Rediscovering the proper focus of nursing:‐ a critique of Gournay's position on nursing theory and models

Evidence-based psychiatric/mental health nursing

“…7 Barker and Reynolds criticised Gournay's understanding of models and theories. 8 In reply to the concern that Peplau's interpersonal theory did not include, for example, a biological basis for hallucinations, it was pointed out that none of the biological theories pays any attention to Peplau's theory of interpersonal relations.…”

The Psychotherapy of Hildegard Peplau in the Treatment of People With Serious Mental Illness

“…I will not make an effort to contrast the assumptions and expectations of this pradice paradigm with the medical model, which relies primarily upon biology and neuroscience to explain etiology and pharmacological interventions to treat it. I agree with Barker & Reynolds (1996), Heifner (1996, Hummervoll (1996), Lego (19921996a, b;1997, in press), Peplau (1996a), and other nurses that the medical model may foster and result in a profound sense of hopelessness and helplessness for patients who seek recovery and the staff who work with them, while the interpersonal model creates selfdirection.…”

The human science basis of psychiatric nursing: theory and practice

“…In the UK these demands for the extension ofthe nurse's role have invited a rejection of nursing theories and models (Gournay 1995b) and an unquestioning acceptance of biomedical hypotheses about the complex pheneomena of mental illness, which has been challenged by Barker & Reynolds (1996). Psychiatric nurses are being encouraged to accomodate a biomedical model of mental illness, which does acknowledge the (limited) value of psychosocial inputs to caring and treatment but appears to promote a form of biological determinism -asserting the primacy of biological or genetic explanations of mental distress.…”