Mental Health Nursing: Learning Theories, Skills, and Policy Report

This report delves into the multifaceted aspects of mental health nursing, commencing with an introduction to influential learning theories such as social learning theory and Kolb's learning theory, which emphasizes experiential learning through observation and analysis. The main body of the report explores the components of a session plan, highlighting its importance for structuring learning objectives and guiding both instructors and learners. It also details essential skills, knowledge, and attitudes required of a learner, particularly concerning intramuscular injections, emphasizing the importance of anatomical knowledge, patient psychology, and a positive clinical approach. The report further examines the influence of learning styles, specifically the VARK model, and contrasts various learning theories, including cognitive learning, which focuses on mental processes. Finally, it addresses the significance of local and national policies in mental health nursing and suggests areas for improvement, culminating in a comprehensive overview of effective teaching and learning strategies within the field.

MENTAL HEALTH
NURSING

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Teaching as well as learning in session plan...............................................................................3
Skills, attitude and knowledge in learner.....................................................................................4
Influence of Learning styles and theories ...................................................................................5
Comparison between two theories and their combination...........................................................5
Local and national Policies..........................................................................................................7
Areas for improvement................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
There are different learning theories but the most influential are social learning their and
Kolb's learning theory. In the former, learner basically learns by observing others while in latter
for effective learning, student goes through four stages which helps them in forming new
experience. Like for example the learner will observe the nurse measuring the blood pressure of
a patient and will analyse the technique of doing this and what resources they use. Thus, they
will imitate the activity done by nurse and will generate new ideas on their personal basis for
doing this. A lesson plan is predominately a road map which helps the instructor in deducing
what the students are required to learn as well as what ways will be used for effective learning. A
lesson plan helps the teachers in determining what is important for students and helps learners to
know the outcome of learning and what will be its impact. Besides VARK learning, another
learning style is logical learning wherein the learners mainly emphasis on solving the problem by
applying a basic logic to that. They usually focuses on cause and effect relationship for solving
the complex problem and thus think linearly. Besides this, apart form social and Kolb's learning
theory, another theory which becomes important for learners is cognitive learning under which
the mental process of learners helps them in learning effectively and due to this type of learning,
retention of the information becomes easier. An action plan is basically the document or guide
which helps the individual in deciding the steps that would be taken for achieving a particular
goal. It helps the registrant to improve in the where development is required as well as help them
in determining the resources that would be required for achieving it.
MAIN BODY
Teaching as well as learning in session plan
A session plan is basically the guide which helps the trainer in deciding upon the
information which would be provided to learner, its sequence and the resources which will be
used in effectively engaging the learners (Harvey and Light, 2015). It becomes a very helpful
tool for teachers and mentors which provides them with a well structured plan describing the
outcomes of learning and the learning will take place (Felder and Brent, 2016). It assists them in
deducing the questions that would be asked by the students as well as make them aware of the
objectives of teaching and learning. Besides this, it helps the teachers to know what is most
important for the students ad gives them with a brief of various subjects upon which extreme
emphasis is important (Lewis, 2016). In case of learning, it helps the students to learn something

new and gin new experiences as well as assist them in knowing what they have to achieve by
learning the different topics (Lockspeiser and Kaul, 2016).
Skills, attitude and knowledge in learner
Skills
There are various skills which are required for understanding the concept of
intramuscular injection and the student should have these required skills. The first skill which the
learner are required to have is the ability to administer the site of injection (Creamer and Austin,
2017). The learner should be aware of the muscle site where the injection would be administered
which is generally deltoid site (Ahlin and et.al.,2017). Besides this, the most important skill
which the teacher wants in a learner is that the ability to hold the needle while examining the
patient and their disease. The student should have the thorough skills to analyse the angle of
needle which is generally 90 degree and is should make sure that needle does not enters the
blood vessels.
Knowledge
For understanding the intramuscular injection in depth, a learner is required to have well
defined knowledge which is required while scrutinizing the patient. Learner should have the
rigorous knowledge of different muscles and their functioning (Mansour and et.al.,2017).
Besides this, they should have the great experience in handling the psychology of patients and
should possess the degree in any subject related to health and brain and this degree should be
approved by Nursing & midwifery council (Ellis, 2019). Apart from this, learner should have the
in hand experience of dealing with intramuscular injection where they should be well aware of
the deltoid and other muscles and their response to the injection. The individual should have the
ability to implement the level of care that is holistic as well as are required to have experience of
to incorporate numerous interventions.
Attitude
Besides the skills and knowledge, the student for administering the mental health should
have the positive and favourable attitude towards varied clinical environment (Forbes and
et.al.,2016). While scrutinizing the patients, the learner should be able to maintain a close
congruence with their team members and thus should have have the relevant enthusiasm for
adopting various interventions. Besides this, they should not have the authoritative attitude
towards their patients and their seniors. Learners are required to demonstrate a highly favourable

attitude towards the other staff and should be able to handle the apparatus and instruments with
care. Apart from this, they should be able to provide high quality services to their patients.
Influence of Learning styles and theories
Learning style is basically the style adopted by the learner while understanding the
problem or scenario. Although there are numerous learning styles, but the most in influential one
which influences the mind as well as the attitude of the learner is VARK style wherein the four
sensory aspects help the learner in learning the different concepts of mental health. These are
Visual learning where the learner learns by seeing the different things, Auditory wherein the
learner learns by listening the different attributes which increases their learning modality,
Physical learning whereby the student tries to analyse the things by physically performing it like
reading, writing and the last one is Kinesthetic under which the individual learns better by the
figuring the things by their own hand. Like a mental health student while in practically
performing the work, analyses their senior or practitioner by seeing how they hold the needles
and how they locate the area of diagnosis and this is where they learn through visually assessing
the things.