Mental health is an important concept within the health component of the nursing paradigm. Nurses need to understand this concept from the perspective of Korean culture because perceptions of health and illness are culture phenomena.
This study sough...
Mental health is an important concept within the health component of the nursing paradigm. Nurses need to understand this concept from the perspective of Korean culture because perceptions of health and illness are culture phenomena.
This study sought to discover how Korean people conceptualize mental health through the identification of meanings of the concept. Transcultural Nursing Theory provided the conceptual framework. The purpose was to contribute to the development of Korean nursing theoretical understanding of mental health.
The descriptive qualitative method was used first, followed by a quantitative approach as the research methodology.
The study was carried out in two steps. First, meanings of the concept mental health were collected from 272 adults selected by an allocated sampling method considering residence, sex and age, through interviews and questionnaire. Second, mental health was measured in 490 adults using an instrument based on the results of the first study. The data collection period was from June 20 to August 26, 1989. Data analysis was done using an SPSS program.
Through the analysis of the content of the meanings of mental health, 77concepts were derived from 522 statements. These concepts integrated into 13 categories. For the Korean person, mental health is conceptualized within the following 13 categories, - sound thought, right value judgment, srability of mind, happiness of mind, positive self-concept, self-achievement, self control, good interpersonal relationships, social adaptation, a happy life, a faithful life, a purposeful life, and a life of equilibrum.
Through factor analysis of the mental health concepts, eight factors were derived-equilibrum, happiness, value judgments, self actualization, sound thinking, interpersonal relationships, faithfulness, and social adaptation.
When a mental health self-rating instrument developed from the concepts was used with a second sample of the mean total score for the 38 items was 138.25(SD=18.10) and the mean of the items the slightly high value of 3.64. The rank order among the 38 items was “know how to judge good and bad”(4.13), “do no harm to others”(4.12), and “have hopes and dreams of the future”(4.04).
The mental health score showed a statistically significant difference according to age, marital status, religion, the influence of religion of life, occupation, socioeconomic status and physiopsychological health state but not for place of residence, sex, and level of education.
Agreement with statements on mental health showed that influences from Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and Shamanism were intermingled. Categories of the meaning of mental health were consistent with ideal concepts in Neo-Confucianism (Song-li-hak, 성리학). The study identified an emphasis on morality as a basis for mental health.
In conclusion, by developing the instrument derived from this study, it may be possible to contribute to the nursing assessment of mental health using concepts both culturally appropriate and based on health (rather than absence of disease criteria). The study has implications for the development of Korean nursing theory.