Changes in psychiatric caring values in Finland.

Abstract

A shift from institutional to non-institutional caring systems took place in Finnish psychiatric care in the 1980s. This article describes the values related to caring and the changes that occurred during the time span of a decade in a ward that rehabilitates mental patients as non-institutional care in northern Finland. The changes in patient and staff values are examined by studying the changes in caring practices in the ward. The ethnonursing method developed by Leininger (1995, 1991) was used to examine the rehabilitation of psychiatric patients. Data were collected by interviewing twenty patients and eleven staff members. Results demonstrated that by the 1980s individualism was increasingly valued and personal freedom and self realization were more valued than hard work and solidarity. People's values shifted from universality to greater diversity. Transcultural nursing implications are discussed.