Conceptualizing the clinical and professional development of child and adolescent mental health nurses

Abstract

Aspects of mental health nursing and its subspecialties are not easily defined. Child and adolescent mental health nursing is a sub specialty of mental health nursing and some of its characteristics are tacit. This paper presents a deeper understanding of the meaning that child and adolescent mental health nurses make of their role and work in the inpatient setting. The research was undertaken through a PhD candidature. The epistemological framework for the research was social constructionism which is concerned with the making of meaning and the social processes involved. Interpretive enquiry was the methodology as it allowed for the interpretation of multiple realities which resulted in a rich description of the role and work of child and adolescent mental health nurses. Methods of data collection in this research were document analysis, focus group interviews and individual interviews. Participants included current and past nurses as well as multidisciplinary staff associated with the inpatient unit. Iterative and aggregative analysis were utilised for the documents. The focus group and individual interview data were analysed utilising a thematic analysis process. This paper presents the findings of the entire analysis and the resultant holistic conceptual framework for the work of the child and adolescent mental health nurse in the inpatient unit. The findings have contributed new knowledge to mental health nursing, specifically child and adolescent mental health nursing making the parameters of practice more explicit. Implications for practice, education and research are identified.