The professional paradigm of qualified psychiatric nurses

The main purpose of this research was to determine the professional paradigm of the qualified psychiatric nurse and the factors influencing the formation of this paradigm. The research was both explorative and descriptive, and both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. The research approach was deductive and based on the theory of paradigm of Törnebohm. The test persons comprised three groups: Swedish-speaking Finns, Swedes and Finns. In each group there were eight students in the final stages of their psychiatric nursing training. A total of 40 questionnaires were distributed to each group. The research revealed four different characteristic types of qualified psychiatric nurses: caring science oriented, partly caring science oriented, general humanist and finally the personality- and experience-oriented. The results also indicate that there is a discrepancy between will and ability within caring. This can partly be interpreted as an expression of the discrepancy between philosophical and ideological impressions and real acts but it may partly indicate a lack of information. Many informants had difficulty naming a theoretical frame of reference for their work and stating aspects of psychiatric caring that would be important to know but on which no information so far exists. Many informants expressed the need for more research and development but did not indicate the subjects.