Overview

Guest Edited by

Nicholas Procter, PhD, RN
School of Nursing and Midwifery
University of South Australia

Angela Frederick Amar, PhD, RN
William F Connell School of Nursing
Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA

and

Chang Kam Hock, PhD, MN, BNSc (Hons)
Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia

In the contemporary world, we are seeing a marked increase in the prevalence in mental illness. The level and stigma of mental illness in youth and in disadvantaged populations complicates efforts for prevention and adequate treatment. 

With heightened patient relationships, mental health nurses are in a distinctive position to provide first-hand insight to the specifics of treatment. While balancing boundaries in health promotion, nurses need to provide guidance and ideally work to empower patients in their own healing and advocacy.

Advances in Contemporary Mental Health Nursing (2nd edn) addresses this need, building the literature on mental health nursing issues today. It is a call to nurses to bring their innovation and imagination to help creatively construct partnership models that include mental health professionals, patients, family members, and the public. 

An invaluable reader for nurses and other mental health professionals and contains a rich menu of topics to inform mental health workers.

Some highlights from this issue include: 

• Innovation and a Partnership Future for Mental Health Nursing
• Transcultural Mental Health Nursing 
• Therapeutic friendliness in community rehabilitation settings
• Solution focused nursing: A fitting model for mental health nurses working in a public health paradigm
• Self-esteem and optimism in rural youth: gender differences
• Paternal postpartum depression
• Exploring the mental health nurse practitioner scope of practice (Youth Early Psychosis) 
• Informed consent for research involving people with dementia: A grey area
• Cultural boundary surfing in mental health nursing 

As increased awareness and understanding of mental illness can also lead to implementation of policy changes and increased prevention and treatment options, this special issue is  vital reading for mental health professionals and academics, and all those involved in policymaking and innovation in the field of mental health care.

Table of Contents

131-133 Prologue: Towards Innovation and a Partnership Future for Mental Health Nursing
Nicholas G Procter, Angela Frederick Amar
134-135 Guest Editorial: Transcultural Mental Health Nursing in Malaysia: Perspectives and Strategies
Kam Hock Chang
136-139 Commentary: Strategies for Mental Health
Danny G Willis, Linda Beeber, Jane Mahoney, Daryl Sharp
140-148 Therapeutic friendliness and the development of therapeutic leverage by mental health nurses in community rehabilitation settings
Andrew Gardner
149-157 Solution focused nursing: A fitting model for mental health nurses working in a public health paradigm
Margaret McAllister
158-166 Conceptualising the functional role of mental health consultation-liaison nurse in multi-morbidity, using Peplau's nursing theory
Michael K. Merritt, Nicholas G Procter
167-176 Consultation-liaison nursing:: A personal reflection
Gillian van der Watt
177-189 Is there a future in mental health promotion and consultation for nurses?
Annette Woodhouse
190-198 Self-esteem and optimism in rural youth: gender differences
Lisa Marie Bernardo, Kirsti Hetager Stark, Kathryn Puskar, Tammy M Haley, Dianxu Ren, Linda Siemon, JoAnn Switala
199-210 Paternal postpartum depression: How can nurses begin to help?
Sherri Melrose
211-220 Exploring the mental health nurse practitioner scope of practice (Youth Early Psychosis) an anecdotal account
Neville Baker
221-229 Younger adults with dementia: A strategy to promote awareness and transform perceptions
Denise Chaston
230-236 Informed consent for research involving people with dementia: A grey area
Katrina Cubit
237-247 Capacity, consent, and mental health legislation: Time for a new standard?
Anthony J O'Brien
248-257 What's the bloody law on this?: Nurses, swearing, and the law in New South Wales, Australia.
Teresa Stone, Lyn Francis
258-266 Superficial supervision
Andrew Gardner, Helen McCutcheon, Maria Fedoruk
267-276 In search of a national approach to professional supervision for mental health and addiction nurses: The New Zealand experience
Brian G McKenna, Katey Thom, Fiona Howard, Val Williams
277-288 Cultural boundary surfing in mental health nursing: A creative narration
Jacquie D Kidd
Book Reviews
288-288 Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing: The Craft of Caring (2nd edn)
by Phil Barker
Reviewed by Michael K. Merritt