Changing attitudes: the role of a consumer academic in the education of postgraduate psychiatric nursing students.

Abstract

Consumer participation in health care is increasingly becoming an expectation within mental health services. Consumer involvement in the education of mental health professionals, including nurses is considered crucial to achieving this aim. This article describes the impact of a mental health consumer academic on the attitudes of postgraduate psychiatric nursing students towards consumer participation. A questionnaire was administered to students before (n = 25) and following (n = 19) exposure to the teaching of the consumer academic. Comparison of results suggests that support for consumer participation increases after exposure to the consumer academic reinforcing the value of mental health consumers in psychiatric nursing education.