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Utilizing the mental health nursing workforce: a scoping review of mental health nursing clinical roles and identities407.42 kB
Published (Version of record)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Utilizing the mental health nursing workforce: a scoping review of mental health nursing clinical roles and identities
International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, Vol.31(4), pp.796-822
08/2022
PMID: 35156291
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Source: InCites
Abstract
Despite rising international needs for mental health practitioners, the mental health nursing workforce is underutilized. This is in part due to limited understandings of their roles, identities, and capabilities. This paper aimed to collate and synthesize published research on the clinical roles of mental health nurses in order to systematically clarify their professional identity and potential. We searched for eligible studies, published between 2001 and 2021, in five electronic databases. Abstracts of retrieved studies were independently screened against exclusion and inclusion criteria (primarily that studies reported on the outcomes associated with mental health nursing roles). Decisions of whether to include studies were through researcher consensus guided by the criteria. The search yielded 324 records, of which 47 were included. Retained papers primarily focused on three themes related to mental health nursing clinical roles and capabilities. Technical roles included those associated with psychotherapy, consumer safety, and diagnosis. Non-technical roles and capabilities were also described. These included emotional intelligence, advanced communication, and reduction of power differentials. Thirdly, the retained papers reported the generative contexts that influenced clinical roles. These included prolonged proximity with consumers with tensions between therapeutic and custodial roles. The results of this scoping review suggest the mental health nurses (MHNs) have a wide scope of technical skills which they employ in clinical practice. These roles are informed by a distinctive cluster of nontechnical capabilities to promote the well-being of service users. They are an adaptable and underutilized component of the mental health workforce in a context of escalating unmet needs for expert mental health care.
Details
- Title
- Utilizing the mental health nursing workforce: a scoping review of mental health nursing clinical roles and identities
- Creators
- John Hurley - Southern Cross UniversityRichard Lakeman - Southern Cross UniversityPaul Linsley - Southern Cross UniversityMike Ramsay - University of DundeeStephen McKenna-Lawson
- Publication Details
- International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, Vol.31(4), pp.796-822
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia
- Number of pages
- 822
- Grant note
- Council of Australian University Librarians
- Identifiers
- 991012997198302368
- Copyright
- © 2022 The Authors. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
- Academic Unit
- Nursing; Faculty of Health
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article