Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing Care of Children and Adolescents

The prevalence of mental health problems among children and adolescents appears to be on the increase. Accordingly, the contemporary P/MH nurse is likely to encounter children and/or adolescents in the mental health care system and thus, after taking a nuanced view of the epidemiology, the chapter draws on the American Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nurse practice parameters and uses these to inform our approach to assessment. Core interventions, which are drawn from and congruent with the principles and practices of trauma-informed-care are then explored, and P/MH nurses are then exhorted to involve and work collaboratively with clients and their families. The chapter then focuses on three particular challenges for the P/MH nursing care of children and adolescents. While these are by no means the only challenges that P/MH are likely to face, they are encountered frequently and show up with conspicuous regularity in the relevant extant literature. Namely: dealing with aggression and violence; dealing with children and adolescents with a history of trauma, abuse, neglect, and/or mistreatment and dealing with children and adolescents with a history of self-harm or/and suicide attempts.