Resources

Within the last decade computer mediated communication (CMC) facilitated by the growth of the Internet has transformed the way many people relate to each other and their world. In a metaphorical but very real way the world has become a smaller place in which distance and time may be transcended and bridges between cultures are built at a keystroke. The rapid growth in this area of technology and the exponential growth of internet usage poses a challenge to traditional notions of identity and community which are central constructs in the theorising and practice of psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychiatric nursing. This paper considers the impact and implications that CMC might have on the field of psychiatric nursing education, practice and research.

Within higher education student evaluations of teaching (SET) are used to inform evaluations of performance of courses and teachers. An anonymous online survey was constructed and implemented using Qualtrics. This study was situated within a more extensive study investigating the impact of narrative SET comments on teaching quality and the health and wellbeing of academic staff. This paper reports specifically on two open questions that were designed to elicit examples of non-constructive and offensive anonymous narrative feedback. Five themes were identified: allegations; insults; comments about appearance, attire and accent; projections and blame; and threats and punishment. These are represented in non-redacted form. Personally destructive, defamatory, abusive and hurtful comments were commonly reported. These kinds of comments may have adverse consequences for the well-being of teaching staff, could contribute to occupational stress and in some cases could be considered libellous. The high prevalence of offensive comments accessible to and shared by teachers may be a reflection of the anonymity afforded to respondents using internet surveys, resulting in de-individuation and enabling some respondents to give voice to ‘hate speech’ which has no place in evaluations of teaching.

Within higher education student evaluations of teaching (SET) are used to inform evaluations of performance of courses and teachers. An anonymous online survey was constructed and implemented using Qualtrics. This study was situated within a more extensive study investigating the impact of narrative SET comments on teaching quality and the health and wellbeing of academic staff. This paper reports specifically on two open questions that were designed to elicit examples of non-constructive and offensive anonymous narrative feedback. Five themes were identified: allegations; insults; comments about appearance, attire and accent; projections and blame; and threats and punishment. These are represented in non-redacted form. Personally destructive, defamatory, abusive and hurtful comments were commonly reported. These kinds of comments may have adverse consequences for the well-being of teaching staff, could contribute to occupational stress and in some cases could be considered libellous. The high prevalence of offensive comments accessible to and shared by teachers may be a reflection of the anonymity afforded to respondents using internet surveys, resulting in de-individuation and enabling some respondents to give voice to ‘hate speech’ which has no place in evaluations of teaching.

Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based treatment for borderline personality disorder and other problems associated with emotional dysregulation. It has traditionally been deployed as a face-to-face programme comprised of attendance at group skills training, individual therapy and phone coaching. Social distancing measures arising from the COVID-19 pandemic led to a cessation of therapeutic programmes in many places. This survey of DBT clinicians in a regional State mental health service in Australia explored the impact of the cessation of DBT programmes in the region and obstacles to engaging with people via online platforms. Clinicians have been able to engage in DBT informed care, but it was perceived that many people have experienced a clinical deterioration or have increased their use of crisis services, which is entirely appropriate, as group skills programmes have ceased. Movement to online platforms of delivery poses problems, as some people do not have the access to internet or privacy in their home environments to engage in online therapy. Ideally, clinicians need to be supported through education, supervision and coaching in the use of telehealth interventions. Social distancing requirements has enabled an opportunity to carefully consider how programmes can be adapted to enable the extension of these programmes to those who have traditionally been unable to access them.

The development of the Internet is happening at a staggering pace and promises to have a dramatic impact on human relations. If nursing is to adapt to and benefit from these changes, consideration ought to be given to the experiences and opinions of nurses who have adapted to and use the technology. This paper provides an outline of the findings of an Email survey of psychiatric and mental health nurses who are experienced in using the Internet. Questions focused on what psychiatric and mental health nurses use the Internet for, how their use has changed, work-related benefits, and what impact they see the Internet having in the future.

This article examines how the Internet may be used as a tool for data collection in nursing research. An overview of the demographic composition of the Internet population is outlined and discussed as a constraint on the type of research that can be undertaken using the Internet. Methods of data collection such as e-mail and WWW questionnaires are discussed as well as the possibility of virtual focus groups. Some of the difficulties and advantages that may confront the researcher wishing to undertake research using the Internet are outlined.

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 were identified 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.

Introduction This research project examines communication processes between clinical supervisors and supervisees who engage in an online supervisory relationship via the Internet. An international team of nine researchers, comprising professionals and academics from a wide range of disciplines, collaborated in developing a long term research study to: explore the experience of computer mediated clinical supervision; establish the extent to which online clinical supervision matches the expectations of supervisees and meet professional standards; describe differences between computer mediated clinical supervision and face-to-face clinical supervision; and evaluate how communication practices are adapted using different computer applications in the process of online clinical supervision.
Method This presentation will illustrate: the development of the diverse research team; development of an ethical research proposal via collaboration through listserv communication; development of the project website (www.online-supervision.net); promotion of the research website; participants registering and indicating their suitability for inclusion or exclusion through website submission form (and quality control/training of participants); development of disclaimers and informed consent content; and technological design for matching supervisees within peer groups or and/or matching supervisees with supervisors.
Results It is anticipated that from the 80+ mental health professionals who have registered an interest in participating as of January 2003, a significant number will go onto become research subjects, along with other recruits, to form small supervision groups and dyads. A five-phase design encompasses an initial phase of data collection to enable the team to match participants, followed by four follow-up phases at three-month intervals of web based questionnaire completion about their experience of online supervision for analysis. Results of phase one of the research project and subsequent matching of participants and their expectations about the online supervisory relationship are presented as the result of the methodological techniques demonstrated.

Clinical supervision has a long pedigree in the mental health professions as a face-to-face relationship purported to assist in the maintenance of standards and to enhance practice through educative and restorative functions. The growth of the Internet and computer mediated communication technologies challenges the traditional notion that the context of clinical supervision need be face-to-face or undertaken by a supervisor intimately acquainted with the local practice setting. Over the last decade some psychiatric nurses and other health professionals have claimed that they have developed sustaining professional and collegial relationships akin to supervision or have actually entered into formal supervisory relationships using Internet technologies.

In 2002 an international research team comprised of a diverse range of disciplines collaborated in developing a long term research study to: explore the experience of computer mediated clinical supervision; establish the extent to which online clinical supervision matches the expectations of supervisees and meets professional standards; describe differences between computer mediated clinical supervision and face-to-face clinical supervision; and evaluate how communication practices are adapted using different computer applications in the process of online clinical supervision. This paper presents snapshots of the journey of this research team, and something of the reality and possibilities of on-line supervision.

The explosive growth of e-mail and other forms of Internet-based and computer-mediated communication (CMC) promises to have a dramatic impact on human relations, with implications for nurses and nursing as for any other section of society. If nursing is to benefit from changing communication modes, the experiences of nurses who have already adopted and adapted to using the evolving technologies must be explored. Both authors undertook research examining nurses' use of the Internet in the mid 1990s, which provided a 'snap shot’ and a baseline for examining future changes. This paper reports on the findings of research undertaken collaboratively in the late 1990s using surveys of psychiatric and general nursing e-mail list groups to explore changes which have taken place in nurses’ use of CMC. The responses, when compared with the earlier findings, reveal that a growing body of nurses have become more sophisticated in their use of CMC, and are producing resources on the Internet. More importantly, CMC is rapidly becoming an essential and integral part of the routine of many nurses and is resulting in changes in practice.

An examination of data from a study on computer mediated communication by psychiatric and mental health nurses

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.