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Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing Care of the Older Adult: Mental Health in Old Age

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European Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing in the 21st Century

Part of the book series: Principles of Specialty Nursing ((PSN))

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Abstract

It is well documented that Europe and the Occidental world face pressing mental health-care challenges that are linked to their ageing populations. Moreover, in addition to the current and projected alarming rise in diagnosis of dementia, this population also often simultaneously face multiple pathological, psychological and experiential health challenges. Accordingly, this chapter focuses on providing psychiatric/mental health nursing care to and for older adults, from a humanistic and holistic perspective. The chapter outlines developments in Europe’s demography and examines different gerontological theories and theoretical approaches to ageing and mental health, with an emphasis on psychosocial views and theory, resting on the conviction that both mental well-being and mental ill health are closely related to and dependent on one’s social environment and personal story. Commonly occurring mental health problems among older people are considered, including those that are related to particular lived experiences such as social losses, crises and transitions of old. The chapter then concentrates on psychiatric/mental health nursing and how theories of gerontological mental health care can be operationalized for this population, focusing on ecological and local community perspectives.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Inland Norway University of Applied Science, Faculty of Public Health, Hedmark University College, Elverum, Norway

    Bengt Eriksson & Arild Granerud

Authors
  1. Bengt Eriksson
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  2. Arild Granerud
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Correspondence to Bengt Eriksson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra, Nursing School of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    José Carlos Santos

  2. Cutcliffe Consulting, Kingston, Canada

    John R. Cutcliffe

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Eriksson, B., Granerud, A. (2018). Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing Care of the Older Adult: Mental Health in Old Age. In: Santos, J., Cutcliffe, J. (eds) European Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing in the 21st Century. Principles of Specialty Nursing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31772-4_37

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31772-4_37

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31771-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31772-4

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