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Accessible summary: What is known on the subject?: Contemporary mental health policy stipulates consumer participation in all aspects of mental health services including service evaluation and other forms of mental health research.Research is identified as underpinning quality mental health services, and therefore, consumers researchers could enhance the mental health sector by contributing to the quality, credibility and relevance of mental health research. What this paper adds to existing knowledge?: Non‐consumer researchers generally supported the concept of a consumer expert reference group for researchers at the individual and institutional level.A consumer expert reference group should reflect diversity and offer expertise relevant to the topic of research and may represent one way to normalize partnerships with consumer researchers and realize the benefits they can bring to research. What are the implications for practice?: Quality mental health services are underpinned by robust research evidence. It is crucial that consumers are active participants in research activity.The availability of a consumer expert reference group could facilitate collaborations between consumer and non‐consumer researchers and contribute to a stronger consumer focus embedded in mental health research. Introduction: Contemporary mental health policy identifies consumers as active participants in all aspects of mental health services from design to evaluation. Consumer researchers should be actively involved in mental health research and contribute to quality service delivery. Aim: To gain a snapshot of mental health researcher views on strategies for increasing research by or with consumers in mental health through the establishment of an Expert Consumer Researcher Group (ECRG). Methods: Cross‐sectional survey of 41 non‐consumer mental health researchers from Australia or New Zealand. Results: The introduction of an ECRG was considered an effective strategy for linking consumer and non‐consumer researchers and providing specialist advice on research design and methodology. The most suitable location for this group was identified as within consumer advocacy agencies (71%), universities (66%) or research funding bodies (66%). Participants rated their likelihood of seeking advice from the ECRG as high. Discussion: Research participants supported the value of an ECRG. They emphasized the importance of ensuring the group reflected a diversity of views and offered specialized expertise related to the specific topic. The ECRG could benefit both individual researchers and larger research organizations. Implications for practice: An ECRG could facilitate collaborations with consumer researchers and in turn enhance the quality of mental health research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper draws on a 2015 study in New Zealand that examined perceptions of registered nurses (RNs) and general practitioners (GPs) regarding the role of Nurse Practitioners (NPs) in long-term aged care facilities (LTACF). Aim: To explore the attitudes of RNs and GPs regarding the role of NPs in LTACFs. Design: A descriptive, mixed methods design with a survey and invitation to interview was used. RNs and GPs who provided hospital-level care were invited to participate. Findings: The findings showed RNs and GPs are open to considering the NP role in aged care. However, there remains a lack of understanding of what NPs do. Conclusions: This study suggests a shift in attitude towards accepting the NP role by RNs and GP working in LTACFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/aim The successful development and maintenance of professional identity is associated with professional development and retention in the health workforce. This paper explores students' perspectives on the ways pre-entry experiences and curricula content shape professional identity. Methods An online cross-sectional survey was sent to students enrolled in the final year of entry-level programmes in five countries. Descriptive statistical analyses of data were completed. Results The results reflect the perceptions of 319 respondents from five countries. Respondents identified professional education (98%) and professional socialisation during placement (92%) as curricula components with the greatest influence on professional identity formation. Discipline-specific knowledge such as, occupation-focussed models and occupational science were ranked lower than these aspects of practice. The students' length of programme and level of entry-level programme did not impact on these results. Conclusion When designing curricula educators need to be mindful that students perceive practice education and professional socialisation have the greatest affect on professional identity formation. The findings reinforce the need for curricula to provide students with a range of practice experiences, which allow the observation and application of occupation-based practices. It highlights a need for educators to provide university-based curricula activities, which better prepare students for a potential dissonance between explicit occupation-based curricula and observed practice education experiences. The study indicates the need for further research into the role curricula content, and in particular practice education, plays in the multidimensional formation of professional development within entry-level programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Death has been identified as a known stressor for nurses and has been extensively researched in nursing populations. However, very little is known about the impact of a specific stressful event; that of the novice nurse''s first encounter with patient death. Using a sequential quantitative-qualitative mixed methods design, a study was undertaken to explore the clinical circumstances, impact and challenges and rewards of nurses’ early experiences with patient death. This paper reports the findings of the first phase: an exploratory survey of nurses’ responses to this stressor. Method: A convenience sample of New Zealand Registered Nurses was recruited using email invitations; 174 respondents completed an online questionnaire exploring the clinical circumstances, preparedness, support mechanisms and impact of their earliest memorable patient death. Results: Most nurses reported that their earliest memory of patient death occurred during undergraduate training (61%) or in the first year of qualified practice (23%). Over 80% of these experiences occurred in acute medical, surgical or specialty settings in public hospitals, some involving paediatric or sudden unexpected deaths. Whilst some respondents described a rewarding, ‘learning experience’, others reported acute helplessness, guilt or marked on-going distress. Conclusions: Whilst little can be done to control the clinical circumstances of nurses’ early death encounters, by understanding more about the reactions to death, it may be possible to minimise negative factors such as unexpected elements, feelings of inadequacy, exclusion and role conflicts whilst facilitating coping, sharing of the experience, personal and professional growth, and other positive outcomes. Nurses’ early experiences with patient death appear to have a lasting impact on their professional and personal lives. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]