More Satisfying Than Factory Work: An Analysis of Mental Health Nursing Using a Print Media Archive

Abstract

The move towards comprehensive nurse training in Australia thirty years ago continues to trouble many of its mental health nurses. It has been viewed as a failure by many and the profession has been judged by some commentators to have lost its preparedness for specialist care. Discourse put forward to support this negative evaluation usually centres on the recruitment of mental health nurses and a limited interest among student nurses to undertake mental health nursing because of their negative opinions towards it. Emerging from a larger ethnographic research project focused on mental health nursing practice in Australia, this article presents an analysis of the profession's current circumstances using historical print media. As we move further from the era of direct entry, specialist training, the article notes the development of assumptions within the profession. These include the idea that mental health nurses received better training in direct entry, specialist programs, and therefore were better prepared for their specialist roles. The article puts forward a critique that challenges this. The article argues the most profound change faced by the profession is the erosion of the mental health nursing identity in Australia. The loss of the stand-alone hospital system, direct entry specialist training, and specialist professional registration have left mental health nursing with a growing uncertainty about itself as the profession evolves into its (mostly) post-mental institution world. At a time when the specialty of mental health nursing is experiencing serious staff shortages throughout the developed world, the article points to the importance of using historical sources to contextualize our present circumstances.

Rise of the zombie institution, the failure of mental health nursing leadership, and mental health nursing as a zombie category

“…Over the course of the 20th century, mental health nursing in Australia has endured changes to factors that were integral to its professional identity (Molloy et al . ). The wind down of the standalone psychiatric hospital system, adjustments to its educational preparation, and the loss of the nursing profession's recognition of its difference through specialist registration have all contributed to an increasingly ambiguous role for mental health nursing in the changed world of 21st century mental health care (Hercelinskyj et al .…”

Encounters with difference: Mental health nurses and Indigenous Australian users of mental health services

“…Mental health nurses in Australia practise across a variety of clinical sites within multiple health services. Using a multi‐sited ethnographic approach allowed the research to explore the culture of a group of professionals across the country (Molloy, Lakeman & Walker, ; Molloy ). Materials for the ethnography were collected between October 2014 and December 2016 by the primary author.…”

Development and clinimetric assessment of a nurse-administered screening tool for movement disorders in psychosis

“…[22][23][24][25] Although their use has been adapted for screening purposes, these may be considered too long to administer together. 26 Although their role within primary and secondary mental health services is still debated, 27,28 registered mental health nurses provide a crucial contribution to long-term care, including the provision of psychosocial interventions and health promotion for patients in both in-patient and out-patient settings. 29 This specific activity has been underexplored in mental health nurses, although their involvement in side-effect screening for long-term antipsychotics could represent a cost-effective strategy.…”