The HSE Midlands has launched the second edition of the Portfolio of Mental Health Assessment Tools, which will enhance assessment for mental health clients. The launch, which was hosted in the Department of Nursing and Health Sciences at Athlone Institute of Technology, was attended by HSE mental heath services staff from Westmeath, Offaly, Longford, and Laois, mental heath practitioners, and service user groups.
This book, which builds on the first edition published in 2008, provides a user-friendly, evidence-based compendium of 28 assessments, aiming to improve patient outcomes. These assessments are screening tools or scales that screen for mental illness symptoms, mental health difficulties, and positive or negative coping strategies.
The publication and supporting education package will enable professionals in mental health practice to have the requisite skills to deliver comprehensive holistic assessment to improve client care.
The book also provides a curriculum course book for undergraduate nursing students.
Professor Denis Ryan, Foundation Professor of Counselling & Psychotherapy and Director of Academic Affairs, with the Irish College of Humanities and Applied Sciences in Limerick, formally launched the book and congratulated the nurse-led project as an excellent achievement in support of the highest professional standards in mental health nursing.
An education grant by Janssen Pharmaceutical company enabled the production of this second edition.
Hard copies will be distributed to all mental health units in the midlands areas of the Dublin Mid-Leinster region and to AIT. The book will be available through the HSE website, through HSE library services, and through other national mental health website forums.
