'Telling stories about ourselves': historical methodology and the creation of mental health nursing narratives.

摘要

This paper considers the processes through which historical narratives are shaped. Interest in this area emerged from the author's struggle to understand contemporary mental health nursing in Ireland, and to situate this profession within its historical context and trajectory. It is argued that both the historical narrative and contemporary image of Irish mental health nursing are heavily influenced by the methodologies adopted by historians working in this area. The 'progressive historical approach', which remains the predominant methodological tradition adopted in nursing history, is firstly considered in this paper. The limitations of this approach are explored and an 'interpretive historical approach' is suggested as methodological counterpoint to the progressive tradition. 'Critical perspectives' are also considered and contextualized with reference to interpretive schools of thought. It is proposed that a fusion of the interpretive and critical approaches can offer a sound theoretical basis for the development of contemporary histories of nursing that transcends progressive narratives of altruistic caring interventions.