{"title":"Community psychiatric nursing with non-psychotic patients: relating process to outcome.","authors":"G J Devilly, K Gournay","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The aim of this study was to investigate the community psychiatric nursing (CPN) process with non-psychotic patients and to relate various constructs of the initial assessment interview to final patient outcome. The overall purpose of the research was to provide future directions for CPN training. This study used a repeated measures design, assessing patients at pre- and post-intervention on various scales to obtain outcome data. These clients were referred by general practitioners to community psychiatric nurses working in primary health care settings. The first contact session was video recorded (n = 8). Process measures were derived from these recordings using two independent expert raters using several process measures. Anxiety, depression and 'psychiatric caseness' indices all related to various process constructs (R(s) > or = 0.69). These results are based on correlations of a small sample, and the evidence suggests that a poor initial interview has a negative weighting on patient outcomes. This first interview may be related to the CPN skill base. CPN training may need to incorporate a module on structured assessment techniques. This study concludes that it is possible to conduct action research successfully within this field.</p>","PeriodicalId":79537,"journal":{"name":"The Australian and New Zealand journal of mental health nursing","volume":"4 2","pages":"53-60"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20038792","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Parasuicide in people with schizophrenia.","authors":"R Chatterton","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper reviews patterns of suicidal behaviour in a group of 100 people with schizophrenia. All of the people in this review have a DSM 111-R diagnosis of schizophrenia and have had contact with a clinical research unit. Fifty-four per cent of the subjects have attempted suicide. The mean number of past attempts was 2.2, with a range between 0 and 15. Within the 5 year period of the review three people have suicided. These 100 people were chosen because self-reported demographic data were available on them. The group of people who attempted suicide tended to be young, unmarried, and had higher than average rates of admission to hospital.</p>","PeriodicalId":79537,"journal":{"name":"The Australian and New Zealand journal of mental health nursing","volume":"4 2","pages":"83-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20038796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An ethnographic study of nurses in a forensic psychiatric setting: education and training implications.","authors":"R Dhondea","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The number of nurses working in forensic and prison settings has been increasing in recent years. Studies have confirmed the need for special knowledge and skills for these nurses, who face the challenge of working with patients with extreme behavioural problems. This need is strengthened by the changing pattern of mental health care in Australia as health departments attempt to manage all forensic patients within the hospital system. However, studies in the area of forensic nursing have been few and there has been concern about the survey-type research already undertaken because it does not reflect the real world of forensic nursing practice. This study was an attempt to make sense of what nurses do in forensic psychiatric settings and to identify their educational needs. The intention was to gain an understanding of the nurses' working reality through research.</p>","PeriodicalId":79537,"journal":{"name":"The Australian and New Zealand journal of mental health nursing","volume":"4 2","pages":"77-82"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20038795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Philosophy of nursing: future directions.","authors":"A M Evans","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>At a time when psychiatric nurses in Australia face the changes brought about by the transfer of nursing education to the universities, it is timely to reconsider the knowledge base of the profession, not from the perspective of any one theoretical position, but by reflecting on a fundamental division in the way nursing is thought about. Many nurse theorists argue for a shift away from conceptions of nursing based on medicine and science. The alternative, idealism, brings with it a new set of problems, particularly the tendency to react against the perceived dominance of the medical profession instead of positing a philosophy of nursing that reflects a more considered response. The argument developed here begins by aligning medicine and related conceptions of nursing with materialism. This leads to a consideration of the relevance of philosophical positions on the nature of body and mind, that is then linked to the assumptions of medicine and nurse theorists. Introduction of the concepts of holism and interactionist dualism follows. The implications of these concepts for psychiatric nursing are drawn out by using conceptions of the objective and rational. Finally, it is argued that interactionist dualism enables psychiatric nurses to be sensitive to the experiences of patients while still acknowledging the importance of objective knowledge.</p>","PeriodicalId":79537,"journal":{"name":"The Australian and New Zealand journal of mental health nursing","volume":"4 1","pages":"14-21"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20038690","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The national review of nurse education.","authors":"M Clinton","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":79537,"journal":{"name":"The Australian and New Zealand journal of mental health nursing","volume":"4 1","pages":"2-4"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20038799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Drug-related confusion in the elderly: the role of the mental health nurse.","authors":"B McMinn","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The mental health problems of the elderly are frequently overlooked, misdiagnosed and mistreated. Australia's growing aged population experiences higher rates of drug usage and adverse reactions than younger people. Delirium and disturbances in cognitive functioning have multiple origins and the associated behavioural disturbances are often treated with medications that have the potential to predispose or precipitate further confusion. The use of psychoactive medications in the treatment of psychotic and affective disorders may be complicated by behavioural and somatic adverse reactions. Age-related physiological changes and the use of commonly prescribed medications to treat somatic illnesses can be factors in the differential response and side effect profiles of psychoactive medications. This paper reviews the context and physiology of drug-related confusion in the elderly, specifically the effects of neuroleptic medications, as well as the related roles of the mental health nurse. Models of mental health nursing that acknowledge the personal, social, and environmental responses of the elderly and recognize the role of pathophysiology and psychopharmacology are supported. It is argued that the role of the mental health nurse is enhanced by the availability of psychogeriatric nursing, psychiatric, and pharmacological literature.</p>","PeriodicalId":79537,"journal":{"name":"The Australian and New Zealand journal of mental health nursing","volume":"4 1","pages":"22-30"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20038691","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Perceptions of stressors and reported coping strategies in nurses caring for residents with Alzheimer's disease in a dementia unit.","authors":"M Clinton, W Moyle, D Weir, H Edwards","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A study was undertaken on the perceptions of stressors and coping behaviours in a group of nurses caring for residents with Alzheimer's disease in a dementia unit. The purpose of this paper is to report on the preliminary findings of the study. Repertory grid data were used to explore how nurses perceive residents, the stressors nurses experience in their work, and the coping strategies nurses use when caring for residents. The nurses identified 92 sources of stress, 683 coping behaviours and 708 coping strategies. Analyses of selected repertory grid data are presented and the stressors reported by the nurses are summarized. The coping strategies the nurses report using are classified into categories of adaptive and maladaptive responses to stress. In addition, the nursing implications of the coping strategies used by the nurses are also considered.</p>","PeriodicalId":79537,"journal":{"name":"The Australian and New Zealand journal of mental health nursing","volume":"4 1","pages":"5-13"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20038800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Nursing evaluation of the use of clozapine: an interim progress report.","authors":"C Quinn","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Clozapine, an atypical neuroleptic, has demonstrated some success in the treatment of schizophrenia in clients regarded as treatment resistive. This report gives an overview of clozapine, the indications for and adverse effects of its use. An interim 3 month report of the Rozelle Hospital's nursing evaluation of the use of clozapine follows. This evaluation reports on the subjective experience of four clients during the first 3 months of clozapine treatment. The scales used for the evaluation, the Life Skills Profile (LSP) and the Nurses Observation rating Scale for Inpatient Evaluation (NOSIE-30), assist in measuring change in the clients' functioning and disability. The evaluation, when completed, will offer nurses caring for clients on clozapine a unique body of nursing knowledge.</p>","PeriodicalId":79537,"journal":{"name":"The Australian and New Zealand journal of mental health nursing","volume":"4 1","pages":"42-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20038693","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Validation of cues for competencies of beginning level mental health nurses: an exploratory study in South Australian mental health agencies.","authors":"T Rudge, M Gerschwitz","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper outlines competency statements and their validation in mental health nursing. It describes: the background to the study, developments in perspectives on professional competency, the research process, the results, and issues that arose out of the research. The authors suggest that such research allows for the exploration of both nursing practice and the context in which psychiatric/mental health nursing is practised. This research has highlighted the complexity of mental health nursing practice in Australia, and an area of research that needs further development.</p>","PeriodicalId":79537,"journal":{"name":"The Australian and New Zealand journal of mental health nursing","volume":"4 1","pages":"31-41"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20038692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}