Question

1. Define Mental Health promotion and Mental illness prevention.

2. What are the aims of both?

3. give your own example of each of the three types of prevention.

4. What is the overall goal of nursing care for Mental health?

5. Name one aspect or activity in Mental health that could have the greatest impact on improving Mental Illness.

Describe or define crisis.

2. Can a person’s reaction to a crisis occur before or after a crisis or both?

3. Is the reaction always related to an actual crisis?

4. What makes it more likely that a person will have a successful resolution from a crisis?

5. How long does a crisis last?

6. List the different types of crisis and give one example.

7. When assessing a patient in a crisis, list 3 factors that you would want to be aware of or what questions would you ask this patient?

Answer 1

Answer 1:

Mental health promotion involves strategies to promote mental well-being for

• those who are not at risk
• those who are at increased risk
• those who are suffering or recovering from mental illness.

Mental illness prevention involves strategies that aim at reducing the incidence, prevalence, and recurrence of mental health disorders and their associated disabilities.

Answer 2:

Mental health promotion aims at:

1. Promote positive mental health
2. Reduce or eliminate factors that contribute to poor mental health
3. Work of social factors that lead to poor mental health

Mental illness prevention:

1. To identify the causes of social and mental maladjustment
2. Identify the cause of tension, frustration, and conflicts.
3. Research for solutions to achieve mental and social adjustment
4. Increase awareness about mental illness amongst people and the communities they live in.

Answer 3

Example of mental illness prevention:

• Primordial prevention - ( prevention of development of risk factors)
  • Promote good interpersonal relationship
  • Good parent skills
  • De stressing exercises
• Primary prevention -
  • Identification of high-risk group
  • Promoting physical, mental and emotional well being
  • Increasing the level of literacy and per capita income
  • Reducing the level of poverty in the community.
• Secondary prevention:
  • Early diagnosis -
    • screening school, universities for mental illness
    • Screening for drug abuse
    • to assess for mental illness on routine health check-up
  • Treatment - treatment of mental illness with pharmacological and non-pharmacological ways.
• Tertiary prevention -
  • De-addiction
  • Family support
  • Rehabilitation of patients
  • To build a hospital and clinic dedicated to mental health
  • Policymakers should be sensitized to mental health and should allot adequate funds for research in mental health.

Answer 4

1. Reduce to the risk of self-harm and to harm to the society
2. To optimally adjust the patient in his surroundings
3. To reduce the incidence of drug and alcohol abuse.
4. Prevent suicides
5. Improve self-care and quality of verbal communication skill
6. Improve the overall productivity of the patient
7. Promote research in the field of mental health

Answer 5:

Promoting awareness of mental health. This awareness should focus on de-stigmatizing mental illness. People should be made aware that with appropriate counseling and medicines people with mental illness can live a normal life. This will enhance the number of people approaching the doctor / mental health nurse. As a result more people with mental illnesses can be identified and treated. This will not only improve the health of the individual but also the health of the community. Incidences of violence, domestic abuse, drug abuse will reduce with improvement in mental health.