Primary Mental Health Care: A Model for Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing

Abstract

This article introduces and defines the concept of primary mental health care, a model for the delivery of community-based, comprehensive psychiatric-mental health nurs ing care. The primary mental health care model incorporates professional role re sponsibilities, role functions, and intervention activities for psychiatric-mental health nurses at the basic and advanced levels of practice. Use of this model will enable psychiatric nurses to articulate a nursing perspective about primary mental health care to colleagues, to policymakers, and to consumers. (J Am PSYCHIATR NURSES Assoc [1995]. 1, 154-163)