Questions we Can Help you to Answer
Paper Instructions:
The students will be required to complete a 3000 word essay focusing on a specific therapeutic approach discussing its potential or actual application in mental health nursing practice.
100% weighting.
What is the assignment about?
The assignment is to encourage you to use literature to critically examine the use of a therapeutic approach. You will need to introduce the psychotherapeutic approach i.e. CBT, DBT, STEPPS, BSFT, CFT, Mindfulness. Demonstrating a critical understanding of its inception through to its current manifestation in the literature and practice. You will then introduce the client/s and specific type of distress the therapy was aiming to ameliorate.
The bulk of the main body will then be using experiences from practice, underpinned by current theory, in order to demonstrate a sophisticated knowledge and understanding of the theory and application of psychotherapeutic approaches in mental health nursing practice. The examples from practice can be from your application of a therapeutic approach in MH nursing and/or practice that you have observed being applied in your practice. All therapeutic interventions MUST be within the limitations of your knowledge and competence and within your role as a student nurse.
There are example essays for further guidance published in this module area.
How should it be structured?
An introduction (say what you are going to say) – this should signpost the reader to what they can expect to encounter as they read through your work. Use the key points stated in the assessment task. So what is the therapeutic approach? What is the nature of distress or difficulty?
A main part (say it) – You may find it helpful to look at the learning outcomes for this module and ensure that you are able to generally include these in your work. Please remember to use examples from your practice experience and support these with relevant theory. You also need to identify where you feel you have developed further in this area. Give an account of the psychotherapeutic approach, a brief history and underpinning theory. Give examples of how elements of the approach have been used in the context of your mental health nursing experience. Remember that you need to demonstrate a clear knowledge of the approach you used and why it was appropriate for the type of issue it was applied to.
A conclusion (say what you have said and reflect what you have learned) – this should sum up your work and consider how exploring this has influenced your thinking and relational experiences.
