Voices from the Field: Regional Nurses Speak About Motivations, Careers and How to Entice Others to Pursue Mental Health Nursing

The aims of this study are three-fold: determine the factors that motivate nurses to pursue mental health nursing; identify the strategies that might attract nursing students and practising nurses to pursue mental health nursing as a professional career; and identify the difficulties of nurses in achieving their preferred clinical specialty.A descriptive qualitative study design with semi-structured interviews was used. Fifteen mental health nurses from rural and regional South Australia were interviewed. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and thematic analysis was undertaken.Of the fifteen participants, thirteen were females and two were males; their average age was 50 years. The factors that motivated the participants to pursue mental health nursing were categorized as intrinsic and extrinsic. There were many strategies that might attract nursing students and nurses to the field, but the most popular suggestion was the provision of high quality meaningful clinical placements. Other strategies were to convey the personal satisfaction derived from being a mental health nurse, promote mental health nursing aggressively, and provide employment incentives. The study also highlighted the importance of addressing stigma, and greater education and support for nurses to pursue a mental health career.

Vicarious Experiences of Unemployment Scale Development: Relationships to Mental Health and Help-Seeking Among Undergraduate Students

Vicarious experiences of unemployment (VUE), or having a primary caretaker such as a parent or legal guardian who is unemployed, have been demonstrated to impact adolescent and young adult physical and mental health, career decision-making, and educational development. This study describes the development of a new measure, the VUE Scale designed to tap the nature of stigma and struggle associated with an experience of vicarious unemployment (VU). Following results from pilot testing, 395 undergraduate students participated in the study. Results demonstrated preliminary support for the psychometric properties of the VUE. Consistent with hypotheses, results also indicated that more substantive experiences of VU related significantly and positively to heightened levels of depressive, anxiety, and stress, as well as to lower levels of self-esteem and social support. We also explored the relationship between VUE and help-seeking intentions and attitudes. These exploratory findings suggested that more impactful VU experiences relate to less positive formal help-seeking attitudes and intentions. Limitations and future directions for practice and research are described.

Trauma and Returning to Work: Women’s Lived Experiences and its Implications for Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling

This study examined the experiences of fifteen women trauma survivors who were returning to work. All participants had histories of interpersonal violence and were receiving mental health counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and vocational services from a state vocational rehabilitation program. Using a feminist qualitative research method, the participants were interviewed and the data analyzed for common and emergent themes. The findings highlight their experiences with vocational counseling and counselors, and underscore significant factors that affected their return to work including health concerns, mental health treatment, family and community support, and accessing resources. Implications for vocational rehabilitation counselors include increased awareness of the challenges that influence mental health, career decision making, job readiness, and a need for examining institutional barriers.

A Clinical Theology of the Developmental Process: A Child Psychiatrist's Perspective

Christians have historically faced challenges when they have chosen a professional mental health career. These challenges, framed in the idiom of prevailing theories or in the behavior of colleagues, continue in contemporary practice. This work reviews aspects of the process of human emotional development which, rather than challenging a Christian position, are confirmatory of a Christian world view. As an apologetic derived from professional experience, this article takes several observations of C.S. Lewis about the natural world and applies them to the study of development. The author describes a recurring theme in human development: All individuals desire that their developmental needs are met, and protest when this does not occur. Through an analysis of several developmental needs, widely accepted as critical in human development, the author concludes these developmental observations are strongly supportive of the Christian position.