Education for the future? The status of lived experience involvement in mental health nursing education

Abstract

People with lived experience of significant mental health challenges can make an important contribution in the education of health professionals including nurses. This involvement can facilitate understanding the lived experience of mental health challenges and promote consumer participation in mental health care. However, the extent of consumer participation in nursing programs in Australia is not known. This paper presents the findings of cross-sectional study involving an on-line survey of nurse academics responsible for coordinating mental health nursing subjects. Thirty universities were represented including 32 pre-registration and 20 post-registration programs. The majority of pro- grams (78% pre-registration; 75% post-registration programs) included lived experience educators in some capacity. Programs most commonly 25%) included a guest lecturer for one or two hours. Face-to-face teaching, curriculum development and membership to program committees were the most regular activities. Content was usually co-developed by lived experience educators and nurse academics (67.5%). The inclusion of lived experience in mental health nursing education appears to be increasing. However, the implementation is ad hoc, minimal and generally reflects the degree of commitment of mental health nurse academics