KEY WORDS Training, evaluation, mental health, effectiveness ABSTRACT The paper reports on an evaluation undertaken of the effectiveness of mental health training provided by Mindapples , a social enterprise for nursing... [ view full abstract ]
KEY WORDS
Training, evaluation, mental health, effectiveness
ABSTRACT
The paper reports on an evaluation undertaken of the effectiveness of mental health training provided by Mindapples , a social enterprise for nursing students. The research was commissioned by Guys and St Thomes Charitable Trust and was led by the University of York in co-operation with London South Bank University. The project involved a three way partnership between the University of York, Mindapples and London South Bank University. The particular research expertise rested with the University of York but the nature of the funding suggested that there should be a London area location for the actual research
Literature
Mindapples closely follows an entrepreneurial model of a social enterprise. It was created by an energetic and entrepreneurial individual and it has a strong social aspect to its mission, which is codified in its memorandum and articles and non-profit status. It would probably be regarded as a training organisation and grouped with organisations which provide short vocationally orientated programmes, although it has also consistently worked in and received funding from the healthcare and public health sectors. It is a small organisation compared to others which operate in this area. It does not own or lease its own training premises as would a number of such organisations.
What distinguishes Mindapples from most other social enterprises involved in training is the nature of the programmes which it delivers. It does not engage in education or training delivering programmes in which the curriculum and assessment is externally set by, for example, a National Skills or Assessment Body. Rather it has evolved its own model of training which has required a large amount of creative activity and primary research.
Methodology
The baseline questionnaire comprises a socio-demographic schedule, the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (Stewart-Brown et al., 2011), a self-efficacy and resilience scale (adapted from Sawatzky et al., 2012) and an assessment of student knowledge and enjoyment of the course content (using the Kirckpatrick training effectiveness model
There was also use of focus groups to enable a triangulation of the data from the questionnaires.
Results
The results of the evaluation showed that there were clear and statistically significant positive impacts from the intervention of Mindapples with nursing students. The research also raised some significant methodological lessons which are important in both constructing and implementing research with professional students whose schedules and engagement with the university are significantly different to those of non professional students.
References
Stewart-Brown, S., Platt, S., Tennant, A., Maheswaran, H., Parkinson, J., Weich, S., Tennant, R., Taggart, F. & Clarke, A. (2011) The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS): a valid and reliable tool for measuring mental well-being in diverse populations and projects. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 65, A38-A39.
Sawatzky, R. G., Ratner, P. A., Richardson, C. G., Washburn, C., Sudmant, W. & Mirwaldt, P. (2012) Stress and depression in students: The mediating role of stress management self-efficacy. Nursing Research, 61, 13-21.
EMES_2015__Murdock_and_Webber.pdf 