Moving from tradition to evidence: a review of psychiatric nursing intervention studies

This state-of-the-evidence review summarizes characteristics of intervention studies published from January 2000 through December 2005 in five psychiatric nursing journals. Intervention studies were defined as those evaluating the application of nursing strategies/procedures/practices for enhancing/promoting health or preventing disability/dysfunction. Of 486 research studies published in those journals, 77 were intervention studies, including 77% conducted in the United States. Interventions reflected psychological (57%), social (9%), and biological (12%) dimensions of the biopsychosocial model; 22% of the studies tested interventions with overlapping dimensions. Some studies included persons of various ages; however, 7 focused on adolescents, 36 on adults, and 10 on elders; 2 included children. The findings describe the current state of published intervention research in five psychiatric nursing journals and suggest the need for increased dissemination of intervention research, more rigorous testing of interventions, and more focused programs of research to build evidence for effective psychiatric nursing interventions across the lifespan and globally.