Assignment: Applying Current Literature to Clinical Practice

Psychiatric mental health nursing practice is one of the newest disciplines to be licensed to provide psychotherapy As such, the majority of psychotherapy research is centered on other disciplines such as psychology, social work, marriage/family therapy, art therapy, psychiatry, and mental health counseling. This makes it essential for you to be able to translate current literature from other disciplines into your own clinical practice. For this Assignment, you practice this skill by examining the literature on group work and group therapy and considering its applicability to your own clients.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Evaluate the application of current literature to clinical practice

To prepare:

• Review this week’s Learning Resources and reflect on the insights they provide on group work and group therapy.
• Select one of the articles from the Learning Resources to evaluate for this Assignment.

Note: In nursing practice, it is not uncommon to review current literature and share findings with your colleagues. Approach this Assignment as though you were presenting the information to your colleagues.

The Assignment

In a 5- to the 10-slide PowerPoint presentation, address the following:

• Provide an overview of the article you selected, including answers to the following questions:
  • What type of group was discussed?
  • Who were the participants in the group? Why were they selected?
  • What was the setting of the group?
  • How often did the group meet?
  • What was the duration of group therapy?
  • What curative factors might be important for this group and why?
  • What “exclusion criteria” did the authors mention?
• Explain the findings/outcomes of the study in the article. Include whether this will translate into practice with your own client groups. If so, how? If not, why?
• Explain whether the limitations of the study might impact your ability to use the findings/outcomes presented in the article.

Note: The presentation should be 5–10 slides, not including the title and reference slides. Include presenter notes (no more than a half page per slide) and use tables and/or diagrams where appropriate. Be sure to support your work with specific citations from the article you selected. Support your presentation with evidence-based literature.

CASE STUDY  

K.Y. is an employee-health nurse practitioner for a large corporation. Her role is to advocate for her clients by helping them improve their quality of life, both for the present and the future, through the identification of risk factors, health promotion, and other nursing interventions. The majority of the employees She sees are middle-age adults.

Her clients come to see her for a variety of reasons, including stress, mental illness, and on-the-job injuries. K.Y. assists her clients by providing education about healthy lifestyle choices, referrals to community resources, and counseling.

QUESTION FOR THE CASE  Make a summary of the typical biological changes in the middle-age adult. 

Then, continue to discuss the 3 topics listed below for your case:

1. Discuss how you would advise young adults in selecting contraceptive methods. Do you have any personal, religious reservations, or discomforts that would interfere with your ability to advise clients and ask them how they would address these personal conflicts?
2. Have students develop a smoking cessation plan for a client.
3. Evaluate the impact of poverty on older adults. Make sure to include the impact on their physical and mental health and health promotion recommendations.