Nurse education yesterday? A memoir of experiments in mental health nurse education (1987-96).
After a decade of community mental health care, the time is ripe for critical evaluation not only of the policy itself, but also of appropriate nurse education. This paper fills some gaps in the historical record of the early years of community care by describing some educational innovations within one of the earliest services to abandon mental hospitals. Whilst it is accepted that the libertarian, experimental nature of the courses described may be accused of contributing to the alleged early failings of community care, it is also suggested that such educational experiences may assist the establishment of positively therapeutic nursing relationships. Current modular courses are generally more tightly structured, highly assessed, research-based and technical. Recent claims suggest that whilst nurses are more highly educated, there may be a reduction in the quality of the caring relationships they establish. This account of largely unreported, process-based courses implicitly suggests that mental health nurse education might be better as a creative synthesis of such theoretical principles with today's more science-based, content-driven courses.
Keen
T M
TM
Institute of Health Studies, University of Plymouth (Exeter Campus), Devon, UK.
D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000266:history*; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000266:history*; D006113:United Kingdom