Service Users' Participation in Mental Health Nursing Education: Quasi-Experimental Design With Blended Learning Model

Nursing students' negative perceptions of and reduced interest in individuals experiencing mental health challenges could lead to problems such as deteriorating quality of mental health nursing and lack of competent, qualified mental health nurses. Promoting changes and developments in mental health nursing education for greater effectiveness is pivotal. This study aimed to develop, introduce and validate a blended learning service user involvement programme for mental health nursing education-the first of its kind in South Korea. This study is reported according to TREND guidelines. The experimental group's scores for attitudes and empathy with individuals experiencing mental health challenges increased significantly after taking the 6-week service user involvement class. The experimental group achieved higher scores for knowledge of mental health nursing, satisfaction, and confidence in performance than the control group, which attended a traditional-style class. However, no significant difference was found between groups in changes in attitudes towards and empathy with individuals experiencing mental health challenges. The service user involvement class could improve some students' knowledge of mental health nursing and confidence, but providing the course in a single semester is not sufficient to improve students' attitudes towards and empathy with individuals experiencing mental health challenges. Therefore, an appropriate approach to more systematic long-term planning should be developed, and public perception should be improved. Additionally, long-term studies should evaluate the sustainability and progression of changes in attitudes and empathy over time. We recommend developing mental health nursing education programmes with diverse designs and structures.