Background: There is a significant lack of awareness of the various nursing specialties beyond mainstream hospital settings. This deficit has serious implications for the shortage of psychiatric nurse specialists in correctional and forensic settings. The lack of nurses with the specialized skills to care for patients with mental health needs, especially those in the correctional system, reveals a persistent disparity in caring an already vulnerable population.
Method This study used an integrative review methodology, drawing on peer-reviewed literature published from 2018 to the present, sourced from PubMed, MEDLINE, APA PsycINFO, and CINAHL Ultimate.
Results The limited literature available on these nursing specialties underscores a gap in nursing education that may be due, in part, to long-persistent but overlooked stigma associated with safety and/or challenges of working with institutionalized populations, many with psychiatric health disorders.
Conclusions Most nursing schools offer little, if any, education in these specialties, resulting in students’ limited awareness of their existence and a critical shortage of nurses in these settings. More academic training, models, and clinical partnerships are needed to reduce stigma and promote careers in these overlooked nursing specialties.
AUTHORS CONTRIBUTIONS
Ms. Monica Nebel and Dr. Veronica Decker contributed equally to all aspects of the work, including study design, literature review, synthesis of findings, manuscript writing, and critical revisions. The authors share equal responsibility and authorship. Both approved the final manuscript.
FUNDING
Not Applicable.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST DISCLOSURE
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
INFORMED CONSENT
Not Applicable.
ETHICS APPROVAL
The Publication Ethics Committee of the Association for Health Sciences and Education. The journal’s policies adhere to the Core Practices established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
PROVENANCE AND PEER REVIEW
Not commissioned; externally double-blind peer reviewed.
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.
DATA SHARING STATEMENT
No additional data are available.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Not Applicable.
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