Multiple Ways of Knowing and Multiculturalism in Psychiatric Nursing: A Case Study in Nursing College,Thailand

In the past, reductionism was a framework that nurses used to take care of patients. This framework focused on the part of the body that had a problem, so it did not cover the whole person. Because there has been a paradigm shift in nursing practice, nurses now have a new holistic framework to take care of patients, which is called holism. This framework includes physical, mental, social, and spiritual aspects, which are the opposite of reductionism. A philosophical tension may occur because the two perspectives have different views.

Boromarajonani College of Nursing, Chiang Mai Thailand is located in Northern Thailand. The college provides a Bachelor of Nursing Science Program, which consists of a four-year full-time study course, which is designed to produce registered nurses who are of a strong moral character and possess a caring perspective. This program prepares student nurses to meet the society and local community needs. In 2010, the Thai Government created a new program named The Project for Developing Nurses to Solve the Problem Concerning Ethic and Religious Conflict Occurring in Thailand’s Southernmost Three Provinces. The purposes of this project are to provide nurses with the skills to meet the needs of local communities and to improve the quality of life of the youth who live in these areas.

Most student nurses, who come from Southern Thailand are Muslim. They have a different culture and religion from Northern Thai people. They also have different views about how to take care of patients.  Because of this tension, nursing instructors have a responsibility to deal with any potential problems and to develop the students’ nursing knowledge. Especially in psychiatric nursing, students tend to take care of patients who have mental health problems. In this scenario it is appropriate to use integration between holism, reductionism, and multiculturalism to take care of patients.

Using multiple ways of knowing in multicultural perspectives is the best way to take care of patients.  The purpose of this study is to examine the definitions of holism, reductionism, and multiculturalism, and explore how to integrate multiple ways of knowing and multicultural perspectives in psychiatric nursing by using a case study in Boromarajonani College of Nursing, Chiang Mai, Thailand.