American Academy of Nursing consensus recommendations to advance system level change for nurse well-being.

The COVID-19 pandemic has required close examination of workforce-related stressors that over decades have contributed to widespread burnout, negative health outcomes, including mental health outcomes, and the loss of the well-educated professionals who are the future of the nursing profession. In the United States and globally, evidence points to factors known to diminish well-being, including inequities, issues of minority status, persistent discrimination, and demanding work environments. The American Academy of Nursing (AAN), dedicated to organizational excellence, nursing leadership and evidence-based policy, develops statements reflecting its mission and those of its nursing affiliates and corporate member, The American Nurses Association. Within nursing, despite the efforts of its members toward advancement, professional fulfillment is often constrained by the systems in which nurses practice and workplace factors over which they have little control. Action by key organizations to initiate changes at systems levels in workplace safety, to increase professional mobility, and propel policies that increase access to health care resources could improve nurse well-being. This paper proposes recommendations from the AAN Expert Panels on Building Health Care System Excellence, Psychiatric Mental Health and Substance Use, and Global Health Expert Panels for the American Academy of Nursing to leverage related policy in the arenas of government and professional/healthcare organizations. Transforming health care work environments and advancing nurse well-being and equity can be accomplished through key, innovative policy changes. These will be achieved through collaboration among associations, organizations, nonprofit groups, and with the public and the media.

Addressing gaps in mental health needs of diverse, at-risk, underserved, and disenfranchised populations: a call for nursing action.

Psychiatric nurses have an essential role in meeting the mental health needs of diverse, at-risk, underserved, and disenfranchised populations across the lifespan. This paper summarizes the needs of individuals especially at-risk for mental health disorders, acknowledging that such vulnerability is contextual, age-specific, and influenced by biological, behavioral, socio-demographic and cultural factors. With its longstanding commitment to cultural sensitivity and social justice, its pivotal role in healthcare, and its broad educational base, psychiatric nursing is well-positioned for leadership in addressing the gaps in mental health prevention and treatment services for vulnerable and underserved populations. This paper describes these issues, presents psychiatric nursing exemplars that address the problems, and makes strong recommendations to psychiatric nurse leaders, policy makers and mental health advocates to help achieve change.

A comparison of influences on attitudes towards mental health service use in an African-American and White community.

The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes toward mental health service (MHS) use within a sample of African-American and White adults (N = 739) and to identify correlates associated with those expressed attitudes. African-Americans (n = 132) and Whites (n = 607) were interviewed using the Louisville Metropolitan Survey that included the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale. Findings from this study indicated that responses regarding seeking mental health services were positively correlated with educational attainment and gender In addition, further findings also suggested that while race was significantly associated with attitudes toward seeking mental health services, it was also associated with prior familiarity with mental health services African-Americans reported both less willingness to seek mental health services and less familiarity with mental health services. The unexpected finding of the association between familiarity and attitudes toward mental health services use has value in furthering scientific inquiry. Investigation into the role of familiarity with mental health services and the decision-making process leading to mental health services use in diverse populations holds potential.