Child mental health: an e-learning resource for student CYP nurses

This paper outlines a small action research work-based study. Its aim was to ascertain the content of an e-learning resource designed to help student children and young people's (CYP) nurses promote young children's mental health. Recent policy stresses the importance of this area of health promotion. The setting for the study was a higher education institution and the data collection methods were a focus group and semi-structured interviews.The key stakeholders involved in the study were four student CYP nurses, a child health programme leader, a child health lecturer, a child and adolescent mental health lecturer and an e-learning expert.The results suggest that attachment theory, assessment framework and Bronfenbrenner's ecology model should be included in the learning resource in order to promote a holistic approach toward young children's mental health promotion. Further research is required into what training is required for student CYP nurses regarding child mental health and how CYP nurses can be prepared for their role in skill-mixed health visiting teams.