Mental Health Nursing Article 2022

Mental health nursing
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Introduction
The mental health has been a topical issue in the health industry. The article focuses
on how nursing intervention would help to address patients with mental issues due to social,
biological and physiological issues. The bio-psychosocial model of assessment helped to
address the issue and manage the patients with pain management. Nursing interventions are
the key to speeding the treatment of people suffering from psychological issues (Bibbins-
Domingo et al, 2016). Mental health can impact the healing process and results in delay of
recovery from other physiological conditions.
Bio psychosocial model of assessment
The bio psychosocial model of assessment deals with management of chronic pain.
This model is based on two models “Engel’s conceptual model of pain” (1977) and “Loeser’s
conceptual model of pain” (1982). Both of these models have contributed to this model for
pain management practices (Borglin, Hentzel & Bohman, 2015). The bio psychosocial
model aims to understand the problem that the patient is suffering from social, biological and
mental impacts. A patient may be suffering from physical or physiological pain but the
relationship between the physiological pain and psychological effects is complex. It has been
found that upon consideration of general social factors a persons illness can be resolved.
According to case study 1Dorothy had a difficult delivery and a past miscarriage, but was
suffering from lack of interest in her new baby. Therefore the bio psychosocial and factors
related can help to evaluate the situation better. The psychological factors often play a role in
such situations and this model would help us to ascertain the real factors behind Dorothy’s
lack of interest for her newborn baby. The previous miscarriage and her long wait to have a
baby has worsened her mental stability that has resulted for lack of affection for her new born
baby. The case study reveals that Dorothy has no social relationship with her parents as they

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are estranged and her husband is also not supportive due to alcoholic behaviour. All these
situations has affected Dorothy’s social and psychological life. The psychosocial factors have
triggered the adverse effects in Dorothy’s health. Family issues and circumstances with past
trauma has made it difficult for Dorothy to cope up with the current situation. Dorothy is
suffering from lack of support from her social life and lack of mental support has resulted in
such behavioural changes.
Biological factors
Biological factors or physical factors have shown correlations in affecting
psychosocial factors of a patient. Dorothy had a painful miscarriage that must have been
difficult for Dorothy to encounter and had long lasting effects on her mind and in current
situation. Around three hours of protracted labour must have made Dorothy weak and
subsequently made it for her difficult to adjust to the situation (Cherry & Jacob, 2016). The
biological factors have a connection with mental health which often results in withdrawal
symptoms. There was no one to support Dorothy about pain management issues from family
members and that made her condition worsen.
Psychological factors
The model has put great emphasis on psychological factors to establish the fact that
mental health and its well being is important for over all healthy well being. Psychological
and biological factors together play a role in daily lives of person. Dorothy experienced many
psychological factors that affected her mood and mental health. It is important to
acknowledge pain to get therapeutic results in medication (Gaudine & Beaton, 2016). The
past trauma where she failed to deliver a baby due to miscarriage had put a psychological
stress in her mind that affected her coping skills. The social environment triggered the current
psychological condition of her. Dorothy has been facing anxiety and frequent episodes of
shaking which are a serious sign which indicates that her mental health has resulted in the

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current situation where she cannot show care and affection for her baby. She has been facing
difficulty to acknowledge the current situation due to her past situations.
Social factors
Social factors do play a role as they can determine how the patient is responding to
the situation. Social factors affect the physiological well-being by affecting patients
behavioural response to physical symptoms. Social factors affect the person’s ability to
chronic pain management. Dorothy had no support from her family. She had a difficult
marriage as her husband was not supportive and did not pay much attention to his wife’s
health. Her parents were separated from her due to her decision to stay with his husband
(Goodman & Garber, 2017). This triggered her situation making her feel lonely. She had no
one to discuss her thoughts with, making it difficult to express herself or cope with the
depression. Dorothy needs mental support and counselling to get away from her current
situation to understand and deal with the social factors to acknowledge pain. Lack of social
interest has made her feel lack of affection for her new born baby as her feelings have got
supressed due to many factors. The bio psychosocial model helps to address the social factors
well to overcome the effects of mental health through addressing the social factors.
Nursing interventions to address the mental issue
The client is severely affected from all the factors discussed the bio psychosocial
model that has resulted in her loss of affection to the baby. The social conditions has
triggered her mental health. The patient is in need of care and adequate counselling to help
her deal with the current issue. The patient is lonely and has no one to get support from
(Urden et al, 2017). Therefore in such situations it’s the responsibility of nurses to make the
person feel comfortable. The baby must be kept in front of Dorothy to let her feel near to the
baby and secure. She must be counselled regarding her baby’s needs. Slowly Dorothy would

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feel more caring towards the baby with time. It is important to address her psychological
needs first for mental recovery.
There is a strong need for a counselling or an interactive session for the patient. The
second nursing intervention that can be used is through communication skills and make the
young mother understand the consequences of her actions and how to overcome her feelings.
Dorothy may be advised to go for counselling with a psychologists who can give her the
correct advise (Korteland et al, 2019). Nursing intervention can help to manage the
behavioural changes which impacts social understanding and emotional development. As a
nurse it is our duty to ensure that she overcomes her bouts of panic attacks. Her declining
physical health must also be monitored by proper balanced diets and adequate sleep,
sometimes tiredness and other physical factors may delay the healing process. As we learnt
through the case study she has no one to get support from. Dorothy has been in a complicated
relationship with her husband and though her mother-in-law stays with her, she does not have
a healthy relationship with her, it can be understood that she has been suffering from mental
ailment for a long time. Therefore to bring in a positive change she could be advised to go for
small walks or pursue a hobby that can give her inspiration and change her outlook. To make
her attention shift to her baby, she must be encouraged to interact with other young mothers
and let her slowly take part in small activities like changing the baby’s diapers or at least
accompany the baby when the nurse is taking the baby for bathing.
The third nursing intervention would be to personally interact with Dorothy’s family
members who stay with her like her husband and mother in law (Winland-Brown et al, 2015).
Her husband must be advised on taking care of her wife’s health by ensuring her a balanced
diet and adequate sleep. Her husband must ensure that she is not under any depression or any
kind of stress which can hamper her mental wellbeing. As per her current situation it may
take some time to heal so the family members would be needed to take care of the baby and

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also let Dorothy get the basic treatment for her mental well being. The family must be
advised to let Dorothy lead an effective social life so that she gets the confidence regarding
herself and once she feels comfortable she may be able to concentrate on her baby’s need.
Ethicolegal considerations
Ethicolegal considerations are important provisions in nursing that provide a
framework for the nurses under whose implications they work. The two most important
ethical and legal implications for the selected case studies have been discussed below.
Nurses must make sure that the patients are their primary commitment and the best
care is provided to the patient. Dorothy must always be given space and not pressurised to
take care for her baby. Both Dorothy and her baby both must be given care irrespective of
any situations. The most important emphasis must be on patients care and nurses must
include individual thoughts and processes for better care plan but this must not hinder with
nursing practise (Meighan, 2017). In this situation to assess better treatment for Dorothy it is
required for nurses to intervene with the psychologists and foster her needs. Nurses must be
ready to take part in decision making process with other health members to decide on the best
treatment. The ethical and legal considerations ensures that nurse can carry out the care plan
without any restrictions.
The nurse has the right to voice for the rights of patients safety and health progress.
Dorothy was facing many obstacles in her life due to social reasons that lead to her
psychological distress. The nurses must ensure the privacy of the patients. Dorothy had a
troubled relationship with her husband and was separated from her parents. This information
is not to be mishandled as this is against the privacy of Dorothy. This information is vital
because this give the details regarding mental health and social issues that the patient is
suffering from and upon knowing this the nurses can intervene the treatment and care plan

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(Nugent, 2015). Therefore the clinical and documented records must be used only for
treatment and not for any other reason. The most important responsibility of nurse is to
provide optimal care and the nurse must take consistent action in decision making process to
get the desired results. Nursing decisions must be well thought and well planned to ensure
proper care. The ethical and legal issues ensures advocacy to nurses so that there is no
obstacles faced in grounds of ethics in their decision making process that would help them
give the patient proper care plan.
Conclusion
Mental health is a serious issue that affects the well being of a patient and through the
case study of Dorothy we got to know how social and physiological issues can affect her that
she could not feel the affection for her new born baby. The bio psychosocial model helped to
understand the three common factors that collectively affects the mental well being of a
person. Here the case of Dorothy the social issue had triggered her conditions the most. Her
past miscarriage and difficulty in the delivery of her new born had also been crucial in her
loss of affection for her new born baby (Urden et al, 2016). To control her health condition
and make her feel for her baby nursing interventions could play a role in improving her
current situation. The ethical and legal considerations play an important role in healthcare ,
their implications hold great importance. Nurses must be vocal for the rights of their patients
and must respect their privacy and make sure that in the process of treatment their privacy
rights are not hurt.

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