Page 320 - Encyclopedia of Nursing Research

MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH n 287

mental health care needs (National Institute et al., 2003; Hanrahan, 2009) as well as lim-
of Mental Health, 2010). ited numbers of nurses with doctoral and
MHSR is interdisciplinary and inte- postdoctoral training in MHSR. The current M
grates the expertise of researchers in diverse supply of mental health services researchers
fields, including such as psychiatric-mental remains low in relation to present and pro-
health nursing, psychology, psychiatry, jected future needs. There remains a contin-
social work, anthropology, sociology, eco- uing need to increase the supply of nurses
nomics, biostatistics, health administration, with doctoral level training and funded
and public policy. Broad interdisciplinary research programs to improve the contribu-
research expertise is needed for the diverse tions of nursing to MHSR.
range of health services research topics that Results of MHSR appear in journals
require the integration of literature from publishing MHSR, such as the Archives of
multiple fields, construction of complex Psychiatric Nursing, Issues in Mental Health
research designs and data collection proto- Nursing, Journal of the American Psychiatric
cols, use of sophisticated approaches to data Nurses Association, Journal of Psychosocial
analysis, and designing effective approaches Nursing and Mental Health Services,
to dissemination and implementation of Administration and Policy in Mental Health
research results. Research funding for MHSR and Mental Health Services Research, and
is supported by multiple sources, includ- Psychiatric Services as well as many other
ing local, state, and federal. At the federal journals not specifically focused on mental
level, MHSR is especially supported by the health or health services research. A review
NIMH Division of Services and Intervention of literature from mental health nursing
Research. Most federally funded, academi- journals leads to a conclusion that qual-
cally based research centers for MHSR are led ity outcomes and mental health delivery
by nonnurse researchers. An exception is the systems are among mental health nursing
Southeastern Rural Mental Health Research research priorities (Pullen, Tuck, & Wallace,
Center at the University of Virginia, School 1999). Fifteen years ago, a review of nursing
of Nursing, which began in 1992 supported literature from 1989 to 1994 concluded that
by NIMH funding and continues its focus few psychiatric nursing studies were pub-
on unmet mental health needs among poor lished in major nursing journals and that
and minority populations in rural settings there was a lack of programmatic research
(Southeastern Rural Mental Health Research upon which to base rigorous evaluation
Center, 2008). of outcomes (Merwin & Mauck, 1995). An
Distinctions between interventions updated review of current nursing literature
(treatment) and services research are some- done for this chapter obtained results that
what indistinct. Interventions research remained consistent with these earlier con-
focuses on efficacy and effectiveness of dis- clusions. Relatively few nurse researchers
crete therapeutic interventions, whereas conduct MHSR. Some representative exam-
services research focuses on the organi- ples of MHSR conducted by nurse research-
zation and delivery of health care. Nurse ers over the past decade include research on
researchers have most often focused on test- outcomes and satisfaction of patients of psy-
ing mental health interventions research chiatric clinical nurse specialists (Baradell
as opposed to conducting broader service & Bordeaux, 2001), shortages of rural men-
systems research. MHSR programs led by tal health professionals (Merwin, Hinton,
nurses remain uncommon; in part, this scar- Dembling, & Stern, 2003), and identification
city reflects the small number of nurses spe- of mental health treatment disparities in
cializing in psychiatric nursing (Hanrahan rural minority groups based on analysis of