This book is about psychiatric nursing in Bangladesh. Bangladesh, a densely populated South Asian nation with around 170 million people, has recently transitioned to a lower-middle-income country, yet it faces a significant dual burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases. There is an extreme shortage of nurses in Bangladesh where currently (as of February 2023) 77,838 registered nurses are available. As per a cautious projection, the demand for nurses will be 483,000 in 2030. The latest estimate revealed that there are 0.43 psychiatric nurses for every 100,000 patients. Currently, no textbook is available in Bangladesh specifically focused on psychiatric nursing, despite the country's urgent need for mental health education. This book would provide basic insights and culturally relevant skills to help bridge the health services in the country. Offering localized content, practical case studies, and context-specific interventions will equip the next generation of nurses to better serve the mental health needs of Bangladeshi communities. There is no similar book in the market on psychiatric nursing in Bangladesh. Hence this will be the first book of its kind according to the curriculum of BSc Nursing in Bangladesh.
Dr. S M Yasir Arafat is currently working as an Associate Consultant of Psychiatry at Bangladesh Specialized Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is an Associate Professor of Frontier University Garowe, Somalia, an Associate Fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, and a Senior Research Fellow of the Biomedical Research Foundation, Bangladesh. He was affiliated with the University of Bristol, UK, as a Visiting Senior Research Associate (August 2021-2023) and an Honorary Research Fellow with Dnet (October 2023-25). He completed his MD in Psychiatry from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, and his MBBS from the Dhaka Medical College, Bangladesh. He also did an MPH in Health Economics and an MBA in Marketing. Dr. Arafat has (co)authored more than 400 peer-reviewed articles and 50 book chapters, and (co)edited more than 15 books with Springer. He is the lead editor of the book series South Asian Perspectives in Mental Health and Psychology with Springer. He has been included in the global 2% researcher list in 2021-23, and 2025. He is an editorial member of more than 10 leading journals in mental health, published by Elsevier, Wiley, Springer, Routledge, and Sage. His research focused on mental health, suicidal behavior, psychometrics, panic buying, and psycho-sexual disorders.
Hasina Akter is currently working as an Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Nursing at Bangladesh Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. She focuses on mental health and psychiatric nursing. She completed MSN in Mental Health & Psychiatric Nursing from the National Institute of Advanced Nursing Education and Research and BSc in Nursing from the Dhaka University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. She is a PhD fellow at Bangladesh Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Hasina Akter has (co)authored more than 20 peer-reviewed articles.
