Division of Mental Health Nursing and Counselling is situated within the School of Social and Health Sciences.
Our research contributes to the University research theme of Society.
The Division of Mental Health Nursing and Counselling has an ambition to respond to the growing needs within society concerning challenges to mental health, and the provision of mental health care. Our research focusses on the quality of teaching and training in preparing professionals for practice, in the creation of Pluralistic approaches to mental health and the application of these to particular service-user and client groups. The research within the division is closely linked to the teaching we do at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels.
The Tayside Centre for Counselling is a live project which runs a research clinic for community clients and gathers data to explore and evidence the effectiveness of Pluralistic Framework for Counselling and Psychotherapy. It has allowed Abertay to form a consortium of similar clinics across the UK aiming to collaborate on large-scale research projects examining the process and outcomes of therapy. The clinic also provides a number of post-graduate students with opportunities for practice placement.
Our research centres on the reporting of Cause for concern in healthcare settings, the evaluation and management of risk in mental health contexts, and the disparity between management of self-harm and the experiences of those who experience self-harming behaviour, and the use and effectiveness of interventions for people living with dementia. External collaborations include those with NHS Fife on the skills and training required for helping people living with Borderline Personality Disorder, and the creation of a recovery assessment tool for use by service-users, the Individual Recovery Outcomes Counter (I.ROC) with Penumbra
Our research approach has focussed on the use of advanced qualitative methodologies such as auto-ethnography and the Quasi-judicial and Ward Method of complex case-study data. We are also collectively engaged in a number of systematic reviews of Mental Health Nursing practice to provide a landscape of the current evidence base for the profession.
Find out more about the work our researchers do and how you could join us to study for a PhD, MPhil or Masters by Research
kate.smith@abertay.ac.uk
+44 (0)1382 30 8759