“With deep historical roots in psychiatry, structural racism persists in psychiatric nursing today. Psychiatric nurses may hold implicit biases and stereotypical beliefs that influence how they perceive, assess, and interact with people from different racial backgrounds, leading to discrimination, poor treatment, and misdiagnosis. To eliminate discrimination in clinical care and diversify the workforce, there is an urgent need to integrate teaching and learning strategies that address influences of racism and racial identity in psychiatric nursing education. This article explores the historical context and proposes antiracist psychiatric nursing teaching and practice interventions to reduce the harms of racism.”

“Since the late 19th century, psychiatric nursing evolved in tandem with American psychiatry and inherited many of the same biases. From the mid-19th century on, psychiatric care was
provided in racially segregated facilities, which limited the ability of Black women to become nurses and severely impacted patient care (Smith, 2020). Black nurses fought to be able to undertake mental health training and provide psychiatric practice but were restricted to Black-only hospitals, such as the Tuskegee Veterans Affairs hospital in Alabama, which provided psychiatric care to Black returned service men and the local community. In adopting the principles of mainstream psychiatry, psychiatric nursing also adopted a program of “mental hygiene” and eugenic science.”

“Educators bear a responsibility to reverse the historical influence of racism in health care and health encounters. By incorporating historical context into daily teaching and clinical work, we address the dire harms of systemic inequities. While acknowledging the complex roots of structural racism and the systemic approach necessary to propel change, we urge broad cooperation, together, to move actions toward equity, reducing racial oppression and discrimination in mental health care.”

Pfeiffer, K., Starks, S., Kumar, A., Wofsy, A., Johnson, K. B., & Smith, K. (2024). Looking Back to Advance Equity in Psychiatric Nursing: Strategies for the Classroom and for Practice. Nursing education perspectives, 45(5), 325–326.