Year
2024Credit points
10Campus offering
Prerequisites
NilTeaching organisation
150 hours of focused learning.Unit rationale, description and aim
Best practice in mental health requires that mental health nurses are able to reflect on and develop understanding of their practice as members of the multidisciplinary team. Clinical supervision is identified as a core component of contemporary professional mental health nursing practice in in a number of professional standard documents. This unit explores the principles underpinning personal and professional development and reflective practice, in order to promote the development of higher order critical thinking supportive of professional mental health nursing practice at an advanced level. Students will explore the importance of self-awareness when monitoring their own practice and the extent to which they work within personal, professional and organisational values and principles. Students will explore contemporary opinion and research on emotional intelligence / literacy and how this relates to their practice in mental health nursing. A focus on continuing professional development and clinical supervision activities to enhance knowledge, skills, values and attitudes needed for safe and effective mental health nursing practice will be incorporated. The aim of this unit is to provide students with an opportunity to develop an in-depth understanding of reflective practice and clinical supervision and apply these principles in their own practice setting.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
| Learning Outcome Number | Learning Outcome Description | Relevant Graduate Capabilities |
|---|---|---|
| LO1 | Explain the principles underpinning personal and professional development, clinical supervision, peer mentoring and reflective practice | GC1, GC3, GC6, GC7, GC9, GC10, GC11 |
| LO2 | Apply principles of clinical supervision, mentoring and peer debriefing within the context of mental health practice to engage therapeutically with individuals, their families, carers/significant others based on self-awareness and critical reflection on practice and critical reflection on the contexts within which care takes place | GC1, GC2, GC3, GC6, GC7, GC8, GC9, GC10, GC11 |
| LO3 | Analyse the principles and skills of emotional intelligence/literacy to build positive relationships, maintain mental and physical well-being and to achieve personal growth and professional goals | GC1, GC2, GC3, GC6, GC7, GC8, GC9, GC10, GC11 |
| LO4 | Develop a commitment to the need for continuing professional development and clinical supervision activities to enhance the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes needed for safe and effective mental health practice | GC1, GC2, GC3, GC6, GC7, GC8, GC9, GC10, GC11 |
Content
Topics will include:
Theoretical frameworks of therapeutic communication and self-awareness within interpersonal relationships
- Therapeutic communication
- Self-awareness
- Self-acceptance
- Trust & Self disclosure
- Support & interpersonal communication
- Strength, hope & resilience models of care
The use of emotional intelligence / literacy
- Effective management and leadership
- Interpersonal relationships
- Functional and adaptive relationships
- Ethical imperatives and considerations
Professional / personal development and reflective practice
- Theory, knowledge & skills re own emotional responses
- Assessment of effects, outcomes of own emotional responses
- Monitoring and evaluation
- Implications for practice
- Critical analysis of professional boundaries & relationships
Professional /personal development and clinical supervision
- Models of clinical supervision
- Performance management
- Mentoring
- Quality of care
- Reflective practice
- Practice development
- Empowerment
- Personal mental health
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
ACU Online
This unit uses an active learning approach to support students in the exploration of knowledge essential to the discipline. Students are provided with choice and variety in how they learn. Students are encouraged to contribute to asynchronous weekly discussions. Active learning opportunities provide students with opportunities to practice and apply their learning in situations similar to their future professions. Activities encourage students to bring their own examples to demonstrate understanding and application, and to engage constructively with their peers. Students receive regular and timely feedback on their learning, which includes information on their progress.
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessments used in this unit include assessable content from synchronous webinar discussion contributions, a written assignment, focusing on analysis of a critical workplace incident using a reflective model, and an ePortfolio demonstrating breadth and depth of document analysis and reading, and evidence of ongoing engagement in clinical supervision. Assessments are designed for students to cumulatively demonstrate achievement of each learning outcome.
Assessments have been designed to provide students with the opportunity to first develop and demonstrate their understanding of unit content through collaborative dialogue. The second assessment task provides an opportunity for students to critically reflect on how they can utilise reflective practice through application of the principles to a clinical practice event. The final assessment task is a capstone activity in which students are required to provide evidence of their use of reflective practice and clinical supervision in their professional practice and integrate this evidence with their theoretical understanding to write a personal philosophy statement.
Overview of assessments
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
Assessment Task 1: Critical Practice Example Reflection Students will demonstrate knowledge of the principles underpinning reflective practice through critical reflection on a clinical event from their clinical practice. | 50% | LO1, LO2, LO4 |
Assessment Task 2: ePortfolio Students will create an ePortfolio detailing their developing understanding and application of the theoretical and practical aspects of undertaking reflective practice and clinical supervision. Students will include artefacts to demonstrate their involvement in clinical supervision. These artefacts will be used to underpin the writing of a personal philosophy of reflective practice and clinical supervision. | 50% | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
Representative texts and references
Foster, K., Marks, P., O'Brien. A. & Raeburn, T. (2022). Mental health in nursing, 6th ed. Elsevier
Health & Community Services Union (2017). Clinical supervision for mental health nurses: A framework for Victoria. Retrieved from https://hacsu.asn.au/Clinical-supervision-for-mental-health-nurses-A-framework-for-Victoria~18671
Hercelinskjy, G. & Alexander, L. (2022). Mental health nursing: applying theory to practice, Revised ed. Cengage: Singapore.
King, C., Edlington, T. & Williams, B. (2020). The “ideal” clinical supervision environment in nursing and allied health. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 13: 187-196.
Martin, P., Copley, J. & Tyack, Z. (2014). Twelve tips for effective clinical supervision based on a narrative literature review and expert opinion. Medical Teacher, 36: 201-207.
O’Toole, G. (2020). Communication: Core interpersonal skills for healthcare practitioners, 4th edition. Elsevier.
Victorian Government (2022). Victorian Allied health clinical supervision framework. Retrieved from https://www.health.vic.gov.au/allied-health-workforce/victorian-allied-health-clinical-supervision-framework