Boyd 8e

Preface

Psychiatric–mental health nurses are the forefront of health care delivery. At no other time in the history of the United States have the nursing skills of a psychiatric– mental health nurse been more essential. Mental disor ders continue to be recognized as a major societal burden, contributing to high rates of morbidity and mortality, as well as lost economic productivity. One in five people will experience a mental disorder in their lifetime. The landscape of mental health care is constantly evolving, moving from specialized psychiatric settings to primary care. Our understanding of how emotional and mental health influence overall well-being continues to deepen. While only a small number of nurses may choose a mental health practice setting, all nurses will be chal lenged to care for patients with psychiatric needs in their day-to-day practice. This dynamic evolution requires nursing students to have a strong background in under standing mental disorders, the knowledge of underlying principles, and the skills to implement evidence-based psychiatric–mental health care. In the eighth edition of Psychiatric Nursing: Contempo rary Practice , we introduce the Clinical Judgment Mea surement Model, which is used throughout the text. This model challenges students to enhance their clinical judg ment by identifying assessment cues, establishing priority hypotheses, and taking action. The purpose of this text is to prepare nurses to care for all people with mental health issues across all clinical settings. We address the mental health needs of underrepresented groups and those groups traditionally excluded from mainstream health care delivery. Many people with mental health needs face inequities in access and health care delivery, compound ing physical and mental health needs. Factors such as eth nicity, race, and gender contribute to inequities and exclusion in accessing health care. This edition includes evidence-based discussions on these inequities and their impact on care delivery. Gender-neutral, bias-free lan guage is used throughout the text. A key enhancement in this edition is the increased emphasis on the holistic care of people with mental health disorders. The biopsychosocial organizing framework is expanded to include the Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Model instead of the traditional biopsychosocial approach. We emphasize spiritual assessment to support a more holistic approach to nursing care. Spiritual interventions are threaded throughout the text. In addition, we explore complementary therapies—including nutrition, dietary

and herbal supplements, and essential vitamins and minerals—in a dedicated chapter and throughout the text, ensuring a well-rounded and inclusive approach to mental health care. TEXT ORGANIZATION The first three units of Psychiatric Nursing: Contemporary Practice, Eighth Edition present the conceptual underpin nings and principles of psychiatric–mental health nurs ing. In Unit I, students are introduced to mental health nursing care in contemporary society as an evidenced- based practice. Students are introduced to stigma and recovery in Chapter 2, which sets the stage for a more detailed discussion of recovery in Chapter 9. Chapter 3 prepares students for later discussions of cultural, spiri tual, and gender-based considerations. Unit II provides the theoretical foundations of psychi atric nursing including several nursing and recovery frameworks as well as biological and psychosocial theo retical underpinnings. Unit III is the essence of psychiat ric–mental health nursing with a detailed discussion of psychiatric–mental health clinical judgment planning including explanations of evidence-based and spiritual interventions. Therapeutic communication skills, psy chopharmacology, cognitive interventions, group inter ventions, complementary therapies, and family assessment and interventions are presented in a clear and under standable language. A new chapter, Complementary Therapies and Integrative Health, is introduced in this unit. This unit prepares the student for making clinical judgments and sound decisions in caring for patients. Units IV and V present mental health promotion and prevention content, including comprehensive chapters on stress and mental health, crises, safety and de-escalation, and suicide prevention. Unit VI discusses the care of peo ple with mental disorders within a recovery-oriented, evidence-based practice. For each disorder, students will find discussions on spirituality, considerations of inequi ties in mental health care, complementary therapies, SBAR examples for clinical decision-making, trauma-­ informed approaches, and clinical vignettes. Units VII and VIII focus on the assessment and care of children and older adults with mental disorders charac teristic of each age group. Unit IX includes chapters related to the mental health needs of veterans, care of

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