Nursing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nursing - Research Paper Example Insanity, craziness or madness is a pattern of behaviors which makes people a danger to themselves and others. â€Å"Dorothea Dix played an instrumental role in the founding or expansion of more than 30 hospitals for the treatment of the mentally ill† (I Tell What I Have Seen—The Reports of Asylum Reformer Dorothea Dix, p.624). This paper briefly analyses the history of Dorothea Lynde Dix and her contributions to the society as a social reformer and a dedicated nurse. Dorothea Linde Dix was born on April 4, 1802 in Hampden, Maine. Today the land where Dix’s house stood is called the Dorothea Dix Park (Colman, p.12). When Dorothea was born, Thomas Jefferson was American president and only 16 states were there in America. Maine was not a state at that time. She was grown up first in Worcester, Massachusetts, and then went to Boston at the age of twelve, in order to stay with wealthy grandmother. The major purpose of her journey towards Boston was to escape from her alcoholic and abusive father. Joseph Dix was her father and Mary Bigelow was her mother. The Dix family had two other children also, born after Dorothea. Dorothea’s social activities started at the age of 19. ... She published a small book of facts for schoolteachers during this period which became extremely popular. â€Å"By the time of the Civil War, Conversations on Common Things; or, Guide to Knowledge: With Questions had been reprinted 60 times† (I Tell What I Have Seen—The Reports of Asylum Reformer Dorothea Dix, p.624). This book was written as a conversation between a mother and daughter and she tried to criticize the discrimination in giving education to men and women. Dix failed to get proper education because of the social discrimination existed during her period with respect to the education of the men and women. Only the male community got better education during her period. She has restarted her educational activities in 1831 and opened another model school for the girls. However, she could not continue her activities because of the failure of her health again. She suffered a mental illness during this period and her ill health ended her teaching career which motiv ated her to look for other options of social activities. She went to England in 1836 for better treatment and this journey has shaped her career as a dedicated social reformer. â€Å"Dorothea’s growth and development from a teacher of young ladies to the Samaritan of the mentally afflicted is a fascinating story†(Dorothea Dix, Forgotten Samaritan, p.1441). In England, she got company of a family (William Rathbone family) which engaged in political and social reformation process. Moreover, â€Å"she met prison reformer Elizabeth Fry, and Samuel Tuke, founder of the York Retreat for the mentally ill during this period. (I Tell What I Have Seen—The Reports of Asylum Reformer Dorothea Dix, p.624). Her grandmother’s death