Comparison of Iranian Master’s of Psychiatric Nursing Curriculum with Duke University of AmericaA Comparative Study

Psychiatric nursing is a branch of nursing that combines educational learning and applying the principles of human relations and theories of psychiatric nursing to the treatment and care of people of any age who suffer from mental illness and its effects. Comparing Iran's psychiatric nursing program with other countries makes it possible to identify the educational problems and issues of the curriculum as well as the background factors that have played a role in the failure or success of the program in question. And with their help, it is possible to propose suitable solutions to the determined problems. The purpose of the present study is to compare the curriculum of master's psychiatric nursing in Iran and Duke Nursing School in the United States.

This comparative descriptive study was conducted in the year 2022, in which the important indicators of the master's Curriculum of psychiatric nursing of Iran's nursing schools and Duke University were purposefully selected. The adjustment between the two curricula is done using the Beredy method, which includes four steps: description, interpretation, juxtaposition, and comparison.

The comparison of the Master’s of Psychiatric Nursing Curriculum has similarities and differences in both environments. There are differences in the details of the goals, mission, vision, admission method, system, and curriculum arrangement style in the two universities. The admission of a student in the expert section of psychiatric nursing in Iran is normative and centralized. In the USA, admission is followed by a decentralized pattern, and students post selection criteria. In none of the universities, the specific goals of the field have not been defined. The mission of the Iran program is defined at the national level, but the Duke faculty has a cross-border perspective in expressing its mission.

To improve the quality of community mental health and train knowledgeable and skilled psychiatric nurses to increase the quality of service to people with mental disorders and to maintain and promote mental health in society, the psychiatric nursing education program needs to be reviewed and continuously improved in the areas of student acceptance, position definition. The reality and the role of the graduates are to explain the field's specific goals, review the educational methods, and introduce new ones.