the past two decades. Mental health nurses remain one of the largest occupations employed in acute mental health settings and arguably have a critical role in supporting trauma-informed care in this environment. Despite this, there remains a limited understanding o...

Introduction: Successive inquiries into mental health services in Australia have identified the need for major reform of services and proposed a return to direct-entry nursing training. Aim/question: To identify what service users, family and supporters have found helpful in their encounters with nurses in mental health settings. Method: A sur...

Mental health nursing requires a specialist range of capabilities and values. In Australian contexts, the preparation of nurses to work in mental health settings has attracted criticism from government reviews, academics, and graduate nurses. Insufficient mental health content and clinical placement experience in undergraduate nursing courses have...

Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is an effective treatment for borderline personality disorder and other problems underpinned by difficulties with emotional regulation. The main components of DBT are skills training groups and individual therapy. The COVID-19 outbreak forced a rapid adaptation to online delivery, which largely mirrored face-to-f...

Despite rising international needs for mental health practitioners, the mental health nursing workforce is underutilized. This is in part due to limited understandings of their roles, identities, and capabilities. This paper aimed to collate and synthesize published research on the clinical roles of mental health nurses in order to systematically c...

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) programmes are often the only available treatment for people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and were rapidly converted to online delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic. Limited research exists surrounding how the major elements of DBT are delivered in an online environment. This scoping review cons...

The Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) requires a skilled workforce capable of assessing the diverse needs of service participants and providing tailored services accordingly. There is currently limited evidence regarding workforce capabilities to inform training and curriculum design, particularly from the perspectives of carer...

This discursive paper aims to clarify what roles mental health nurses identify as being within their scope of practice in clinical settings. It also aims to highlight any consumer benefits arising from these roles. Role theory and its relationship with identity are critically discussed as a framework to explain how contemporary mental health nursin...

Introduction Trauma‐informed care (TIC) is an approach that mental health inpatient units are increasingly adopting, with mental health nurses (MHNs) being the largest occupational group working this area. Aim To critically examine the literature on TIC in mental health inpatient units from a MHN perspective. Methods Primary studies examining...

This project sought to better understand the lived experiences of carers and/or families of persons with a disability, shortly after the person or people they care for entered the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), and over the following 18-month period. Acknowledging that the primary focus of the NDIS support is people with disabilities,...

Objective: Mental health nurses (MHNs) have a long, under-recognised, history of engaging in psychotherapeutic practice across the spectrum of mental illness and mental health problems. There is a need for a psychotherapeutic response for people with complex or serious mental health problems within the stepped care model and in response to increase...

While it is known that informal carers provide the majority of caregiving in Australia, there remains limited understanding of the challenges that regional carers face in their caring role and the impact of the caregiving role on carer well‐being. Objective The aim of this study was to better understand the health status of caregivers as the perso...

Mental health nursing is largely invisible within public discourse. When mentioned at all in news media, it is usually a signifier of an occupation connoting where a nurse works. There is rarely a presumption of expertise in any sphere or articulation of a unique skill set or defining features which differentiate the mental health nurse from other...

Objective To map and summarize the literature related to the prenatal diagnosis of agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC) to inform nursing practice. Data Sources We searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, PyscINFO, and Academic Search Complete with the use of strings of curated terms to cover the broad ACC nomenclature. Documents were published in English betwe...

Objective This paper reports the capabilities of mental health nurse (MHN) psychotherapists in Australia and their perceptions on how to best utilize their skills. Method An MHN is a registered nurse with recognized specialist qualifications in mental health nursing. One hundred and fifty three MHNs completed an online survey; 12 were interviewed....

Objective This review aims to identify and evaluate existing knowledge on speaking up within the context of medical hierarchy while witnessing medical error (ME). Specifically, this review explores evidence to answer the question: Within the medical hierarchy, what are the mechanisms influencing speaking up behaviours in the presence of witnessed M...

Objective This paper reports findings from a study that sought to better understand the experiences of parents and their children with emergent mental health challenges following the parent's participation in a nurse‐led therapeutic group. Design This was an explorative qualitative study using semi‐structured interviews which were then thematicall...

The aim of this Australian based qualitative study was to better understand key drivers for mental health nurses to undertake training in psychotherapy, and how these capabilities are integrated into their clinical practice. Open ended reposes from a national survey of 153 mental health nurses were supplemented with data from 12 semi-structured int...

Purpose Remote and regional Australia have comparatively fewer mental health services than their urban counterparts, what is more, mental health remains profoundly stigmatised. This study aims to understand how, if at all, the process of group art-making then publicly displaying the artworks can contribute to stigma reduction for young people (YP)...

The environments in which nursing work is undertaken can be highly stressful and complex with resultant harmful outcomes for the health of both nurses and patients reported. Undergraduate nursing students are particularly challenged when on clinical placement through having only partially developed work capabilities, with wide claims that these nur...

Background: Undergraduate preparation is important in ensuring health care professionals are prepared to identify and respond to intimate partner violence (IPV). Previous studies confirm this education is highly variable and IPV-related content remains marginalised in undergraduate nursing, midwifery and paramedicine curricula. Aim: To investiga...

The negative impact of mental health related stigma has been recognised for many years as impacting in a negative way on young people who are wanting to participate in employment and social activities, as well as inhibiting treatment seeking behaviours for those who experience mental health difficulties. The making of art has been shown to be very...

Health care professionals are frequently one of the first points of contact in episodes of intimate partner violence (IPV). This paper presents qualitative data from a larger research project on IPV-related content in undergraduate curriculum for Australian health care professionals. IPV is a serious public health issue with findings from this pape...

Aims and objectives To explore how team processes support nursing teams in hospital units during every day work. Background Due to their close proximity to patients, nurses are central to the process of maintaining patient safety. Globally, changes in models of care delivery by nurses, inclusive of team nursing are being considered. Design and me...

The purpose of this article is to theoretically explore men’s preconception health as a mechanism to enhance fertility, as well as the health and well-being of the subject and his descendants. Premorbid risk factors and behaviors associated with stress, environmental toxins, excessive alcohol consumption, smoking, lack of exercise/obesity, and the...

One of the challenges to nurses' mental wellbeing is that the heavy workloads they experience can limit opportunities to deliver satisfying compassionate care...

Background: Emotional intelligence (EI) is associated with a wide range of personal, professional and social benefits with numerous applications evident for nursing education and clinical practice. Despite growing support for increasing the focus on EI in nursing and nurse education, empirical evidence for the effectiveness of training to increase...

Background: Over the past two decades, there has been considerable research into workplace bullying. One area that remains poorly developed is a tool with the capacity to accurately differentiate between exposed and unexposed employees. Aim: To determine optimal cut-off scores for the Workplace Bullying Inventory (WBI) that accurately classify c...

Mental Health Nurses have a long tradition of delivering talk-based interventions across a range of clinical settings. Despite this, Mental Health Nurses receive limited recognition of this contribution. This paper presents findings from a study that explored Mental Health Nurses' experience of delivering talk-based therapies in an inpatient rehabi...

Aims and objectives: To explore clinical nurses' experiences of utilising emotional intelligence capabilities during clinical reasoning and decision making. Background: There has been little research exploring whether, or how, nurses employ emotional intelligence (EI) in clinical reasoning and decision making. Design: Qualitative phase of a la...

Trauma-informed care (TIC) is increasingly recognized as an approach to improving consumers' experience of, and outcomes from, mental health services. Deriving consensus on the definition, successful approaches, and consumer experiences of TIC is yet to be attained. In the present study, we sought to clarify the challenges experienced by mental hea...

In Australia and internationally, Peer Workers are increasingly being incorporated into the mental health workforce. Underpinning this trend is the conviction that the inclusion of workers with lived experience in overcoming mental health challenges is central to transforming service delivery. Given there are few identified Australian studies into...

Police have historically been responsible for transporting people during a mental health crisis in Australia. A major change to the New South Wales (NSW) Mental Health Act (MHA) in 2007 expanded the range of coercive transportation agencies to include NSW Ambulance (paramedics) and NSW Health (mental health nurses). Anecdotal reports, however, desc...

Background Nepal is a small country in the central Himalayas, with approximately 26.5 million inhabitants. Student Volunteer Placements International (SVPI) organise volunteer experiences with the Children’s Welfare Organisation in Nepal (CWON) in the Chitwan region of Nepal. These programs focus on the health of communities of this region. This re...

Public sector organizations have been shown to have high levels of workplace bullying, despite widespread adoption of zero-tolerance policy. Given the level of harm that stems from bullying, it has been suggested that it might be one of the most serious problems facing modern organizations. The qualitative findings from a large cross sectional stud...

This paper details initial findings from an ongoing multi method study exploring the efficacy of Peer Workers (PW) in regional Australia. Of particular interest to Mental Health Nurses (MHNs) are the tentative claims emerging from the literature surrounding the study that suggests PWs and nurses may be achieving similar outcomes with a subgroup of...

While there is some evidence in the literature on the impact of art therapy for consumers, there is comparatively little written on how art that has been created by consumers impacts on those observing the art. This paper reports on a qualitative research study that sought to determine if publically-displayed art created by young consumers impacted...

Accessible summary The present model of employment specified in the Mental Health Nurse Incentive Program (MHNIP) is closely aligned to a traditional practice nurse model whereby the nurse is employed to assist and extend medical practice. Mental health nurses working within MHNIP typically possess post graduate qualifications and a breadth of expe...

This paper outlines the qualitative findings of a recent multimethod study exploring the impact of nurses assuming leadership roles in delivering primary health care to detainees within police custody suites in Scotland. The full multimethod study was conducted within a framework of realistic evaluation with key findings indicating that the nurse-l...

With expectations of academic staff to achieve high quality teaching and research outputs as performance measures it is timely to explore how staff perceive they are being supported to meet these ends. This article presents findings of a multi-method study that explored influences impacting on the quality and quantity of scholarly activity being un...

The Mental Health Nurse Incentive Program (MHNIP) is a Commonwealth Government funded scheme that supports people living with a mental illness. Despite its significance, the program has received little attention from researchers nor critical discussion within the published work. This paper first critically examines the MHNIP from the contexts of id...

Abstract Nurse leadership capability that is constructed, nurtured and supported from pre-registration level into the mature career stages intuitively appears to offer benefit for all health stakeholders. Literature suggests such effective nurse leadership impacts positively on not only the quality of clinical care, but also the working environment...

Background: Nurses are central to the aim of ensuring medication safety, through being predominantly responsible for the administration of medications to patients in acute care settings. Correct identification of prescribing errors by nurses helps to ensure that errors are detected early in the process of administering medications to patients. The...

This paper seeks to highlight that researchers can generate the potential for benefit to all stakeholders within the research process through maintaining a wide understanding of ethical and emotionally intelligent behaviours. A range of ethical perspectives is examined before introducing a model which highlights key challenges and benefits of under...

Aim This study aimed to explore the potential for emotionally intelligent leadership as a way to mitigate bullying behaviour within nursing workplace environments. Background As the body of evidence about bullying continues to grow there is an increasing need for researchers to direct their attention to developing theoretical frameworks that explai...

ACCESSIBLE SUMMARY: •  Emotional intelligence capabilities have been associated with the identity of mental health nurses and as being desired attributes by users of mental health services. Simultaneously, the nursing profession is increasing its delivery of talk-based therapies, with policy-driven preparation for such roles prioritizing therapy ap...

Identity studies are well established across the social science literature with mental health nursing beginning to offer evidenced insights into what may, or may not, constitute key identity performances. For mental health nursing these performances remain contested, both from within the profession and from international contexts that favour generi...

Twenty-four mental health nurses were interviewed to gain a greater understanding of their experiences of working within roles delivering talk-based therapies. The study participants, while echoing the broad direction and purpose of policy that supports mental health nurses expanding talk-based therapy roles, also offered insights into the challeng...

Education has explored and utilised multiple approaches in attempts to enhance the learning and teaching opportunities available to adult learners. Traditional pedagogy has been both directly and indirectly affected by andragogy and transformational learning, consequently widening our understandings and approaches toward view teaching and learning....

This article discusses the background to devising the new pre-registration curriculum for mental health nursing. A symposium was held with the intention that its findings will inform the development of the curriculum.

Mental health nurses have made transformational contributions to talk-based therapies in the UK. As specialised training in this field expands, some of them may identify themselves with related professions. This study draws on the experiences of 24 mental health nurses and the literature to explore these issues.

Mental health nursing, along with other professional groups, has had to adapt to new ways of delivering health services, often in response to government policy. Consequently, traditional professional boundaries and roles are being rapidly and consistently expanded, often requiring coordinated responses across strategic, educational and clinical dom...

The aim of the study was to clarify and build upon current understandings of mental health nurse (MHN) identity. The study adopted a framework of social constructionism and qualitative methodology. Semistructured interviews were conducted, which were thematically analyzed using Nvivo software. Twenty-five MHN were recruited across three geographica...

The perennial issue of the distinctiveness of the mental health nurse (MHN) is once again to the fore. Previous attempts to resolve this apparent identity crisis in the discipline have included proposals for new models, new research and new educational preparation as well as new alliances, and new ways of practising. Now the politically driven conc...

As mental health nursing roles expand, is education expanding mental health nurses? an emotionally intelligent view towards preparation for psychological therapies and relatedness Mental health nurses (MHN) in the UK currently occupy a challenging position. This positioning is one that offers a view of expanding roles and responsibilities in both m...

The article explores the past, present and future developments in the field of mental health nursing (MHN). It discusses how the pressure of the increasing ageing populations, a diminishing workforce and the benefits of controlled, measurable interventions affect the demand for MHN for both voice and considered response. The article provides sugges...

Emotional intelligence (EI) has enjoyed growing attention from researchers, educationalists and the public. Arguably, disagreement over the exact nature of EI fuelled by a low level of widely accepted empirical data has stalled its wider application into some areas of professional training. While enjoying significant popularity in areas such as bus...

The identity of self is understood as a plurality, seeking integration to allow a fluidity of informed, responsible choice to guide our behaviours. With an increasing emphasis on reducing human identity to cognitive styles and pre-packaged personality trait clusters, emotions and spirituality can fade from awareness when engaging with our own ident...

The purpose of this article was to highlight the increasing corporate style pressures being exerted upon the NHS in England and Wales and how the nursing profession needs to fundamentally change in response to this emerging environment. Through examining a range of nursing leadership responses this paper offers a way forward to meet these challenge...

This paper aims to highlight both the necessity, and the way forward for mental health nursing to integrate proposed legislative roles into practice. Argued is that community mental health nursing, historically absent from active participation within mental health law in the UK, is faced with new and demanding roles under proposed changes to the 19...

Nursing faces new opportunities and challenges as part of the government's initiative to introduce Payment by Results. These opportunities arise from increasing demands to work effectively in an environment of intensive customer demand and expectation. The challenge for all nurses is to continue to deliver quality health care while keeping pace wit...

Proposed changes to the Mental Health legislation in England and Wales have been identified as having significant impact upon both mental health service delivery and professional roles. The authors explore how changes to mental health law translate to clinical practice. Additionally, this presentation aims to inform not only clinicians but also hea...

Dear Editor, The letters in response to the report of our conference presentation (MHP 10,1,6) have validated some of our concerns about those in our profession apparently unprepared to countenance anything that questions the clamour for mental health nurses to adopt cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) as a central treatment modality. While refreshin...

With the dominance of cognitive behavioural therapies within mental health nursing educational and practice settings, a danger exists that a narrow application of therapy interventions and micro skills will result. Given the rich and diverse variations of presenting circumstances to community mental health services, an incorporation of therapy appr...

Proposed changes to the Mental Health Act (MHA) legislation in England and Wales have been identified as having significant impact upon both mental health service delivery and professional roles. Key issues being identified for both service delivery and professionals are the creation of approved mental health professionals (AMHP), increased demand...

As healthcare becomes more knowledge intensive, nurses are challenged to effectively manage clinical information and keep abreast of professional knowledge (Procter 2001; Snyder – Halpern et al 2001; Pare & Elam 1998). Rapid proliferation of new knowledge, expanding professional practice expectations and changing practice environments require that...