Comparison of psychiatric-mental health nursing education objectives: consumers, educators, and practitioners

This consumer-nurse study was part of a larger project, Research in Mental Health Education, which compared the priorities of educators and practitioners within and between three core mental health professions and between the professionals and consumers. In the consumer-nurse portion of the study, the objectives for graduate education in psychiatric-mental health nursing were validated by psychiatric-mental health nursing educators (N=20) based in four university programs in the East, West, and Midwest. Another sample of nurse educators and practitioners in this specialty area, drawn from nine states, prioritized these objectives. A separate deck of objectives for mental health professionals was generated and prioritized by consumers (N=15) who were members of the Mental Health Association of Minnesota. Standardized procedures for generating and validating the objectives for nurses and consumers and the same task, the Priority Sort, were used by all subjects, nurses, and consumers, to prioritize the objectives. Similarities and differences between nurses and consumers are discussed. Differences between nurse educators and practitioners, which are statistically significant, also are described. Implications for consumer and practitioner input into curricular decisions are discussed as well as interdisciplinary courses that could conserve faculty time and budgetary resources.