The Commerce of Ideas
Article Outline
Psychiatric nursing is and has been international. This broad focus is due to multiple factors including the global economy, instant communication, and the reality that mental health issues are not limited by political or geographic boundaries. Furthermore, population migration patterns and the movement of nurses across countries to learn, work, live, and vacation contribute to exposure to multiple cultures. To have effective communication and interventions today, it is incumbent on all of us to improve our cultural sensitivity. Although cultural sensitivity has become a “buzz word,” it continues to provide a concise description of an important process. Foronda (2008) has provided a thoughtful definition of cultural sensitivity as “employing one's knowledge, consideration, understanding, respect, and tailoring after realizing awareness of self and others and encountering a diverse group or individual.” To this end, Archives of Psychiatric Nursing is publishing an issue that focuses upon international work.
The research, education, and practice of psychiatric nursing vary widely across environments in response to interests, needs, priorities, political realities, and pressures. The task of assembling this mass of disparate information into a coherent whole clearly lies beyond the power of a single journal issue or even a single generation of psychiatric nurses. This broad intellectual undertaking requires a community of scholars where an individual thinker can be involved in the stream of ideas. As portions of psychiatric nurses' thinking are given away in peer-reviewed journals, at conferences, and during Web-based discussions, the international community of psychiatric nurses is grown.
It is not simply the bringing together of people, but the ideas that must be brought together; not ideas of an elite group who direct the thinking of others, but psychiatric nurses from all countries and all levels of practice contributing their work. This spirit of globalist sharing holds the potential for enormous creativity and connectivity in our profession.
The articles in this issue of Archives of Psychiatric Nursing describe selected aspects of international psychiatric nursing and range from descriptive studies to a randomized controlled trial. Glimpses into the dynamic, multifaceted roles of psychiatric nurses are provided. Welch, Happell, and Edward describe the experience of undertaking Doctoral studies in Australia, whereas Korhonen, Vehvilainen-Julkunen, and Pietila focus upon Finnish nurses and the factors associated with supporting the parental role of adult psychiatric clients. The role of preventionist is supported by Park, Ryu, Han, and associates' article describing relationships between anger, anger expression, and suicidal ideation from more than 18,000 Korean adolescents. Further insights into the role of preventionist are provided by examining lived experiences of immigration by two articles. Park and Chesla use the perspective of mental health providers to expand our understanding of the Asian American family, and Millender describes the stress experienced by Guatemala-Mayan immigrants. The role of a therapist as well as a preventionist is explored by Hyun, Nam, and Kim's randomized controlled trial exploring the effects of Cognitive–Behavioral Therapy upon at-risk Korean adolescents. Finally, Snowden adds information about the role of psychiatric nurses as prescribers by providing a theoretical framework for gaining competence in prescribing in the United Kingdom. The contributions by the authors are greatly appreciated, and we hope your knowledge, consideration, understanding, respect, and spirit are enhanced as you engage in this stream of ideas about international psychiatric nursing.
Reference
PII: S0883-9417(10)00019-1
doi:10.1016/j.apnu.2010.02.003
© 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
