Trentham Furness

Australian Catholic University | ACU · Melbourne Health, NorthWestern Mental Health

Mental health nursing is widely recognized as a stressful occupation; however, little is known about the relationship between work‐related stress and health‐related quality of life of mental health nurses (MHN). This study aimed to identify MHN health‐related quality of life (HR‐QoL) and work‐related stressors; associations between stressors and HR...

Nurses play a crucial role in mental healthcare provision. Like many countries, Australian nursing students are educated in comprehensive pre-registration programmes which include mental health clinical placements. Placements play a vital role in students' education, providing the opportunity to engage with consumers and develop mental health nursi...

People with mental illness have substantially lower life expectancy than the general population, with mortality from natural causes most commonly attributed to cardiovascular diseases. The study aim was to identify characteristics of consumers who died of natural causes between 2009 and 2018 at one of Australia's largest publicly funded mental heal...

COVID-19 is a highly infectious respiratory disease which leads to several clinical conditions related to the dysfunction of the respiratory system along with other physical and psychological complaints. Severely affected patients are referred to intensive care units (ICUs), limiting their possibilities for physical exercise. Whole body vibration (...

Background: Trauma is a factor impacting the lives of many people experiencing psychiatric disorders. Trauma affects people’s responses to illness as well as their interactions with services. Aim: This study aimed to explore the understandings and experiences of psychiatrists of working with trauma and emerging models of Trauma-Informed Care. Metho...

People with severe mental illness have significantly reduced life expectancy and higher risk of cardiovascular diseases than the general population. There is a critical need for quality physical health care to improve consumers’ health outcomes. There is minimal knowledge, however, on the impact of mental health nurse practitioner candidate (NPC) p...

Undergraduate nursing students have been reported to hold negative and stigmatizing attitudes towards mental health consumers and to be under‐prepared for mental health clinical placement. This study aimed to investigate undergraduate nurses’ stigma and recovery attitudes to mental illness, and describe their understandings of personal recovery on...

There is widespread recognition that workplace stress can have profound negative impacts on nurses’ well‐being and practice. Resilience is a process of positive adaptation to stress and adversity. This study aimed to describe mental health nurses’ most challenging workplace stressors, and their psychological well‐being, workplace resilience, and le...

Aim To synthesise and critically interpret literature of relevance to intervening in intergenerational transmission of relational trauma within parent‐infant relationships. Background Intergenerational trauma is a discrete process and form of psychological trauma transmitted within families and communities. Intergenerational trauma can be transmit...

Mental health nurses work in challenging and potentially high stress settings. Stressors can occur in the context of consumer, family, and/or staff relationships, as well as the work environment and organization. The cumulative effects of stress and professional challenges can lead to harmful impacts for mental health nurses including burnout and p...

The aim of the study was to assess the acute effect of whole-body vibration (WBV) exercise, with low frequency (5 Hz), on the pain level (PL), trunk flexibility, and cardiovascular responses (blood pressure [BP] and heart rate [HR]) in individuals with metabolic syndrome (MetS). Forty-four individuals were included in the study (control: 15) or in...

Stroke is associated with long-term disability and patients experience numerous physical impairments including muscle weakness, particularly in the paretic limbs, balance, and functional mobility. During acute stroke rehabilitation, when individuals are less likely to be functionally independent and rely on rehabilitative care, the efficacy of low...

The purpose of this systematic review was to investigate the effects of whole body vibration (WBV) exercise in the management of cancer therapy-related morbidities. The PubMED and PEDro databases were used to access publications published in English about the use of whole body vibration (WBV) exercises in cancer patients until February 22nd 2017. T...

Accessible summary What is known on the subject? • Mental health nurses are affected by interpersonal, practice‐related and organizational factors that can increase workplace stress and reduce their physical and mental health and well‐being. • Resilience programmes are a strength‐based preventative approach to supporting individuals to overcome w...

For people with severe mental illness, accredited practising dietitians may assist with a nutrition care plan that considers the medical, psychiatric, psychological, social, spiritual, and pharmacological aspects of their care. However, consumers’ access to care has been limited by difficulties attending appointments and suboptimal interface betwee...

Mental health settings are recognized as complex, unpredictable environments, and challenging interpersonal situations are common for nurses in acute adult mental health services. Occupational stressors include verbal aggression and physical assault and are correlated with poor physical and mental health outcomes for nurses. There is a clear need f...

Seclusion and mechanical restraint are restrictive interventions that should be used only as a last resort and for the shortest possible time, yet little is known about duration of use in the broader context. Adult area mental health services throughout Victoria, Australia, were asked to complete a report form for prolonged episodes of seclusion (>...

Background Despite the high risk of falling for people with severe mental illness, there is limited falls research in mental health settings. Therefore, the objective of this observational cohort study was to conduct a focused post-fall review of fall episodes within aged acute inpatient mental health units at one of Australia's largest publicly fu...

Sensory modulation (SM) and trauma-informed-care (TIC) are therapeutic strategies which can help avoid incidents of aggression and thus reduce the use of restrictive interventions in mental health settings. In order to educate mental health nurses and allied health professionals in these strategies, a train-the-trainer intervention was developed an...

Mental illness increases a person's risk of physical health issues, including cardiovascular disease, leading to premature morbidity and mortality. Screening for cardiovascular disease through metabolic monitoring is recommended to aid in early detection. The aim of the present study was to ascertain whether consumers admitted to an inpatient menta...

Background: Accredited exercise physiologists (AEPs) are emerging as essential members of allied health in the management of non-communicable chronic diseases. People diagnosed with severe mental illness (SMI) are at greater risk of cardiovascular diseases. Secure extended care units (SECUs) provide treatment, supervision and support for people wi...

Background: The emotional labour of nursing work involves managing the emotional demands of relating with patients, families and colleagues. Building nurses' resilience is an important strategy in mitigating the stress and burnout that may be caused by ongoing exposure to these demands. Understandings of resilience in the context of emotional labo...

The interaction of police officers with people experiencing community-based mental health crisis has involved the use of first responder police responses and/or co-responding approaches with mental health clinicians. Despite favourable outcomes, the consumer experience remains largely unknown. The aim of this study was to profile perceptions about...

The aim of the present study was to describe incidences of restrictive interventions and the association of methamphetamine use at an acute adult inpatient mental health unit in metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. A total of 232 consecutive consumer admissions to the inpatient unit across a 3-month period were described for illicit substan...

A recovery-oriented model of care has become the major focus of mental health service delivery in the state of Victoria, Australia. However, there is a total absence of knowledge of recovery-oriented mental health practice in community care units (CCUs). Therefore, the aims of this exploratory study were to: (a) describe what aspects of the current...

There is an emergence of literature describing effective sensory modulation (SM) interventions to de-escalate violence and aggression among mental health inpatients. However, the evidence is limited to adult settings, with the effect of SM in youth acute settings unknown. Yet, before SM may be used as a de-escalation intervention in youth acute set...

. Appropriate management, including pulmonary rehabilitation, associated with correct diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in patients can contribute to improving clinical conditions of these patients. Physical activity is recommended for COPD patients. Whole-body vibration (WBV) is a modality of physical activity. Putting toge...

Background: Practicing with trauma informed care (TIC) can strengthen nurses' knowledge about the association of past trauma and the impact of trauma on the patient's current mental illness. An aim of TIC is to avoid potentially re-traumatising a patient during their episode of care. A TIC education package can provide nurses with content that des...

Downhill backwards walking causes repeated, cyclical loading of the muscle-tendon unit. The effect this type of repeated loading has on the mechanical behaviour of the Achilles tendon is presently unknown. This study aimed to investigate the biomechanical response of the Achilles tendon aponeurosis complex following a downhill backwards walking pro...

Background: Suboptimal use of mental health services persists for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples(1). Coupled with poorer life expectancy than other Australians, barriers to care have included poorly established partnership and communication among mental health services and Aboriginal peoples, and cultural insensitivity. As such, a g...

The physical health of people with serious mental illness (SMI) has become a focal area of research. The aim of the present study was to ascertain the attention and distribution of research from within Australia on physical illness and SMI co-occurrence, and to identify gaps. A scoping review of peer-reviewed research literature from Australia, pub...

Police officers as first responders to acute mental health crisis in the community, commonly transport people in mental health crisis to a hospital emergency department. However, emergency departments are not the optimal environments to provide assessment and care to those experiencing mental health crises. In 2012, the Northern Police and Clinicia...

The Northern Police and Clinician Emergency Response (NPACER), a combined police and clinician second response team, was created to divert people in mental health crisis away from the hospital emergency department (ED) to care in the community or direct admission to acute inpatient services. The aim of this study was to evaluate the NPACER by compa...

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to document Australian policies on the physical health of people with mental illness and evaluate the capacity of policy to support health needs. Methods: A search of state and federal policies on mental and physical illness was conducted, as well as detailed analysis of policy content and the relatio...

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To evaluate the effectiveness of Tai Chi plus standard care in treating schizophrenia compared with standard care alone.

As custodial mental health services are beginning to adopt a recovery-oriented model of care, it is imperative that successes in the transformation to recovery are captured. The aim of this illustrative case study was to describe the organizational procedure that enabled the systematic transformation of a custodial mental health service to a servic...

Recovery-oriented care acknowledges the unique journey of the consumer to regain control of his or her life in order to live a good life. Recovery has become a dominant policy-directed model of mental health service delivery. Even services that have traditionally been institutional and custodial have been challenged to embrace a recovery-oriented m...

Background People with serious mental illness (SMI) exhibit a high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases. Mental health services have a responsibility to address poor physical health in their consumers. One way of doing this is to conduct metabolic monitoring (MM) of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. This study compares two models of MM amo...

Recovery-oriented care acknowledges the unique journey that consumers lead with the aim of regaining control of their lives in order to live a good life. Recovery has become a dominant policy-directed model of many mental health care organizations, but in older-adult acute mental health inpatient settings, nurses do not have a clear description of...

Australian mental health nurses will need to care with consumers of mental health services, within the domains of recovery. However, in acute inpatient mental health settings, nurses are without a clear description of how to be recovery-oriented. The intent of this qualitative study was to ask nurses to reflect on and describe current practice with...

Internationally, seclusion practices continue to be the subject of intense clinical health service and academic scrutiny. Despite extensive efforts to reduce and eliminate this controversial practice, seclusion remains a clinical intervention widely used in contemporary mental health service settings. Early identification of people who are at risk...

Recovery-oriented care acknowledges the unique journey of the consumer to regain control of his or her life in order to live a good life. Recovery has become a dominant policy-directed model of mental health service delivery. Even services that have traditionally been institutional and custodial have been challenged to embrace a recovery-oriented m...

Benefits of community-based whole-body vibration (WBV) as a mode of exercise training for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have not been investigated. The low skill demand of WBV may enhance habitual sustainability to physical activity by people with COPD, provided efficacy of WBV can be established. The purpose of this tria...

Background: People with serious mental illness (SMI) exhibit a high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases. Mental health services have a responsibility to address poor physical health in their consumers. One way of doing this is to conduct metabolic monitoring (MM) of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. This study compares two models of MM am...

The potential of whole-body vibration (WBV) as a mode of dyspnoea free physical activity for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is unknown among community-based settings. Furthermore, the acute effects of WBV on people with COPD have not been profiled in community-based settings. The aim of this community-based proof-of-concep...

Study objective: We compare the analgesic effectiveness of intranasal fentanyl and ketamine in children. Methods: This was a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial comparing fentanyl at 1.5 μg/kg with ketamine at 1 mg/kg in children aged 3 to 13 years and weighing less than 50 kg, with isolated limb injury and pain of more than 6 of 10 at tr...

Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a respiratory condition characterised by dyspnoea, excessive sputum production, chronic cough, bronchitis and emphysema. Functionally, exercise tolerance is poor for people with COPD and is linked to difficulty in performing daily tasks. More specifically, exercise difficulties are due part...

The objective of this study was to investigate efficacy of a whole-body vibration (WBV) intervention on functional performance of community-dwelling older adults. The study was designed as a randomized controlled trial. The setting was in community centers. There were 37 total subjects (21 women and 16 men) (age 69 +/- 8 years; mean +/- standard de...

The purpose of this study was to progressively overload vibration platform frequency to describe sea-saw whole body vibration influence on neuromuscular performance of community-dwelling older adults. Seventy-three community-dwelling older adults (aged 72 +/- 8 years) were randomly assigned to 4 groups (zero, one, 2, and 3 whole body vibration sess...