In the context of a growing population of people experiencing mental illness worldwide, mental health nurses are a crucial workforce. Their recruitment and retention, however, is in decline. Drawing on qualitative data obtained from interviews with mental health nurses (MHN) in Victoria, Australia, the paper employs a range of concepts from role theory to explore professional identity within mental health nursing. The data highlight three key issues in relation to the future recruitment and retention of MHN: (i) the ambiguity of the MHN role; (ii) the weak definition and lack of understanding of the scope of the MHN role by nursing students; and (iii) a lack of communication about MHN as a profession to a wider audience. These findings indicate three avenues through which recruitment and retention in mental health nursing could be improved: (i) public communication; (ii) training and educating of the next generation of MHN; and (iii) more accurately defining the role of the MHN.

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Although researchers and theorists have long moved away from public disclosure of sexual minority identity (i.e. coming out) as the theoretical apex of lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) identity development, it is still considered an important process of overall identity integration. Unfortunately public disclosure of sexual minority identity may be dependent upon the social environment in which disclosure occurs. Given the variable nature of social contexts, public disclosure across domains of social functioning may be problematic. Previous research has suggested that disclosure is in part more or less likely to occur based on individual appraisal of discriminative experiences (Meyer, 2013). The purpose of the present study was to extend this research by establishing a moderating effect of resilience that may help buffer against the experience of discrimination in predicting identity integration. Respondents (n = 250) completed an online survey examining areas of outness, resilience, effect and frequency of perceived discrimination (EPD and FPD), and LGB identity status. Hierarchical regression results indicated that while resilience does not moderate EPD and FPD in predicting degree of outness, along with FPD it does independently predict outness. Additionally, post hoc regression analyses suggested variable predictive ability depending on demographic variables. Implications, limitations and future directions for these findings are discussed. First and foremost, I would like to thank my committee for their invaluable support and guidance through this process. To Dr. Monica Leppma, thank you for accepting the task of serving as my Chair, even when it was not your obligation or responsibility to do so. You have been incredibly supportive and encouraging, especially when the going got rough. It has been a privilege to be partnered with you on this project. To Dr. Jennifer Taylor, the circumstances under which you joined my team were not ideal at first, but I feel very fortunate that life gave me some lemons because this study became stronger and more interesting as a result of your participation. To Dr. Dennis Allen, I appreciate your initial encouragement and response to my ideas. I am also sincerely grateful for your participation, even though numbers were involved. To Dr. Jeffrey Daniels, thank you so much for your consistent guidance and scholarship for the three years that I walked those halls. It has been pleasure working with you. And to Dr. James Bartee, I would like to express my deepest possible gratitude for all of the unerring support and direction you have given me. Your mentorship and friendship have been invaluable to me in the truest sense of the word. The opportunity to learn from you is not what brought me to West Virginia, but it became one of the most important reasons to stay. Thank you for seeing in me a psychologist. It would have not been possible for me to complete any of this without my friends and family, and so it is also not possible for me to complete it without thanking them. To my won...

Although researchers and theorists have long moved away from public disclosure of sexual minority identity (i.e. coming out) as the theoretical apex of lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) identity development, it is still considered an important process of overall identity integration. Unfortunately public disclosure of sexual minority identity may be dependent upon the social environment in which disclosure occurs. Given the variable nature of social contexts, public disclosure across domains of social functioning may be problematic. Previous research has suggested that disclosure is in part more or less likely to occur based on individual appraisal of discriminative experiences (Meyer, 2013). The purpose of the present study was to extend this research by establishing a moderating effect of resilience that may help buffer against the experience of discrimination in predicting identity integration. Respondents (n = 250) completed an online survey examining areas of outness, resilience, effect and frequency of perceived discrimination (EPD and FPD), and LGB identity status. Hierarchical regression results indicated that while resilience does not moderate EPD and FPD in predicting degree of outness, along with FPD it does independently predict outness. Additionally, post hoc regression analyses suggested variable predictive ability depending on demographic variables. Implications, limitations and future directions for these findings are discussed. First and foremost, I would like to thank my committee for their invaluable support and guidance through this process. To Dr. Monica Leppma, thank you for accepting the task of serving as my Chair, even when it was not your obligation or responsibility to do so. You have been incredibly supportive and encouraging, especially when the going got rough. It has been a privilege to be partnered with you on this project. To Dr. Jennifer Taylor, the circumstances under which you joined my team were not ideal at first, but I feel very fortunate that life gave me some lemons because this study became stronger and more interesting as a result of your participation. To Dr. Dennis Allen, I appreciate your initial encouragement and response to my ideas. I am also sincerely grateful for your participation, even though numbers were involved. To Dr. Jeffrey Daniels, thank you so much for your consistent guidance and scholarship for the three years that I walked those halls. It has been pleasure working with you. And to Dr. James Bartee, I would like to express my deepest possible gratitude for all of the unerring support and direction you have given me. Your mentorship and friendship have been invaluable to me in the truest sense of the word. The opportunity to learn from you is not what brought me to West Virginia, but it became one of the most important reasons to stay. Thank you for seeing in me a psychologist. It would have not been possible for me to complete any of this without my friends and family, and so it is also not possible for me to complete it without thanking them. To my won...