Nursing (Mental Health) BSc (Hons)

About the course

As a mental health nurse you will work in partnership with individuals experiencing mental health difficulties from a wide range of backgrounds and age-groups.

Approximately 25% of the population are thought to experience some form of mental health problem at any given time.

Mental health nurses are the largest profession working in mental health.

You will draw on a core set of values that inform every aspect of your practice. You will learn to:

• Respect individuals affected by mental health problems
• Value the aspirations of the individual
• Offer meaningful choices in evidence based interventions and care
• Adopt a positive attitude to change and support social inclusion

The BSc in Mental Health Nursing course runs over three extended academic years

50% of your time will be spent in classroom based learning and 50% will be spent on placements in clinical settings such as hospitals and community. Your placements and classroom studies will alternate in blocks of several weeks,

You will develop the complex range of competencies required to become a skilled mental health nurse.

Funding

Tuition fees for this course are paid by the NHS. You may also be eligible to apply for a means tested grant. Further information about available funding and eligibility is available online at NHS Bursaries

Why choose this course?

Mental Health nurses have a vital and challenging role in establishing  therapeutic relationships with individuals who experience mental health problems. Including:

• Providing support to families, relatives and carers
• Responding to changing needs
• Promoting mental and physical health recovery and general wellbeing

This highly specialised branch of nursing focuses on caring and supporting individuals of all age groups suffering from mental problems or mental distress in different care settings including:

• Individuals’ Homes
• Inpatient
• Outpatient
• General hospitals
• Community and rehabilitation units

You will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team including GPs psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, occupational therapists, arts therapists and healthcare assistants

Study routes

• ,
• Full Time, 3 Years
• Full Time,

Locations

• University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield

Careers

This programme gives you flexibility in your studies at university resulting in flexibility in your choice of career at the end of your course. You will acquire a much broader base of knowledge and experience that could really widen your employment opportunities. Graduates have found employment in diverse roles such as computer programmers, design engineers, management development specialists, accountants and project managers. Over 72% of our graduates had entered employment six months after graduation, and a further 17% had gone on to further study or training.

Teaching methods

our time will be split equally (50/50) between classroom based learning and practical placements. You will have the oppotunity to link practical experience to theoretical learning and vice versa.

During your placements you will undertake:

• Supervised practice - working with qualified nurses to develop clinical skills
• Training and education activities within the placement setting
• Skills development activities to ensure patients' needs are met

Your time at the University will be spent in:

• standard lectures
• seminars
• tutorials
• laboratories
• case studies
• individual and group projects

In your final year you will normally have the opportunity to hone your independent study and interpersonal skills by undertaking a major project or dissertation.

Work Placement

Practice placements are organised within neighbouring NHS Trusts in Hertfordshire and North London and in other settings including the private and voluntary sectors. There is the opportunity to learn with and from people in the community and in hospitals where mental health nursing is delivered. The placement experiences are wide and varied. An elective/alternative placement is offered at the end of the second year which gives you the opportunity to gain mental health experience elsewhere in the UK, abroad, or in specialised regional and national centres of excellence.

Professional Accreditations

Entitlement to apply to enter the professional register of the Nursing and Midwifery Council as a Registered Nurse (Mental Health).

Structure

Year 1

Core Modules

• An Introduction to Inter-professional Education

  The module is designed to give students the opportunity to work in multi-professional groups in order to improve understanding of a range of professional roles and encourage co-operative learning and working. The rationale for and benefits of inter-professional working within health and social care are explored. Learning will be through multi-professional group seminars and tutorials that require students to access and gather appropriate data from a range of sources and apply this to a series of practice-based, simulated scenarios and exercises.

• Biological Basis for Health and Wellbeing

  This 30 credit level 4 module provides the foundations for fundamental nursing practice. It has three overarching aims. In the first instance the module will introduce the student to the nursing skills and assessments that they will be expected to execute in clinical practice. The second aim of the module is to introduce the student to the physiological theory that underpins clinical practice. The bioscience focus will be taught with continuous reference to clinical nursing with emphasis on how biological knowledge informs nursing decisions. The third aim is to explore the relationship between the psyche and soma when assessing patients/service users/clients, e.g. individuals experiencing anxiety, stress or depression. The taught content includes clinical assessment and observational skills, underpinning anatomy and physiology and fundamental nursing principles, all delivered within the context of the life continuum focussing on all stages of life from birth to death.

• Concepts and Theories for Mental Health and Wellbeing

  This module will provide an opportunity for students to investigate a range of supporting theoretical and policy perspectives on the nature of mental health, mental illness and wellbeing. Students will explore how contributions from psychology, sociology and philosophy inform our understanding of the evolving, contested and constructed notions of mental health, mental illness and mental wellbeing. The historical, present and future role of key players in mental health;the historical, current and future place of biological science and physical treatments in mental health; the user, the family the community - will be addressed. The module will be delivered using a mixture of teaching methods. Blended learning strategies will be employed throughout and approximately 15 hours of this will be through technologically assisted distance learning methods. These hours have been incorporated into the "Independent Study" hours shown in Section 12 of this DMD.

• Learning for Professional Development 1

  This is the first of three modules that will facilitate the students ability to independently engage in learning for Continuing Personal and Professional Development (CPPD). It will facilitate the acquisition of values, knowledge and skills that are essential for learning and effective independent study. Within the notion of learning to learn , this module will feature reflective processes so as to enable students to appraise their own personal learning needs and strengths and to then develop strategies to identify personal goals and areas for development. Notions of research, evidence and scholarly enquiry will be introduced in this module, as will the skills and conventions of academic writing.

• Professional Aspects of Care

  This 15 credit module focuses on the student's professional development so that s/he is able to work therapeutically with patients/service users, families and carers. A range of teaching and learning strategies will be utilised to facilitate the student's development of therapeutic communication skills; reflection on personal and professional development will be encouraged. In addition, the concept of care will be explored with emphasis being placed upon meeting the unique and individual needs of patients/service-users. An introduction to legal and ethical frameworks and health policy will be provided to enable the student to understand the professional responsibilities and boundaries that may impact upon nursing practice. The module will be delivered using a mixture of teaching methods. Blended learning strategies will be employed throughout and approximately 15 hours of this will be through technologically assisted distance learning methods. These hours have been incorporated into the "Independent Study" hours shown in Section 12 of this DMD.

• The Personal Journey in Mental Health Nursing 1

  This module will enable students explore their learning and progression as they begin their journey of becoming a mental health nurse. Action learning sets will facilitate solution building through experiential learning enabling exploration of practice based experience encompassing individual, pairs and group work activities. This experiential process will link directly to the corresponding theoretical modules being delivered along with the practice based assessment, including biological basis. The portfolio of learning will provide the medium for the collation of evidence demonstrating competence. The "Personal Journal" will be an integral tool for building the bridge linking learning experiences within the classroom setting and clinical practice. Self and peer assessment will form an integral aspect of self-examination formatively. Through the university managed learning environment the learner will access objective tests, WIKI's activities, service user/carer forum, journal club, distance learning workbooks and reflective activities.

Optional

Year 2

Core Modules

• Engagement and Assessment for Mental Health Nursing (level 5)

  This module prepares mental health nursing students for the role of skilled assessor. From notions of psychopathology and phenomenology, to the lived experience of service users, the module will equip students with a clear understanding of a range of assessment scenarios and assessment skills. This will include assessment of mental health, physical health, service user needs, strengths and ambitions. Students will explore a range of assessment strategies, approaches, protocols and tools. With a key role for the development of skilled therapeutic interpersonal and communication skills, workshops and experiential group work will be the main forum for student learning. The module will feature significant involvement of service users as participants in the student learning experience.

• Engagement in Recovery for Mental Health Nursing (level5)

  This module prepares mental health nursing students to work therapeutically with service users with mental health problems and their carers. It aims to develop the student's capacity and understanding of therapeutic interventions and their appropriateness to the individual needs of service users, including need related to physical health and wellbeing and needs related to medicines. Small groupwork and experiential learning will provide opportunities for students to further develop a range of intervention skills; skills required when supporting service users making sense of and managing their physical and mental health difficulties. The module will feature significant involvement of service users as participants in the student learning experience.

• Learning for Professional Development II

  This is the second of three modules designed to facilitate the students ability to independently engage in learning for Continuing Personal and Professional Development (CPPD). It advances the students acquisition of values, knowledge and skills that are essential for learning and effective independent study. The module will enable students to develop strategies designed to support learning, including participation in e-learning and the use of portfolios. The module also supports the students ability to engage constructively with available research and to utilise the evidence to support nursing practice.

• Safeguarding Mental Health (level 5)

  This module will provide students with contemporary insights into the complexities associated with safeguarding mental health. It starts with the position of the citizen and citizen's rights and of the position of the individual and society. It provides an understanding of the relevance of, and the need for legal and professional underpinnings for mental health practice. Integrated with these are the concepts of enabled and enforced treatment (including medications and other physical treatments); social inclusion, inequality and discrimination which are considered with respect to their impact on safeguarding mental health. Topics and theories introduced will be explored using a range of teaching methods e.g. lectures, seminars and groupwork.

• The Personal Journey in Mental Health Nursing II

  Exploration will be facilitated supporting the learning focused curriculum whereby action learning sets will facilitate solution building through experiential learning enabling exploration of practice based experience encompassing individual, pairs and group work activities. This experiential process will link directly to the corresponding theoretical modules being delivered along with the practice based assessment. The portfolio of learning will provide the medium for the collation of evidence demonstrating competence. The "Personal Journal" will be an integral tool for building the bridge linking learning experiences within the classroom setting and clinical practice. Self and peer assessment will form an integral aspect of self-examination formatively. Through the university managed learning environment the learner will access objective tests, WIKI's activities, service user/carer forum, journal club, distance learning workbooks and reflective activities.

Optional

Year 3

Core Modules

• Enhancing Health & Social Care through Inter-professional Education

  The module is designed to give students further opportunities of working in multi-professional groups in order to improve understanding across professional boundaries and encourage collaborative learning and working that will bring benefit to patient/service-users. The justification for inclusion of inter-professional working within health care is addressed. The module requires students to bring specialist in-depth knowledge of their profession and professional codes of conduct to a group setting so that health and social care pathways are critically reviewed in the context of professional practice.

• Imagination & Innovation in Evidence-based Nursing Care

  This module builds upon the `Learning for Professional Development' sequence of modules and represents an exciting opportunity for students to engage in a negotiated practice-based project that will encourage them to focus upon a practice issue of professional interest. Students will be encouraged to explore this in an imaginative and innovative manner which may lead to new ways of improving practice for the benefit of service-users from an individual, group or whole service perspective. The project is conceived as being primarily an academic proposal with potential to be taken further by care/service teams should they wish to either during or post development of the project. The module will call upon students to employ both their skills of research awareness and appreciation and management in adopting a rigorous approach to the project design and organisation. Whilst the project will not concern itself with personal data gathering, it will nevertheless act as an academic opportunity and vehicle for students to begin to hone their skills in engaging with potential future research activity.

• Learning for Professional Development III

  This is the final module of three designed to facilitate the students ability to independently engage in learning for Continuing Personal and Professional Development (CPPD). The module will enable students to critically analyse their continuing personal and professional development needs with a view to beginning the initial development of a Continuing Personal and Professional Development plan. The module will also enable students to develop strategies designed to foster and support practice learning and the learning needs of others. This module will further support the students ability to apply the findings of research and evidence with care environments.

• The Challenge of Mental Health Nursing

  This module will provide students with an exciting opportunity to work experientially to develop skill, knowledge and values needed for safe and effective mental health nursing practice. Focusing on concepts such as ethical and safe decision making, it will equip students to critically analyse, evaluate and contribute to resolution of dilemmas, contradictions and complexities of mental health nursing decision making. There will be extensive involvement of service user partners and the use of first and second life experience.

• The Personal Journey in Mental Health Nursing III

  Exploration will be facilitated supporting the learning focused curriculum whereby action learning sets will facilitate solution building through experiential learning enabling exploration of practice based experience encompassing individual, pairs and group work activities. This experiential process will link directly to the corresponding theoretical modules being delivered along with the practice based assessment. The portfolio of will provide the medium for the collation of evidence demonstrating competence. The "Personal Journal" will be an integral tool for building the bridge linking learning experiences within the classroom setting and clinical practice. Self and peer assessment will form an integral aspect of self-examination formatively. Through the university managed learning environment the learner will access objective tests, WIKI's activities, service user/carer forum, journal club, distance learning workbooks and reflective activities.

Optional

Fees & funding

If you are a UK or EU full-time undergraduate student, the NHS will pay the tuition fee for this course. You will not have to pay for the course yourself.

UK Students may be entitled to an NHS bursary.

Please note that in the event that you have to retake failed module(s) from a previous year (unconnected with adverse circumstances) you may have to 'step-off' the course until you have passed the module(s). In the event this happens, any NHS bursary you have been receiving will cease until you are in a position to resume the full-time course. In addition, you will be required to pay student tuition fees for retaking the failed module(s).

Find out more information on financial support arrangements for pre-registration health programmes.

University of Hertfordshire bursaries are not available for this course.

Discounts are available for International students if payment is made in full at registration

View detailed information about tuition fees

Other financial support

Find out more about other financial support available to UK and EU students

Living costs / accommodation

The University of Hertfordshire offers a great choice of student accommodation, on campus or nearby in the local area, to suit every student budget.

View detailed information about our accommodation

How to apply