Assessment Brief
Assessment in Mental Health
Assessment 1: Health Assessment and MSE Video Recording
Group or Individual: Individual
Word count: 1500 words and 5-10 Minute Video Recording
Assessment Tasks Instructions
The assessment instructions have been designed to enable you to understand what is required to succeed in this assignment.
Pre-amble:
A comprehensive mental health assessment is a systematic and detailed evaluation of an individual’s mental, physical, cultural, and social well-being, conducted by a mental health professional. This assessment includes a Mental State Examination (MSE) and a risk assessment, which are fundamental to all mental health interventions for individuals experiencing mental illness. Additional components include an evaluation of the presenting problem, past psychiatric history, past medical history, substance use and addictive behaviours history, psychosocial history, and functional history, along with cultural and spiritual considerations (Coombs et al., 2011). The assessment process culminates in the formulation of clinical impressions, which guide treatment and support planning. This formulation informs potential interventions, including therapy, medication management, nutritional and lifestyle modifications, support plans, and referrals.
What specific tasks are you required to complete regarding the comprehensive mental health assessment?
• Conduct a comprehensive mental health assessment with a client and document the findings using the provided template available on Canvas. The client may be a peer, colleague, friend, or family member; however, do not include any real personal or identifying details (e.g.,name, address, date of birth). Students must obtain the client’s consent to use their conversations for this assignment. A talent release form is available on Canvas for this purpose.
• As part of the comprehensive assessment, please use MS Teams to record a 5-10 minuteMental State Examination (MSE) conversation. This is the only section of the comprehensive assessment that requires a video recording. To protect the client’s privacy, ensure their video is turned off on MS Teams.
• For MSE sections requiring observation (such as appearance and behaviour), complete these before or after the recording—be creative and thoughtful in your approach! Critical thinking is part of your grade, so think outside the box and make the most of this experience.
What will you submit in Canvas?
You are expected to submit:
▪ A completed comprehensive mental health assessment document. Please download the template from Canvas. Ensure that your assessment includes the goals of care based on your findings. These should be entered in the final section of the document.
▪ A 5-10 minute MSE video recorded on MS teams. Your MSE findings should be incorporated into the comprehensive mental health assessment document—there is no need to submit a separate write-up for the MSE and risk assessment.
▪ A completed client consent form.
Prohibited use of Gen AI:
In this assessment, you must not use generative AI tools to:
• Generate references (e.g., in-text citations or reference lists, as these are often inaccurate)
• Replace your own academic work (e.g., literature searching, critical analysis, or synthesis)
• Submit AI-generated text as your own (e.g., copying and pasting content directly into your submission)
• Create full scripts or notes (e.g., writing your speaker notes entirely with AI)
• Produce your entire presentation (e.g., copying AI-generated content directly into slides)
• Record AI-generated voices or avatars (e.g., using synthetic media to deliver your presentation)
Format and Structure
▪ The assignment is to be written in the 1st person- some sections will require 3rd person language.
▪ Include a standard introduction and conclusion.
▪ References should support your work, and recency of evidence-based practice (references) should be within the last ten (10) years of publication where applicable. A minimum of 3 references is needed (peer-review journal articles, government documents and books are accepted)▪ Use the SNM assignment template APA 7 to set up your report structure.
▪ Follow the SNM Program Requirements Assignment Presentation Guide.
▪ The assignment should include headings and subheadings.
▪ ECU APA 7th edition referencing format should be used intext and end text citations
Connecting your learning
▪ This assignment is designed to be the basis for your assessment 2.
▪ The assessment task is designed to give you opportunities to integrate what you learn into or from other units
Marking rubric
The marking rubric has been attached to the assessment in Canvas.
Feedback and moderation
Your results and feedback will be released in 10 working days via Canvas.
All unit assessments are subject to a robust moderation process. Note that results are not final until they are officially released at the end of the semester following ratification at the progression panel and are, therefore, subject to change.
Additional Resources
• Library Referencing Guide
• Academic Integrity
Why I am doing this assessment?
This assignment will help you to understand and demonstrate the following unit learning outcomes (ULO):
3. Analyse a variety of assessment processes to determine the needs of the consumer and the family in a range of culturally diverse contexts.
4. Critically analyse strategies that can be used to minimise the impact of mental illness on the consumer and their family.
5. Critically review the principles of various therapeutic interventions and psycho-pharmacology in a mental health setting including multidisciplinary approaches.
By completing these ULOs, you are demonstrating that you are working towards the following course learning outcomes (CLOs)
2. Communicate specialised knowledge, concepts and skills to a variety of audiences in the field of mental health practice.3. Apply independent judgement when reviewing, analysing and evaluating complex problems to generate creative solutions.
4. Demonstrate professional clinical management skills by initiating, planning, implementing and evaluating tasks within a Mental Health context.
It is expected that students will draw on each of the three (3) unit learning outcomes in the reflection in some way to show a comprehensive understanding of the unit and its direct applicability to mental health assessment.
References used in this assessment brief
Coombs, T., Curtis, J., & Crookes, P. (2011). What is a comprehensive mental health nursing assessment? A review of the literature. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 20(5), 364-370.