To critically and constructively explore the future of mental health nursing in Flanders (Belgium) by examining the historical evolution, current challenges, and potential strategies for clinical excellence and advancement.
This study used a historically informed and contextualised grounded analyses to envision future perspectives that support strategically targeted perspectives in compact regions such as Flanders (Belgium).
A synthesis of published literature, policy documents, academic sources, and Flemish nursing research was conducted to identify key directions.
By addressing local challenges, particularly related to education and labor market scarcity, this paper proposes three key directions for progress: ‘Back to good basics’, ‘Reclaiming the driver's seat of clinical advancement’ and ‘Revitalizing clinical excellence from within clinical nursing practice’.
These interlinked perspectives provide a framework for revitalising mental health nursing in Flanders, supporting clinical excellence and development while responding to the most pressing contemporary challenges. Although rooted in a compact regional context, the insights and proposed directions may inspire similar reflections and initiatives in international mental health nursing contexts.
To investigate the perceptions of family members (FMs) of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and nurses on empowering support and its implementation during the acute phase within Finnish neurosurgical and neurological care in hospital settings, focusing on identifying similarities and differences in their viewpoints.
Participatory qualitative descriptive study.
Data were collected from seven FMs and 11 nurses using the World Café method in November 2019. An abductive approach was employed for data analysis, combining deductive interpretation within the conceptual framework of empowering support and inductive content analysis.
Four main themes were identified: (1) FMs' diverse information and guidance needs of TBI, treatment and its impact on family life, (2) support based on empowering FMs in participation, competence and decision-making, (3) empowering FMs through collaborative nursing practices and interprofessional support, and (4) internal and external hospital support enhancing and promoting the empowerment of FMs.
The perceptions of FMs and nurses regarding empowering support were largely consistent, yet diverged in its implementation in nursing practice. Nurses play a crucial role in fostering the empowerment of FMs; however, further research is needed to explore the impact of organisational and community factors on the implementation of empowering support.
Our study contributes to advancing nursing practices by underscoring the necessity for a paradigm shift towards a family-centred approach. Furthermore, it emphasises the urgency for standardising nursing practices to ensure equitable access to empowering support for FMs, applicable across various care settings for patients with TBI.
This review is part of a larger research project in which FMs of patients with TBI and nurses were involved in designing the project.
This study was reported using the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Checklist for qualitative studies.