Providing psychiatric-mental health care for Native Americans: lessons learned by a non-Native American PMHNP.
Providing culturally sensitive psychiatric-mental health nursing care to Native Americans requires a unique set of understandings. Traditional tribal customs and beliefs, historical events of the past 500 years, and acculturation and enculturation have affected Native Americans' health and well-being. In 2004, I had the opportunity to practice as a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner with a Native American tribe in the southwestern United States. This article describes the lessons I learned while practicing on the reservation and suggests ways other non-Native American practitioners can best serve this population.
Barnard
Amy G
AG
School of Nursing, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003-9304, USA. barnard@nursing.umass.edu
D000069:Acculturation; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel / Q000208:ethnology*; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology; D003144:Communication Barriers; D003256:Community Participation; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005190:Family / Q000208:ethnology; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000208:ethnology*; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000451:nursing; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012933:Social Identification; D012940:Social Problems; D015206:Southwestern United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D013028:Space Perception; D013998:Time Perception; D016746:Transcultural Nursing