The integration and associated challenges of Mental Health Competencies in Undergraduate Nursing Education: a scoping review

Background: Educational institutions play a pivotal role in meeting healthcare needs by educating future professional nurses and other healthcare professionals. However, nursing education encounters challenges such as insufficient competencies among undergraduates and a gap in theory-practice integration in the curriculum. This scoping review aimed to map out the existing literature on integrating Mental Health Competencies in undergraduate Nursing Education and associated challenges. Methods: The electronic databases of CINAHL, MedLine “PubMed”, Scopus, Science Direct, and Emerald Insight were searched for peer-reviewed articles on the subject, utilizing English search terms. Two authors independently reviewed the identified articles that met the inclusion criteria. The screening and selection process was conducted in the following phases: Firstly, the search results were imported into EPPI reviewer software, and duplicates were removed using the software’s built-in function. Secondly, careful screening of the titles and abstracts of all imported studies was followed based on the inclusion criteria. Thirdly, the reference list of the identified articles was screened to foster a comprehensive coverage of evidence. Full-text screening was conducted for all the identified articles, and the research team carefully scrutinized this process. Results: The initial literature search generated 717 articles. Upon identification and careful screening, 17 eligible articles met our inclusion criteria. Two key themes were reported: Integrating Mental Health Competencies in Undergraduate Nursing Education and Challenges to integrating Mental Health Competencies in undergraduate Nursing Education. Conclusion: The findings of this scoping review indicated that various efforts are being made toward integrating mental health nursing into undergraduate nursing education. However, these efforts are constantly confronted by different challenges, such as societal stigma, patient behaviours, unequal student contributions in group work activities, and difficulties in understanding patients’ symptoms. Meaningful efforts should be made towards addressing these challenges to prepare future nurses with the necessary mental health competence.