The role of a mental health nurse in the ComQuol project: their perspective and involvements

Nursing in the UK is going through a major period of uncertainty after a number of inquires and reports (i.e. Winterbourne Review, 2012; Keogh Report, 2013). The outcomes from these reports highlight recommendation and training need in the area of nursing. As forensic mental health patient can be difficult to engage therapeutically due to severe and enduring mental health needs, nurses are at a greater risk of suffering from occupational stress and burn out.

This presentation will focus on how the introduction of ComQuol helped to provide nurses with a set of skills to develop therapeutic relationships, and how these skills were supervised throughout the running of the intervention. Monthly consultation throughout the intervention and their views and opinions of the Structured Communication Approach and their own thoughts about their skills were discussed. The main aim of this presentation will be to examine how the intervention affected the nurses throughout its duration, with a focus on the practical feedback which helped to develop the intervention further and for future sites. Both qualitative data from support session, and quantitative data obtain from Maslach Burn-Out Inventory taken a three time-point (baseline, after intervention, 6-month after intervention) will be examined. Conclusions will be drawn on how best to implement the findings into developing standard practices.