Issues in mental health nursing
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Issues Ment Health Nurs · Jun 2008
ReviewNursing implications in the application of conversion therapies on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clients.
Conversion therapies, also know as reparative therapies, emphasize homosexual orientations as psychopathology in gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) clients and claim these individuals can reverse their sexual orientation through psychiatric counseling and treatment. Although professional medical and nursing organizations have branded psychiatric interventions designed to change an individual's sexual orientation as unethical, an international movement fueled largely by religious organizations promote such therapies for GLBT persons. This article explores the historical perceptions of homosexuality as psychiatric pathology, efficacy of conversion-based therapies in the changing of clients' homosexual orientations to heterosexual, positions of professional medical and nursing organizations regarding the use of conversion therapies, and ethical considerations these types of therapies pose for psychiatric and mental health nurses.
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Issues Ment Health Nurs · Jun 2008
ReviewParenting, family life, and well-being among sexual minorities: nursing policy and practice implications.
Parenting and family life are fundamental social constructs in human society and in law and public policy. Family structures and support systems provide important economic and psychological advantages for parents as well as for their children. ⋯ Stigma directly contributes to increased risk for substance abuse, anxiety, and depressive illness among both parents and children. This article reviews the relevant policy literature to deconstruct the impacts of stigma on the psychological health and well-being of sexual minority parents so that psychiatric/mental health nurses and other health care providers can identify and counter these effects in their practices and advocate for policy improvements.
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Issues Ment Health Nurs · Jan 2008
Barriers to seeking help and treatment suggestions for prenatal depressive symptoms: focus groups with rural low-income women.
Interviews were conducted with 21 pregnant or recently pregnant African American and Caucasian low-income women living in a rural southeastern community to elicit perceived barriers to seeking help for depressive symptoms in pregnancy and ways to overcome these barriers, as well as intervention suggestions. Participants identified themes regarding barriers to seeking help. ⋯ Themes identified regarding overcoming barriers were: (1) facilitating trust and (2) offering support and help. These and other findings point to the importance of integrating women's ideas into culturally sensitive interventions for women with depressive symptoms or depression in pregnancy that can be provided by a psychiatric nurse-practitioner or other mental health provider.