NUM1102: Communication Skills for Nurses and Midwives Contemporary Reflective Essay Assignment Help
Question
NUM1102: This assignment for Edith Cowan University requires the nursing student to write an essay discussing stigmatization associated with mental health. The student is supposed to watch a video on “Stop the Stigma: Why it’s important to talk about Mental illness”. Based on this video, a comprehensive reflective essay needs to be written which should highlight the student’s understanding of stigma related to mental health along with remarking on the impact it might have on individuals. Additionally, the assignment also demands the student to relate these learnings to their own professional experience.
Solutions
The solution comprises a contemporary reflective essay elaborating on the issue of stigmatization concerning mental health.
The solution is divided into different sections by our experts- an Introduction, Understanding of stigma, Effects of Stigma on individuals experiencing mental health challenges, how to reduce stigma towards those experiencing mental health issues and/or mental illness, and a brief Conclusion.
Introduction
The first section of the essay is brief on the purpose of writing this essay along with providing a foregrounding to the issue of stigmatization related to mental health.
Based on the World Health Organization’s (2022) definition, mental illness refers to any disorder involving significant deficiencies in human cognition, emotional regulation, and behaviour. In 2022, at least one in eight or 970 million individuals were living with mental illness around the globe, showing high prevalence (WHO, 2022).
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Understanding of stigma
Next, this section presents the student’s understanding of the issue. Our experts have outlined how the video impacted the student’s knowledge and views about the issue.
In her Ted Talk, Sarkis (2020) identifies stigma as a constant challenge in addressing mental health challenges. Stigma refers to negative attitudes and beliefs that society holds about certain groups of people due to factors such as race, colour, orientation or illness. In the context of mental health and mental illness, stigma manifest as stereotyping, discrimination, and prejudice toward individuals who experience mental health challenges. Sarkis (2020), in her speech, points out that at least 4.8 million people experience mental illness every year, yet due to stigma, a significant population fails to seek healthcare intervention. Sarkis suggests that stigma emerges as a result of misunderstanding and prejudice around mental illness, which has led society to label mental illness as an unusual and undesirable condition. Watson et al. (2020), also proposes a social cognitive theory of stigma to explain the development of stigma towards mental illness. According to Watson et al. stigma arises from a combination of social construction and cognitive processes.
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Effects of Stigma on individuals experiencing mental health challenges
This section discusses the potential effects that stigma may have on those who are dealing with mental health problems. The arguments presented here supported by relevant and credible literature resources.
The stigma surrounding mental health issues and mental illness can have profound and lasting impacts on individuals who experience these challenges (Lawrence et al., 2021). Individuals experiencing stigma present with worse off health and well-being outcomes compared to the rest of the population, given that individuals are reluctant towards seeking health (Better Health Victoria, 2022). According to Vargas et al. (2020), depression increases the risk of unhealthy lifestyle habits, such as smoking, a sedentary lifestyle, and a poor diet, which can increase the risk of heart disease. In addition, mental illness causes physiological changes such as elevated cortisol levels, suppressed immune system, and blood pressure changes, all of which increased the risk of developing comorbidities when left untreated. According to a study conducted by Biddle and Gray (2022), mental health patients experienced a life expectancy gap of 14 years on average.
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How to reduce stigma towards those experiencing mental health issues and/or mental illness
In this next section, our experts have delved extensively into how important vocalization of mental health issues and challenges becomes in dealing with stigma related to mental health. Two ways of reducing are proposed here.
One of the ways the nursing practitioner might reduce stigma is by advocating for and promoting mental health education and awareness. In her TED talk, Sarkis (2020), cites the need for advocacy as a channel for changes in policy and attitudes to reduce stigma and improve access to mental health services. The aim of advocacy is to build awareness of mental illness as a legitimate healthcare issue that should be identified and managed like any other condition and to ensure sufficient allocation of mental healthcare resources (Cunningham & Lucksted, 2018). In the opinion of Sarkis (2020), an investment in mental healthcare yields four times in improved healthcare outcomes, which could also help to reduce health burden in different areas of health delivery. As a nursing practitioner, reducing stigma towards those experiencing mental health illness is a crucial part of providing holistic and patient-centred care proposed by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of 5Australia (Bryne et al., 2020). A nursing practitioners should therefore help to reduce stigma towards those experiencing mental illness by advocating for better healthcare policies supporting personalized care, diagnosis and treatment of patients presenting with mental health illness. The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Board’s (ANMB) Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia (2018) identifies the nurse as an advocate, stating that “nurses should respect the dignity, culture, values, beliefs and rights of individuals/groups and populations”. Within this standard, there are specific expectations for nurses to advocate for their patients, including the need to promote their social justice and addressing health inequities.
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Conclusion
Lastly, a brief conclusion is also provided in which our experts have presented all the important arguments proposed above.
In conclusion, stigma is a significant challenge undermining the discussion around mental health and healthcare intervention. Stigma creates barriers to healthcare, triggers physiological comorbidities leading to poorer healthcare outcomes, and limits opportunities for social participation while also leading to more health complications.
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