Community and institutional roles: evaluations by Australian psychiatric nurses

This paper examines Australian psychiatric nurses' evaluations of expanded nursing roles in community mental health programs and psychiatric hospitals. Factor analysis uncovered three expanded roles: two community based and one hospital based. Subsequent regression analysis found that psychiatric nurses with tertiary education and a high level of organizational commitment were more likely to favorably evaluate the expanded nursing roles. Experience related variables such as length of employment, age and rank were negatively associated with evaluations of such roles.