Assessing and managing communication needs in people with serious mental illness
Intended for healthcare professionals
CPD    

Assessing and managing communication needs in people with serious mental illness

Helen Rees Teaching fellow, Mental Health Nursing, Birmingham City University, Birmingham, England
Claudia Forrest Speech and language therapist, Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust, Birmingham, England
Gareth Rees Consultant psychiatrist, Forward Thinking Birmingham, Birmingham, England

Why you should read this article:
  • » To understand the potential effects of various types of communication difficulties on people with serious mental illness (SMI)

  • » To assist in assessing and managing the communication needs of people with SMI, and in making appropriate referrals to speech and language therapy services

  • » To count towards revalidation as part of your 35 hours of CPD, or you may wish to write a reflective account (UK readers)

  • » To contribute towards your professional development and local registration renewal requirements (non-UK readers)

Effective communication is essential to maintain mental health and resilience. Communication can be challenging for people who experience serious mental illness (SMI), which can be a barrier to social, employment and educational opportunities, as well as increasing their risk of experiencing abuse. Therefore, it is important that nurses who work with individuals experiencing SMI understand the assessment and management of specific communication, speech and language needs. This article focuses on five areas of communication, speech and language – receptive language, expressive language, speech, social communication and swallowing – to increase nurses’ confidence in assessing communication needs and making appropriate referrals to speech and language therapy services. The authors also suggest therapeutic interventions that nurses can use to reduce the effects of speech and language difficulties among people with SMI.

Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2018.e11104

Citation

Rees H, Forrest C, Rees G (2018) Assessing and managing communication needs in people with serious mental illness. Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2018.e11104

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

helen.rees@bcu.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Published online: 25 June 2018

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