Essay Structure
Follow the guidance below in structuring your work and use the suggested headings as a means of ensuring that you cover all the areas of information that are required in a balanced manner.
Introduction: An introduction to the assignment is required at the start. You should clearly signpost the reader to the key themes to be discussed in the essay. Ensure that you adhere to The Code on confidentiality (NMC 2018) throughout.
Biography: The biography should provide a brief outline of your case study’s personal experience of their background and life events. Avoid making assumptions or judgements about the service user (250 words).
Assessing the needs of the service user:
Given the word count, identify only two needs in this section of the service user although we acknowledge that some service users may have multiple or complex needs.
• Provide a definition of the concept of assessment in mental health nursing and show your understanding of what and how we assess, including risk.
• Consider our professional role and responsibilities in mental health assessment, and how service users might experience our services, within the wider legal and ethical context of care provision.
• Discuss how the service user you have identified was engaged in the assessment. Consideration should be given to biological, psychological, and social aspects that might have might contributed to their mental health problems and presenting needs.
• Examine how principles of recovery were used during the engagement and assessment of the service user.
• Discuss how interpersonal skills were used to help provide person-centred care for the service user, supported by the wide body of literature on communication in mental health nursing.
(Suggested: 1500 words)
Planning care for the service user:
• Define and show your understanding of the concept of care planning. Focus on how mental health nurses work with people in a way that values, respects and explores the ways that service users experience their mental health condition.
• Discuss how care was planned for the service user you have identified and consider how this was linked to the principles of recovery. Describe and analyse how the collaborative care plan that was devised, was able to support and address their needs.
• Identify and evaluate evidence-based interventions and provide rationale(s) for the choice of specific interventions. Refer to relevant policy guidance and frameworks to demonstrate an awareness of these interventions and their efficacy, to link theory and practice.
• Consider the extent of service user’s/carer’s/other professionals (multidisciplinary, multi-agency) involvement in selecting interventions.
(Suggested: 1300 words)
Conclusion: Provide a summary of what you have discussed in the assignment (Suggested: 200 words).
References: Included a complete reference list of all the sources used in the assignment and correctly formatted according to the ARU Harvard system (Harvard ReferencingLinks to an external site.).
