Recovery as a threshold concept in mental health nurse education

This theoretical review discusses the complexities of understanding and applying the concept of recovery for pre-registration mental health nursing. It is suggested that reframing recovering as a threshold concept in mental health nurse education will illuminate the issues and challenges that students and educators appear to encounter. This is attributed to the transformative nature of learning in this area which requires the student to reassess beliefs and prejudices and enter into an uncertain territory where knowledge and values are questioned. Educational approaches are proposed which aim to facilitate the depth of learning required to engage with the concept of recovery at this level whilst responding sensitively to the students' potential reluctance, discomfort and in some cases resistance. Teaching recovery in mental health nursing therefore challenges educators to use any and every approach that stimulates emotional and transformational learning. As such, recovery in mental health is a threshold concept, that once learned, may transform not only the learner in the classroom but their practice in the future. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.