University of Bradford

BSc Nursing (Mental Health)

What you will study

All module information is for 2022 entry and is subject to change.

First-year

• Nursing and Academic Practice
• Practice 1
• Social Concepts of Health
• Practice 2

Second year

• Evidence-Based Healthcare
• Practice 3
• Practice 4
• Promoting Health

Final year

• Preparing for Professional Practice
• Integrated Approaches to Mental Health Across the Lifespan
• Practice 5
• Managing Therapeutic Approaches and Facilitating Therapeutic Interventions within Mental Health Care
• Practice 6
• Pre-Registration Nursing - Programme Requirements, Stage 3
• Placement Year

Placement Year

During the programme, you will undertake a variety of clinical experiences predominately in the Bradford, Airedale and Craven districts, consisting of practice placements lasting between 6 and 12 weeks.

You will be allocated a Mentor on each placement who has undertaken a professionally recognised Mentorship preparation award.

You may also be allocated an associate mentor depending upon the placement.

Mentors are there to support and educate you during your practice placement, helping you to integrate the theoretical knowledge gained into effective/ appropriate practice.

They will supervise your work and assess your progress during and at the end of the placement.

We also have a Practice Education Support Team (PEST) that provides a link between practice placement areas and the University.

The team are there to offer Mentor support and guidance to ensure and enhance your learning in practice.

There is also an opportunity to undertake an elective placement at the end of Year 2 which can include experience abroad, for example, Finland, Belgium and Denmark.

Learning and assessment

The programme is framed around four core concepts:

• Direct clinical/patient care
• Leadership and collaborative practice
• Improving quality
• Developing practice and developing self and others

These are common to all fields of nursing and represent the NMC domains (NMC 2010). The core concepts form a framework of key content which is revisited across the three years, progressing from an introduction and broad understanding of concepts to complex in-depth application of concepts applied to nursing.

The intention is to facilitate your development by introducing you to the fundamental knowledge and skills centred on core and field subjects required to meet the health needs of all patient/client groups, whilst ensuring you develop the specific in-depth knowledge and skills to meet the complex health needs of people from your chosen field of practice. However, you will not only learn about and become competent nursing patients/clients in your field of nursing but you will also become confident in nursing patients/clients who have an additional condition related to other fields of nursing. For example; learning to work with patients/service users with problems associated with your field of nursing but who also have a learning disability.

Career prospects

Mental Health Nursing prepares students to work in hospital wards, community teams, the independent and voluntary sectors, or specialist mental health services.

Most of our students gain employment locally and immediately upon completion.

Career support

The University is committed to helping students develop and enhance employability and this is an integral part of many programmes. Specialist support is available throughout the course from Career and Employability Services including help to find part-time work while studying, placements, vacation work and graduate vacancies. Students are encouraged to access this support at an early stage and to use the extensive resources on the Careers website.

Discussing options with specialist advisers helps to clarify plans through exploring options and refining skills of job-hunting. In most of our programmes, there is direct input by Career Development Advisers into the curriculum or through specially arranged workshops.