Social Skills Training and Psychiatric Nursing

When it was originally published in 1986, this book was one of the few to be written on social skills and mental health specifically for nurses. Yet it is nurses who are uniquely placed to improve the skills of those with mental illness since it is they who often have most contact with patients or clients. This book examines the place of social skills training in the practice of psychiatric nursing. It provides relevant background to the evidence for limited social skills in psychiatric patients and the expanding role of the nurse and considers more practical elements such as selection and assessment of patients for a programme, goal-setting, role play, feedback, and group versus individual approaches. The book also analyses relevant skills themselves, such as nonverbal communication and being assertive. The book is aimed at both trained and student psychiatric nurses.

Owen Hargie is Emeritus Professor in the School of Communication & Media at Ulster University. He is a Chartered Member, Registered Practitioner, Associate Fellow, and Honorary Life Member of the British Psychological Society. He is an elected member of the prestigious Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters, and a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences. He has been Associate Professor at several UK and European universities. He has published 70 book chapters, 130 articles in refereed journals, 12 major Research Reports, and 30 books. He is also Editor for the book series: International Series on Communication, published by Routledge. He was a founding member of the European Communication Association, and a founding member of the ’Interpersonal Communication and Social Interaction’ Section of the European Communication Research and Education Association. He acts as consultant on communication for numerous public and private sector organisations. His research has been funded by bodies such as Leverhulme, the Department of Education, the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, NI, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the Central Community Relations Council, the Department of Economic Development, and the European Union. He was awarded a Senior Distinguished Research Fellowship by Ulster University in recognition of his outstanding research achievements. Professor Hargie is a prolific researcher having carried out research in four main areas.

Health Communication. He has worked closely with Dr. Patrick McCartan in the field of psychiatric nursing, including research papers and the text Social Skills Training and Psychiatric Nursing. He has also carried out novel research in community pharmacy and medicine and co-authored the core text Communication Skills Training for Health Professionals.

Dr Patrick McCartan has had a long-distinguished career in nurse education and worked in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Queen’s University Belfast. He was awarded a distinguished Fellowship by the Faculty of Nursing, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland for his contribution to nurse education. He has undertaken extensive research into particular areas of communication skills and theory, focusing, specifically, on the identification and analysis of assertive behaviours.Dr McCartan has also been influential in the development of caring skills particularly in the field of psychiatric nursing. Working closely with Professor Owen Hargie at the University of Ulster they published the frequently referenced text Social Skills Training and Psychiatric Nursing. Other publications, involving book chapters, include the popular text Community Health Care Nursing. Dr McCartan has also acted as Editorial Referee for several international journals including the Journal of Clinical Nursing and the Japan Journal of Nursing Sciences. He has also been an external examiner for several universities including The University of Dublin Trinity College and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin. In addition to his research interests, Dr McCartan has also contributed significantly to the development of innovative international degree programmes involving universities from Europe, Asia, and USA. His work within this area included the development of Transatlantic Double Degree Programmes involving universities from USA, Hungary, and Finland.