Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) placements for pre-registration child branch nursing students: potential benefits.

It has been recommended that more needs to be done to improve the education and training needs of nurses working with children and young people with mental health problems. This paper explores the experiences of pre-registration children's nursing students during their course in relation to caring for these children and young people both in general children's areas and in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). The study indicates that observation of registered nurses and their interactions with these children and young people has a significant impact on the way students model their behaviour and in their self-perceived confidence and attitude towards caring for this client group.