Promoting Mental Health for Individuals in Populations Less Likely to Access Support: A Literature R

Importance of Evidence-Based Practice in Health and Social Care

The aim of this unit is to offer students an opportunity to engage in sustained personal research towards producing a literature review, to develop a critical approach to evidence-based practice in integrated care. The unit enables students to demonstrate the capacity and ability to design a research proposal and demonstrate the necessary skills to conduct quality personal research that leads to evidence-based practice. Students will develop research aims, objectives and outcomes, and present the outcomes of such research in both written and verbal formats. The unit also encourages students to reflect on their engagement in the research process, during which recommendations for future and personal development are key learning points.

• The work you submit must be in your own words. If you use a quote or an illustration from somewhere you must give the source.
• Include a list of references at the end of your document. You must give all your sources of information.
• Make sure your work is clearly presented and that you use readily understandable English.

LO1 Explain the role of research for evidence-based practice in health and social care.

LO2 Conduct a review of key literature relating to a research topic towards improvements in care practice.

LO3 Develop a project proposal using evidence-based practice.

LO4 Examine the value of the literature review process in influencing positive change in health and social care practice

The healthcare practitioner is a key contributor to the service user experience and is instrumental in driving the changes needed to enable a more effective and efficient healthcare service. The effective practitioner should keep the physical and mental health and emotional wellbeing of service users at the heart of their “appropriate”, “high quality”, “person-centered care” practice. The impact of good mental health on an individual’s ability to maintain their overall health, reduce the likelihood of physical illness recurring, becoming chronic or debilitating, or in being able to cope with significant changes in life circumstances, cannot be over-emphasised.

Health and social care practitioners should not only have up-to-date knowledge of keydevelopments and approaches to practice across the health and social care sector, butshould also possess the appropriate values, attitudes and behaviours to deliver high quality professional care that meets the needs of service users. A self-aware practitioner that develops their emotional intelligence and uses up-to-date research to inform their professional practice, alongside a focus on the best interests of the individual, can make all the difference between poor and positive outcomes for individuals in receipt of care, and in maintaining their own and others’ mental health and emotional wellbeing.

This unit will enable students to examine what evidence-based practice entails, in the context of current research into mental health and emotional wellbeing as related to health and social care practice, that have an evidentiary basis to support their use.

Literature Review on Promoting Mental Health for Individuals in Populations Less Likely to Access Support

Students will reflect on their own practice and experience, including the process of personal research and the value of adopting an informed and evidence-based approach in contributingto health and social care practice and service delivery that puts the physical and mental health and emotional wellbeing of service users at its heart.

According to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2019), out of every four adults, one will experience a mental health condition, and these conditions are the largest single cause of disability in the UK. The report also indicates that mental health diagnoses such as depression are growing and the total prevalence of common mental health disorders vary across regions, with higher proportions in areas with more deprivation, and poverty can be a cause or consequence.

You have recently been hired as a research assistant in an NHS hospital to investigate and provide evidence-based guidance and advice on how to improve access to mental health care services. In your pilot study, you met Sam, a secondary school student and Jane, a care assistant in a nursing home, who has just arrived as a migrant worker in the UK. They both suffer from depression and anxiety and when narrating their ordeals, they explained how the COVID 19 pandemic lockdown had exacerbated their sufferings in terms of access to mental health care and support

Literature Review Report is a concise and coherent summary of your proposed research. The report should include the following:

(a) Literature review (1000w)

(b) A research proposal (650w)

(c) A performance review (500w)

Your literature review report should set out the central issues or questions that you intend to address. It should outline the general area of study within which your research falls, referring to the current state of knowledge and any recent debates on the topic, as well as demonstrate the originality of your proposed research. Strong research projectsare those with clear, well-focused and defined aims and objectives, review of literature, recommendations, and conclusions.

To achieve LO1, LO2 and LO3: Produce a report on Promoting mental health for individuals in populations less likely to access support (e.g. men, traveller communities, specific minority groups.) It should focus on existing research. You should select up-to-date sources of information within the last five years.

As a researcher, you play a significant role to ensure that practices in health and social care follow evidence-based approach. This approach has numerous advantages which include better patient outcomes, increased patient safety and improvement in the delivery of quality services.

For evidence-based practice, you have been asked to explain the role of researcher. To do this you should describe the purpose and process of conducting research in enabling evidence-based practice in health and social care. You would also explain the skills and qualities needed to conduct a literature review in health and social care.

You should also analyse own current skills and  knowledge in being able to conduct a literature review in health and social care towards evidence-based practice. Additionally, you should evaluate the skills required to conduct ethical research to positively influence practice and provision in health, care and support services.

Review of relevant literature is a key aspect of social research in which current state of knowledge and any recent debates on the research topic is critically examined. As a researcher, you would conduct a literature review using a range of sources relating to the research topic. You should also explain results of literature search that summarises current knowledge about the research topic. Additionally, you should evaluate the reliability and validity of own literature review. Furthermore, you should critically assess the viability of own project proposal in relation to the literature review conducted critically assessing the viability of own project proposal in relation to the literature review conducted.

You will develop a project proposal which will give you the opportunity to present a brief, accurate and coherent summary of your intention and the direction the research will take. You should explain the benefits of evidence-based practice as a method in carrying out research. Also, you would produce a project proposal for a proposed study based on research topic; Additionally, you should justify rationale for proposed research study based on research topic. Lastly you should critically assess the viability of own project proposal in relation to the literature review conducted.