Formação do enfermeiro em uma universidade pública no estado do Ceará : competências e habilidades de saúde mental

Abstract

The current dissertation aims to analyze the competences and skills of Mental Health Nursing identified by scholars and based on the National Nursing Curriculum Guidelines (DCN/ENF) as well as on the Psychiatr ic Reform. This is a descriptive, exploratory and documental study with qualitative/quantitative approach. It was performed with college students attending the sixth , seventh and eighth semesters in the Nursing Federal University of Ceará (UFC) in December 2013. A semi - structured questionnaire and an interview listing socio - demographic and competence data were used. The quantitative data were organized in tables and the interviews in charts. The associations between competences and the group were analyzed b y X 2 test as well as by likelihood ratio. The p<0.05 value was considered statistically significant for all the analyses. Eight students who attended the eighth semester in the course were interviewed and the ir answers were analyzed according to Spink’s se nse production and substantiated by the literature. The results are in line with other realities from other studies on Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing teaching. Fear and stigma are often present in this practice and they influence students’ learning process. As for Mental Health competences, many students feel unprepared, mainly in regards to the basic competences for the nurse’s formation such as the understanding of the Mental Health Policy guidelines; the use of Mental Health Nursing within the fam ily and community context; featuring mental disorders; taking actions in different levels of mental healthcare and handling patients in mental disorder crises. These students also consider the teaching practices, didactics, working hours and Mental Health internship opportunities insufficient. Thus, it is demanding to analyze these flaw competences, as well as other aspects that deconstruct this practice’s negative sides and the necessary changes in the students’ learning process in all the school disciplin es, thus perpetuating the idea that Mental Health is peculiar to all the cycles of life and transversal to such disciplines .