A concept mapping exploration of social workers' and mental health nurses' understanding of the role of the Approved Mental Health Professional Daniel T. Bressington a, ⁎, Harvey Wells b,1 , Matthew Graham c,2 a Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, Kent, UK b St George's, University of London & Kingston University, UK c Kent County Council, Maidstone, UK summary article info Article history: Accepted 31 October 2010 Keywords: Concept mapping Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) Interprofessional learning This study uses concept mapping and participant interviews to explore how differing professional viewpoints and levels of knowledge held by social workers and mental health nurses affect perceptions of the Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) role during an interprofessional training programme. The results suggest that social workers entering the programme had a greater understanding of the role in comparison to mental health nurses; however, on completion of the programme, both professional groups demonstrated similar levels of learning. The study challenges assumptions that nurses may be inherently disadvantaged by their professional background in terms of learning about a role that is traditionally associated with social work practice. Study participants valued the concept mapping process and felt that the approach may be a valuable tool for clinical supervision. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction The Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) is a statutory role under UK mental health legislation. AMHPs are responsible for determin- ing the need to detain people with a mental disorder for assessment and treatment against their will under the Mental Health Act (MHA). Under the MHA (1983) (DOH, 2008) this role was previously known as Approved Social Worker (ASW) and was carried out exclusively by specially qualified social workers. The Mental Health Act 2007 amend- ments came into effect in November 2008. One of the major changes includes extending the Approved Social Worker (ASW) role and responsibilities to other mental health professionals (including mental health nurses). This new way of working for mental health nurses has stimulated significant debate amongst mental health professionals. Concerns relate to the possible role conflicts for mental health nurses (O'Brien and Kar, 2006) and loss of a social perspective during the process (Leason, 2004). These concerns may relate to generalisations that, due to their professional background, nurses could be more likely to agree with a medical perspective and less likely to challenge clinical decisions made by doctors. The UK Department of Health (2008) outlines the potential benefits of extending the role of the AMHP in terms of improving the delivery of modern services, but highlights possible risks as being a diminution of a social care perspective and a loss of independence from medical colleagues resulting from the close alignment of nursing to the medical professions. Historically, the strength of the ASW's role has predominantly been its clinical independence, reflected also in legal independence. This study aims to explore how the differing professional viewpoints and levels of knowledge held by social workers and nurses may affect learning about the AMHP's role. Previous educational research has demonstrated that prior knowledge and experience can determine learning by affecting the sense that is made of newly acquired taught material (Hay, 2007). The AMHP training programme that the participants completed is accredited at Masters Level. In addition to the 5 taught modules, students must complete a period of assessed supervised practice. University learning is defined by changing understanding in disciplinary knowledge, and developing skills and experience (Jarvis, 2006). Traditional assessment methods do not generally measure changes in knowledge or understanding; they compare the student to academic and professional standards. Understanding is largely neglected due to its complex and intractable nature (Hay, 2007). However, empirical analyses of external representations of personal understand- ing are emerging through innovations in pedagogical research. Concept mapping (Novak, 1990) is a method of diagrammatic representation, which is in the same family as mind mapping (Buzan, 1990) and spider diagramming (Trowbridge and Wandersee, 1998). Concept mapping has demonstrated the capacity to externalize under- standing (Hay, 2008) and, used repeatedly, can facilitate learning through promoting self-reflection (Hay et al., 2008b) and dialogue (Kinchin, 2003). When students create concept maps repeatedly, their maps comprise a visual learning record (Hay et al., 2008b), and the quality of change in understanding can be measured empirically (Hay et al., 2008a). This methodology allows the process of understanding to be analysed over time (Hay, 2007). Nurse Education Today 31 (2011) 564–570 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 1227 782611. E-mail addresses: daniel.bressington@canterbury.ac.uk (D.T. Bressington), harvey.wells@sgul.kingston.ac.uk (H. Wells), matthew.graham@kent.gov.uk (M. Graham). 1 Tel.: +44 207 848 5078. 0260-6917/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2010.10.034 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Nurse Education Today journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/nedt