1. Perceptions from the front line: Professional identity in mental health nursing.
- Author
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Hercelinskyj, Gylo, Cruickshank, Mary, Brown, Peter, and Phillips, Brian
- Subjects
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ATTITUDE (Psychology) , *COMMUNICATION , *EMPLOYEE recruitment , *GROUP identity , *INTERVIEWING , *RESEARCH methodology , *NURSES , *NURSES' attitudes , *PSYCHOLOGY of nurses , *NURSING practice , *OCCUPATIONAL prestige , *PSYCHIATRIC nursing , *RESEARCH , *EMPLOYEE retention , *QUALITATIVE research , *OCCUPATIONAL roles , *PEER relations - Abstract
In the context of a growing population of people experiencing mental illness worldwide, mental health nurses are a crucial workforce. Their recruitment and retention, however, is in decline. Drawing on qualitative data obtained from interviews with mental health nurses ( MHN) in Victoria, Australia, the paper employs a range of concepts from role theory to explore professional identity within mental health nursing. The data highlight three key issues in relation to the future recruitment and retention of MHN: (i) the ambiguity of the MHN role; (ii) the weak definition and lack of understanding of the scope of the MHN role by nursing students; and (iii) a lack of communication about MHN as a profession to a wider audience. These findings indicate three avenues through which recruitment and retention in mental health nursing could be improved: (i) public communication; (ii) training and educating of the next generation of MHN; and (iii) more accurately defining the role of the MHN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2014
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