Teaching FNP Students to Provide Primary Mental Health Care

Background: Family Nurse Practitioners are increasingly being challenged to deliver mental health services in primary care. Indeed, over half of mental health services are provided in primary care and one quarter of all primary care patients have a mental disorder. Moreover, adults with mental illness are at risk to have chronic diseases and one half of mental illnesses begin in children fourteen or younger: “Yet, people with mental illnesses who are treated in a primary care setting are less likely to receive effective behavioural health care (NIH 2017)”. Intervention: A three credit didactic course was developed to educate Family Nurse Practitioners students in the skills needed to provide effective mental health services in primary care. The course begins with developing the students’ therapeutic communication and interviewing skills. This is vital because it presents an effective method of helping through observation and verbal/non-verbal communication. Interviewing skills help establish trusting relationships and the ability to understand patient’s behaviour. Although students at first think these skills are easy, these skills need considerable practice to be effective. We next discuss mental illness in the context of culture to ensure that the mental health services are congruent with a patient’s unique cultural background and experiences. Family Nurse Practitioners students need to have an understanding of how the patients personal culture is an integration of their life long experience in the dominant-culture, sub-culture, and their family culture. One’s personal culture shapes one’s beliefs and behaviours, which will influence the way they view their problem and what they perceive as acceptable solutions. Understanding the importance of patients’ personal culture goes beyond accepting cultural stereotypes present in society. We go into detail about the common mental illnesses frequently seen in primary care.

Author(s): Victoria T. Grando

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