CARING FROM THE POINT-OF-VIEW OF A FINNISH MENTAL-HEALTH NURSE - A LIFE-HISTORY APPROACH

Finnish mental health care went through a major change in the 1980s. I ts institutions were being run down and there was a shift to a caring system that stresses non-institutional practices. The schooling and wo rk of the mental health nurse had to adapt to the new situation. The p urpose of my study was to describe and analyse the mental health nurse 's work, i.e. caring, as it is experienced by a nurse in the preparati on of long-term psychiatric patients for non-institutional care. The d ata consist of repeated interviews with Vuokko, who has been a mental health nurse for about 30 years and is now approaching her retirement. In the light of the data, the central features of caring are caring a bout and taking an overall responsibility for the patient, and teachin g the patient to cope with everyday life. Caring is based on practical knowledge, the essential elements of which are intimacy and feelings.