Tag: International Mental Health Nursing Research Conference

Conferences

This month brought, for me, the welcome return of face-to-face conferences. First, I was pleased to have received an invitation earlier in the year to deliver a keynote lecture at the RCN International Nursing Research Conference 2022, which took place at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama on September 5th and 6th. Rather than speak about any one, particular, study I used this as an opportunity to travel over a larger programme of research in the mental health field, pulling out underpinning ideas and key messages along the way.

Boiled down, my talk revolved around four ideas: health care can be thought of as a complex system; complex health systems can be understood through the study of cases, existing at different ‘levels’ of organisation (macro, meso and micro); to appreciate cases of health care system complexity it makes sense to use a plurality of analytic and methodological approaches; and research of this type demands a collaborative, stakeholder-informed, approach. These will be familiar themes to readers of this blog site. My talk at the RCN event, however, represented the most sustained effort I’ve made to date to articulate the principles and practices underpinning the research programme I have been involved in, to synthesise the main lessons learned, and to pull out some overarching observations. At some point it would make sense to write all of this up in an article.

Hot on the heels of the RCN International Nursing Research Conference came the 28th International Mental Health Nursing Research Conference, which took place at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, on September 8th and 9th. St Catherine’s was the home for the Network for Psychiatric Nursing Research Conference, as this event was originally known, for many years: returning there earlier this month seemed fitting after the two online editions of the event which happened in 2020 and 2021. I was pleased to be part of a symposium presenting findings from three NIHR-funded studies into mental health crisis services. Led By Dr Nichola Clibbens, this included a talk by Nicola and Michael Ashman drawing from their (and their colleagues’) realist synthesis of how, for whom and in what circumstances different community mental health crisis services work. Also featuring was a presentation from Professor Steve Gillard and Dr Katie Anderson on mental health decision units in acute care pathways. Third in the linked series of presentations was my talk summarising findings from an evidence synthesis, led by Dr Nicola Evans, into crisis responses for children and young people aged 5 to 25.

More generally, I very much appreciated the opportunity at both these events to renew my connections with friends and colleagues, and to meet and hear new people with interesting things to say. In the case of MHNR2022, particular thanks are due to the organising committee, which brought this conference together under the umbrella of Mental Health Nurse Academics UK without a dedicated events team in support.

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#MHNR2021 and summer MHNAUK meeting

June 2021 brought both the International Mental Health Nursing Research Conference and the summer 2021 meeting of Mental Health Nurse Academics UK (MHNAUK). Unsurprisingly given the ongoing pandemic, both happened online, with #MHNR2021 again run as a collaboration between MHNAUK and the Royal College of Nursing.

In the event I was able to make less of the conference than I had intended, but I did have the opportunity to co-present a paper with Michael Coffey titled Involving stakeholders and widening the net: reflections on going beyond database searching arising from an evidence synthesis in the area of end of life care for people with severe mental illness. Our presentation arose from the MENLOC study, and specifically addressed the incorporation of non-research materials in evidence syntheses and the value of directly working with people with experience of the field. Here’s a link to the recording we made, on behalf of the whole project team:

At June’s MHNAUK meeting the group heard from Dr Crystal Oldman, of the Queen’s Nursing Institute, who spoke about specialist practice qualifications. Updates from colleagues across the four countries of the UK were followed by meetings of each of MHNAUK’s standing groups, where in the Research group we talked (amongst other things) about the importance of growing capacity in mental health nursing research. Elsewhere in the whole-group meeting we heard of plans to seek charitible status for MHNAUK: an exciting move, in my view.

International Mental Health Nursing Research Conference 2020

This year’s International Mental Health Nursing Research Conference (#MHNR2020) happened over two weeks in September, as planned through #mhTV and with a whole lot of help from Dave Munday, Nicky Lambert and Vanessa Gilmartin. Along with everyone else who values this annual event I’m indebted to all three for the work they’ve put in over the months to make #mhTV happen, and to do so as an entirely free offering open to anyone with use of an internet connection.

I enjoyed my chance to join Mick McKeown as a co-host of #MHNR2020’s evening panel discussions, and the format of inviting guests to pre-record and upload their presentations ahead of bringing them together in themed groups worked well. Every pre-recorded presentation and panel conflab can be viewed on the conference webpage, and will remain there as a resource for the future. As it happens, I pitched up as a panel member on the evening of September 25th, speaking about findings from the MENLOC evidence synthesis in the area of end of life care for people severe mental illness.  As a shortcut, here’s a link to my pre-recorded presentation summarising our main findings:

#MHNR2020 joins #mhTV

Back in pre-pandemic January 2020, the idea that a couple of hundred curious mental health nurses and their friends might gather together to share their research, practice development, educational and related projects seemed quite unremarkable. At that time, with the aim of enouraging a gathering of this sort, I published a short post on this site promoting the call for abstracts for the 2020 edition of the International Mental Health Nursing Research Conference.

#mhTVHow much has changed since then. As an organising committee we made a relatively early decision to call off the face-to-face conference originally scheduled for June 11th at Middlesex University. Now, in May 2020, #MHNR2020 is being brought into a new initiative called #mhTV.

#mhTV owes its existence in no small degree to the energy of Dave Munday from Unite/MHNA and Nicky Lambert from Middlesex University and the first episode launched on May 21st 2020 as a collaboration between Unite/MHNA, the WeMHNurses Community, Mental Health Nurse Academics UK and the Centre for Coproduction in Mental Health and Social Care:

 

The #MHNR2020 scientific committee will be reviewing all abstracts submitted for the intended June 11th conference, and once this work is done we’ll be in touch with invitations for authors to consider turning their presentations into a format suitable for #mhTV. We’ll identify episodes selected in this way as part of #MHNR2020 and publish details on the MHNAUK website. In the meantime, more on #mhTV and on how to submit new ideas can be found here.

#MHNR2020 call for abstracts

NPNR 1The first Network for Psychiatric Nursing Research (NPNR) Conference took place in 1996, and the picture at the left is the front cover of the delegate’s handbook. My first visit to the NPNR conference, as a non-presenting delegate,  was not until a few year’s later and I’m grateful to Russell Ashmore (the conference’s unofficial historian) for sharing this scanned document. The first presentation I gave at the event was during its seventh running, in 2001 (there having been one year previously in which two events took place); this went with the title Tales from the field: using ethnographic methods to investigate the provision of community mental health care. A glance at my records suggests that, to date, I’ve been involved in 27 papers delivered at the event over the years, as presenter, co-presenter and/or co-author. It’s the single conference I always aim to be at.

The NPNR became the International Mental Health Nursing Research (MHNR) Conference for 2017, and this year’s 26th running takes place over one day, June 11th 2020, at Middlesex University. A call for abstracts has been published on the Mental Health Nurse Academics UK website, and is reproduced here:

MHNR2020

Celebrating Mental Health Nursing

Past, Present and Future

26th International Mental Health Nursing Research Conference

11th June 2020

Middlesex University

The Burroughs, London NW4 4BT

Call for Abstracts

Follow us on Twitter: @MHNRconf and join in using the hashtag: #MHNR2020

This event represents a collaboration between Mental Health Nurse Academics UK (MHNAUK) and Middlesex University School of Health and Education.

Diversity of presenters, participants and topics will be a priority therefore all presenters will be offered one free place in addition to their own paid attendance which should be used to invite a student, service user researcher, carer, newly qualified nurse or a colleague who hasn’t previously attended a conference.

Abstracts are invited for work based in clinical practice, teaching, activism or research.  Those looking at mental health more generally are also welcome, and options for presenting will be in the form of concurrent papers, symposia, workshops or posters under the following topics:

  1. Advanced practice: To include examples of expanded roles, skills and responsibilities for nurses in healthcare services.
  2. Celebrating mental health: To include any activities addressing the history of mental health work or professional identity.
  3. Building communities: To include examples of work to promote community resilience, mental health and diversity and to reduce stigma and discrimination
  4. Creative approaches: To include any examples of creative approaches to promoting wellbeing and mental health.
  5. Activism and social justice: To include examples of rights-based approaches such as addressing restrictive practices, upholding human rights and achieving equality of access and resource allocation for mental and physical health services.
  6. Working across professions and disciplines: To include examples of inter-professional and cross-organisational projects or services
  7. General mental health: Those which do not fall into any of the above can be grouped here

Key dates and registration information

  • Call for abstracts opens: 28th January 2020
  • Deadline for receipt of abstracts: 28th February 2020
  • Confirmation of acceptance: 20th March 2020
  • Programme announced: 6th April 2020
  • Registration fees: £130 (for attenders, where this fee includes a place for an attender’s guest)/£70 for students and mental health service users
  • Please register early as places are limited

Guidance for preparing abstracts

  • Title: Should be clear, with appropriate use of capital letters that is, at the start of the title and when using abbreviations (RCN not Rcn).
  • Theme: Abstracts will be considered for one theme only, so please select the one most suitable for your submission (see above).
  • Word limit: Please adhere to the word limit given below.
  • Abstracts for concurrent sessions and posters should be no more than 350 words.
  • Concurrent sessions will be 15 minutes in length, with a further 5 minutes for questions.
  • Posters should be visually stimulating. Presenters will be expected to make themselves available to speak with delegates during identified poster viewing times.
  • Abstracts for concurrent and poster presentations MUST adhere to the following criteria:
  • Abstracts reporting on the results of quantitative research studies must be structured: background, aim(s), method(s), results, discussion and conclusions.
  • Statistics including sample size and sampling method used must be supplied.
  • Relevant contextual information must be given (e.g. research setting).
  • For qualitative studies the abstract must be structured: background, aim(s), sampling method, method(s), specific analytical approach or approaches, main findings, discussion and conclusions.
  • Theoretical/methodological abstracts and practice and/or education developments must be structured: background, aim(s) of the paper, discussion and conclusions.
  • For all abstracts authors must specify how the paper contributes to mental health nursing research, education, policy or practice.
  • All abstracts must be written in English. NB All accepted abstracts will be published ‘as submitted’. It is therefore incumbent upon the author to ensure that the spelling, grammar and syntax are of an academic publishing standard.
  • Workshop (350 words) will be 70 minutes in length. The abstract should include the aim(s) and proposed outcome(s), content, rationale for delivering the session in this format, how it relates to the conference themes, and description of any activities in which delegates will be invited to participate.
  • Recommended reading lists: Provide up to five references relevant to your abstract. These should be cited in full using the Harvard referencing system, that: Author, I. (year) ‘ Article title’. Journal name in full, vol #, no #, pp 101-107.
  • Biography: Maximum of 100 words, written in the third person.
  • Presenter details and authorship: Please include author details as you would like them to appear in a conference abstract book: forename, surname, qualifications, job title, and place of work. Please put an asterisk (*) next to the presenting author(s).

All abstracts should be submitted using this form:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=iHvjOKGjz0ifBWU3Qn_tJCry0moWADJGn573rM2pLp5UM1JPQzNHQkg5QkJITTI3RzNLT1FCQkNTWi4u

With this being the Year of the Nurse and Midwife #MHNR2020 is aiming to be the place for mental health nurses to share what they do, and to say why it’s important. I’ll be there, as always, and am looking forward.

Year of the Nurse and Midwife

yonmMarking the 200 years which have passed since the birth of Florence Nightingale, the World Health Organization (WHO) has designated 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife. In this toolkit the WHO describes these two professions as ‘the cornerstone of the strong, resilient health systems needed to achieve universal health coverage’, and estimates a global nursing workforce of 22 million. That’s a big number, but according to the WHO is still nine million registrants short if sustainable development goals are to be met.

Many people within nursing are already using the WHO’s initiative to channel efforts to promote the profession, and to press the case for investment and expansion. This is excellent, but events to celebrate and advance nursing in the next 12 months must reflect the diversity of the profession, and do more than concentrate only on the (excellent) contributions made by physical health care nurses. Here in the UK we formally recognise four fields of nursing, of which mental health is one, but in the WHO’s toolkit referred to above there is no mention of nursing work in this area.

Mental health nurses can most definitely use 2020 to take, and make, opportunities to talk about what they do, and to say why this is important. Already-confirmed dates for mental health nurses to showcase their contributions include Mental Health Nurses’ Day on 21st February 2020, and a one-day International Mental Health Nursing Research Conference to take place on 11th June 2020 at Middlesex University. As always, for people wanting an accessible introduction to the work of mental health nurses, and on routes to degree-level preparation, this still-current post on the Mental Health Nurse Academics UK website remains as good a place to start as any.

#MHNR2019

#MHNR2019With just under one month to go before the deadline for submission of abstracts for the 2019 running of the International Mental Health Nursing Research Conference I thought it an idea to draw attention to this top tips post from two years ago. As I suggested then, conference guidelines are there to be followed. For the past couple of years we’ve published criteria for abstract selection, including information on the structured presentation of quantitative, qualititative and non-empirical abstracts.

And, whilst I’m writing about #MHNR2019, now is a good time to link to this MHNAUK post announcing Sue McAndrew as Mental Health Nurse Academics UK Lecturer for 2019. Sue works at the University of Salford, and will be drawing on her work in children’s and young people’s mental health.

#MHNR2019, A Framework for Mental Health Nursing, and MHNAUK meets in Birmingham

MHNR2019The call for abstracts for the 25th International Mental Health Nursing Research Conference is now live, with this year’s conference organised under the theme of From Global to Local: Mental Health in a Connected World. We’ll be meeting, for the first time, in London: specifically, in the RCN HQ in Cavendish Square. This is also the year that we’re working with the International Society of Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurses, and we’re hoping the event has a truly international feel. The deadline for receipt of nominations for people to deliver the Annual MHNAUK Lecture at #MHNR2019 has passed, and the commitee will be deliberating over the coming weeks before an announcement is made.

MHN FrameworkMeanwhile, on Mental Health Nurses’ Day, February 21st, here in Wales a new ten year Framework for Mental Health Nursing was launched at Cardiff University’s Hadyn Ellis Building. The Framework contains 13 pledges organised through four key themes: Professionalism, Voice and Leadership; Workforce and Education; Promoting Population Health and Wellbeing; and Quality and Safety of Care. It is also replete with exemplars of good practice.

One day after the Framework launch I was in the fine surroundings of the University of Birmingham for 2019’s first meeting of Mental Health Nurse Academics UK. A note of the event, which was attended by almost 50 people, can be found here. The meeting was a full one, with updates on both the REF and the TEF, experiences of course validation reflecting new NMC standards and more besides.

#MHNR2018 and #ACMHN2018

mosiEarlier this month I made the journey to the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester for the 24th International Mental Health Nursing Research Conference (#MHNR2018). Here’s a snip from the short piece which appeared on the Mental Health Nurse Academics UK (MHNAUK) website:

This is MHNAUK’s conference, run annually in conjunction with the RCN and with support from André Tomlin (The Mental Elf) who used social media to bring the event beyond the room.

Keynote speakers were: Dr Eleanor Longden, who talked about voice-hearing as a complex and significant experience; Professor Sonia Johnson, who spoke about the need to improve lives through improved psychosocial interventions; Professor Alan Simpson, who delivered the second annual MHNAUK lecture with a call for mental health nurses to speak up and assert their value; Professor Sir Robin Murray who spoke about biopsychosocial approaches to understanding, and treating, psychosis; and Dr Jonathan Gadsby who talked about the Critical Mental Health Nurses’ Network and invited delegates to join a discussion on conscientious objection. Concurrent sessions and symposia were packed and lively, and discussions and debates at the venue were mirrored by conference-related discussions taking place online. Podcasts with Robin Murray, Sonia Johnson, Alan Simpson and Laoise Renwick (who chaired the #MHNR2018 conference committee) can be found here on Soundcloud.

Also announced at the conference was news of Professor Mick McKeown as Skellern Lecturer for 2019, and Professor Patrick Callaghan as recipient of the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Lifetime Achievement Award. Congratulations to both from all in MHNAUK, and we look forward to hearing their addresses at Kingston St George’s, London, on 13th June 2019.

#MHNR2018 closed with a date for the diary: the 25th International Mental Health Nursing Research Conference will take place on 12th-13th September 2019 at the RCN headquarters in London. More details about #MHNR2019 will be posted in due course.

This was an excellent two days, and I reflect on how far the conference showcased variety in perspectives and positions. Now, with John Baker having served a four year term as a member of the conference organising committee, expressions of interest are being sought (through MHNAUK) for an experienced mental health nurse academic to take his place. Planning for #MHNR2019 will begin in earnest towards the end of this year or early next, though as the post reproduced above states we already have our dates and venue confirmed.

Whilst we’re on the subject of conferences: earlier this year I received an invitation from Kim Ryan and the Board of Directors of the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses to speak at the 44th International Mental Health Nursing Conference. This takes place next month, in Cairns, and I’m currently in the process of writing (and rewriting) what I’m going to say. The subtitle to my talk is, ‘observations from a small country’, and I’m going to talk about the distinctiveness of mental health services and nursing in Wales and what can be learned from this. Perhaps when I’m done, and the conference has closed, I’ll post a full set of my slides here to this site.

#MHNR2018 scientific committee and more

img_0567-1Today I’ve been at this year’s meeting of the International Mental Health Nursing Research Conference scientific committee. This convened at the Royal College of Nursing headquarters in London. We had a good range of abstract submissions to deliberate over, and people can expect emails soon informing them of our decisions. We’re also pleased to have been able to identify our annual Mental Health Nurse Academics UK Lecturer for 2018. I dare not make an announcement on this front in this post, and shall wait for official communications to be made first.

Hopefully #MHNR2018, which takes place in Manchester in the middle of September, will be a lively and well-attended affair. There is, it has to be said, space for the conference committee to receive and deliberate over a larger number of conference abstracts than it did today. For #MHNR2019, my early request is: spread the word, and get writing. And for #MHNR2018, for people who missed the abstract submission date: do consider, if possible, participating as a delegate anyway.

Elsewhere, having been stuck in the PLOSONE editorial and peer review system for a spectacularly long period, this week’s good news on the mental health research front includes the acceptance for publication of a paper reporting the COCAPP metanarrative review of care planning and coordination. This has been lead authored by Aled Jones, and once it becomes available in the public domain I’ll post a link. Also accepted for publication this week is a paper lead authored by Jane Davies, derived from her PhD which I supported as a supervisor with Danny Kelly. Jane’s study was an investigation into choice and control in young people with cancer, and this article accepted by the European Journal of Oncology Nursingreports some of Jane’s main findings.

Talking of publications, later this week I head into a meeting of the Cardiff University Press editorial board. Up to now I haven’t written much on this site about the Press, which has been around since 2014 and supports journal publishing in diamond open access form. The Press is in the process of extending into monograph publishing, too, having struck an agreement with Ubiquity. For people looking to move their existing journal titles, or to found new ones, the Press is a good place to go and information on opportunities of this type can be found here.