Background: Educational institutions play a pivotal role in meeting healthcare needs by educating future professional nurses and other healthcare professionals. However, nursing education encounters challenges such as insufficient competencies among undergraduates and a gap in theory-practice integration in the curriculum. This scoping review aimed to map out the existing literature on integrating Mental Health Competencies in undergraduate Nursing Education and associated challenges. Methods: The electronic databases of CINAHL, MedLine “PubMed”, Scopus, Science Direct, and Emerald Insight were searched for peer-reviewed articles on the subject, utilizing English search terms. Two authors independently reviewed the identified articles that met the inclusion criteria. The screening and selection process was conducted in the following phases: Firstly, the search results were imported into EPPI reviewer software, and duplicates were removed using the software’s built-in function. Secondly, careful screening of the titles and abstracts of all imported studies was followed based on the inclusion criteria. Thirdly, the reference list of the identified articles was screened to foster a comprehensive coverage of evidence. Full-text screening was conducted for all the identified articles, and the research team carefully scrutinized this process. Results: The initial literature search generated 717 articles. Upon identification and careful screening, 17 eligible articles met our inclusion criteria. Two key themes were reported: Integrating Mental Health Competencies in Undergraduate Nursing Education and Challenges to integrating Mental Health Competencies in undergraduate Nursing Education. Conclusion: The findings of this scoping review indicated that various efforts are being made toward integrating mental health nursing into undergraduate nursing education. However, these efforts are constantly confronted by different challenges, such as societal stigma, patient behaviours, unequal student contributions in group work activities, and difficulties in understanding patients’ symptoms. Meaningful efforts should be made towards addressing these challenges to prepare future nurses with the necessary mental health competence.

Background: Living with or managing an adolescent suffering from depression predisposes the adolescent and parents to various experiences, considering the multifactorial nature of depression and associated symptoms.Objective: This study explored and described the experiences of adolescents and their parents on the mental health management of depression in the North West province (NWP), South Africa.Method: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, contextual research design was adopted. Data was collect from two mental health care institutions and two mental health care units attached to two general hospitals in the NWP, SA. Thirty-two participants (18 adolescents and 14 parents) were purposefully selected for the study. Data were collected through individual interviews and analysed using Tesch’s open-coding method to generate themes and categories which were presented with the concurrent support of participants direct quotations.Results: The study revealed that the experiences of adolescents with depression and their parents taking care of them at homes include the following: emotional distress, poor coping mechanisms, financial burden, repeated suicidal attempts, negative attitudes from support systems and withdrawal behaviours. Appropriate therapeutic environments, ongoing monitoring by mental healthcare practitioners and adequate support systems were suggested by participants as management approaches that could enhance the recovery of adolescents from depression.Conclusion: The findings revealed the devastating experiences of adolescents with depression and their parents taking care of them in their various homes which confirms the dire need for attention on the plights of these groups in order to facilitate adolescents’ recovery and strengthen the adolescents’ and parents’ coping mechanisms for a healthier family.

Introduction: The healthcare system over the years has witnessed evolvement and transformation in the care pattern, including in the mental healthcare system. This has seen a considerable and commendable improvement in patient care. This article aims to demonstrate the need for “presence practice” and practical implications thereof, in the care of adolescents with mental health illnesses and to further demonstrate the need for connecting and attuning mental health care for good care and positive nurse and patient outcomes. The developmental stage of adolescents is characterized by various psychosocial changes. At the same time, the emergence of numerous mental health conditions is prevalent at the adolescent stage, contributing to the disease burden among this age group. Understandably, the prevalence of mental health illnesses in adolescents could be associated with their vulnerability and the result of the interaction of numerous biopsychosocial factors in the lives of the individuals, asserting influences on their development and mental health such as family challenges, the stress associated with schooling, relationship issues, and abuse. Method: This article follows a quality improvement method where the author took time to nonsystematically explain existing literature on presence practice and its practical implication and further practically demonstrated the need for and how to facilitate connecting and attuning mental health care for good care and positive nurse and patient outcomes. Result: Presence practice should be adopted by mental health nurses to foster the establishment of relational care with mental health care users, such as adolescents with mental illness, and to help mitigate relapse. Being open-minded and preparing their minds to be receptive and present during care should be part of nurses effective presence practice. Conclusion: The article concludes that mental health nurses, as frontline caregivers, should always endeavor to connect and attune care to the needs of the adolescents receiving mental health care to foster positive outcomes.

Background: Family members caring for people living with mental illness (PLWMI) are prone to grapple with caregiver burden. The caregivers often contend with a decline in their mental and physical well-being while executing their role. This exploration aimed to understand the needs of family caregivers of PLWMI. Aim: An integrative review was conducted to analyse the existing literature on the needs of family caregivers for PLWMI. Method: The review adhered to the instructions provided by Toronto and Remington, drawing upon the guidance of Whittemore and Knafl. The search used four electronic databases: PubMed, African journals, EBSCOhost and Scopus. After screening 3253 references, 18 studies (10 qualitative, 4 quantitative and 4 mixed methods) were included. Results: The review identified various needs of PLWMI caregivers, including the need for support (financial, social, peer and psychological), psychoeducation, community acceptance of family caregivers, and comprehensive family caregiver health assessments. Conclusion: This review recognises the significance of addressing the needs of the caregivers of PLWMI to alleviate the impact of caregiver role strain. Promoting nursing care that recognises the importance of caregiver-oriented practice in healthcare is essential. This can help address the needs of the caregivers, enhance their ability to cope with caregiver role strain and promote a better quality of life. Contribution: This review may inform policymakers to ensure the need for mental health practice to demonstrate knowledge in caring for caregivers of PLWMI. Furthermore, there is a need to integrate the management of PLWMI with that of the caregivers.

Health SA Gesondheid promotes communication, collaboration and teamwork between professions and disciplines within the health sciences to address problems that cross and affect disciplinary boundaries.

Depression is a complex and multi-layered mental health disorder, which leads to a loss of interest in the person's usual daily life activities with apparent low moods that last for an extended period and feelings of hopelessness. Depression is prevalent among all age groups, including adolescents, with devastating consequences that pose a public health concern. This paper analyzed the bio-psychosocial impacts on the development of depression in adolescents. The paper demonstrated that the onset of depression in adolescents is facilitated by bio-psychosocial factors of a biological, psychological, and social nature. Taking cognizance of the vulnerable nature of the adolescent developmental stage, this paper gave an expository explanation of the bio-psychosocial factors affecting the development of depression in adolescents. Proper understanding of and identifying the bio-psychosocial factors promulgating depression in adolescents underscores the need for propounding protective factors that could facilitate adequate prevention and intervention to mitigate the development of depression in adolescents.