This page provides links to the findings of a research study
undertaken by Richard Lakeman in
June-July 1996.
These findings were
presented at:
Lakeman, R. (1996). The
internet: Facilitating and international nursing culture. (Conference
Proceedings). (pp. 261-282). Auckland: ANZCMHN
and published in:
Lakeman, R. (1996). Psychiatric nursing. The Internet: facilitating an
international nursing culture for psychiatric nurses. Computers in Nursing,
16(2), 87-9.
Abstract:
The internet consists of some ten million computers networked
together. It provides a means of human communication which transcends boundaries
of language, race and sex, as well as providing people with access to an
unimaginable quantity of information. This paper reports on a qualitative
study undertaken to explore how psychiatric nurses experienced in the use
of the internet currently use and benefit from it, how they have learned
to communicate on the internet and how they see the internet affecting
psychiatric nursing culture. The research was undertaken using electronic
mail to several nursing discussion groups. The responses were analysed
and are discussed according to themes that emerged from the data in response
to the questions posed. Selected responses are used to illustrate the themes.
The internet may be a useful tool in facilitating a global psychiatric
nursing culture based on egalitarian principles and characterised by a
sense of belonging and a shared vision. The realisation of this potential
is contingent on psychiatric nurses being pro-active in the use of technology
and will be constrained or empowered by the creativity and vision of those
who use it.