| Abstract: | Mental health nurses need to be aware that their knowledge base does not exist in isolation from other cultural practices. They/I/we must become more willing to engage in theoretical problem solving that directly affects clinical practice issues such as the introduction of evidence‐based practice. Critical discussion of evidence‐based practice should be informed by the complex issues that permeate all our socio‐cultural and linguistic practices. This paper examines some of the major philosophical problems in the debate over the use of evidence‐based practice in mental health nursing using both Foucault’s formulation of discourse analysis and Derrida’s construal of deconstruction. The conclusion reached is that postmodern philosophy offers a way to rid nursing of incessant naiive attacks on either quantitative or qualitative research methods which underpin the debate over evidence‐based practice in mental health nursing. |
