L’Association for the development of research in psychiatric care (ADRpsy), also committed to improving and enhancing care practices, has just been created. Questions to Benjamin Villeneuve, its president.
• The creation of the ADRpsy was initiated by psychiatric nurses but the association is open to all “carers”, can you specify?
The answers to your question can be found in the history and genesis of ADRpsy. Our association is part of the continuity of the work and implementation dynamics initiated by the Nursing Research Group (GRSI) founded by Jean-Paul Lanquetin in 2006. Like the Meetings for research in nursing psychiatry (RRSpsy) organized each year by the GRSI since 2015, the nursing research axis has naturally opened up to other professions. Care research is a shared field that refers to the foundations of teamwork in psychiatry. We have therefore chosen to highlight our values of openness and sharing. Nevertheless, if the desire to specifically develop research in nursing care is not displayed in the acronym “ADRpsy”, it remains a central objective within this collective. French nursing sciences are beginning to structure themselves and we wish to contribute to it in order to affirm and empower the nursing discipline.
• What place for nurses in advanced practice (IPA)?
IPAs are welcome and we hope many will join us. Tristan Lagier, IPA at the CH de Thuir, also played an important role in the creation of ADRpsy. If the master’s training remains too dense to allow the IPAs a significant acquisition of research skills, the productions produced at the end of the cycle (thesis) testify to their commitment and all that they can bring to the discipline and to nursing sciences. The association is there to help them promote their work and, if necessary, encourage meetings to access a doctoral course. APNs, like other professionals, contribute to the epistemological reflection of psychiatric care and therefore have their place at ADRpsy.
• An internal commission is specifically dedicated to nurses, in the future do you envisage other “commissions” depending on the trades?
We are well aware of the trap of bureaucratic stagnation and the dilution of the foundations of associations that it can lead to and we remain vigilant not to disperse ourselves. The organization into commissions retains its advantages as long as it remains reasoned and controlled. The commission dedicated to nursing research makes it possible to recall the central role of these professionals within the association. The objectives of this unit are to support and enhance the dynamics of research in psychiatric nursing care which is intensifying year following year in France, but also to develop links with our French-speaking colleagues. I am thinking in particular of our Swiss and Canadian friends who have already joined us.
The other commissions that should see the light of day are not intended to support other specific trades. Rather, they target cross-cutting themes such as the organization of research meetings or the creation of a map of the network and available scientific resources. A commission is also dedicated to the internal functioning of the association which is working, among other things, to build a website which would make available all the resources of the ADRpsy.
• You mention the possibility of “being a resource center for health establishments in the implementation of their research system in psychiatric care”, do you envisage a training activity, advice?
The association is not intended to carry out consulting or training activities. On the other hand, we are in a position to promote exchanges and the sharing of experiences which can inspire establishments wishing to initiate a research department within their institution. We often meet directors of care or establishments who would like to get started but do not know where to start. The strength of ADRpsy is also a network of experienced professionals who know the difficulties in the field and can share their experiences.
• You wish to position the ADRPsy as interlocutor of the public policies, how will you deploy yourself and on which axes?
For several years, research in psychiatric care has been perceived and recognized by “unusual interlocutors” who finally measure the scope of our contributions to the discipline. It enjoys credibility and legitimacy linked to the quality of our work and above all, to its practical operation. It is now a question of consolidating these places by giving them a more substantial foundation. Thus, we participate in national research coordination, in working groups of the National Commission of Psychiatry (CNP), and we work with ARS who can rely on our work, in particular in the ARA region. The research work of the ADRpsy in connection with the lesser use of isolation and restraint measures are today a reference and place us vis-à-vis politicians and institutions as significant actors. Care research is a means of consolidating our position as interlocutors at all these levels.
