“La asistencia al enfermo mental” de Luis Valenciano: la profesionalización del cuidado al enfermo mental durante la Segunda República Española

Abstract

The reform of psychiatric care, driven by legislative changes implemented throughout the Second Spanish Republic, proposed improvements in the professionalization of caregivers of psychiatric facilities. By Decree of May 16, 1932 junior staff was organized in Practitioners of Medicine and Surgery diploma nurses and psychiatric nurses; and the Diploma in Psychiatric Nurse was regulated. By the Decree of May 17, 1932 the official curriculum was published for this degree and the July 5, 1932, the basis of a competition for a work that would fit the agenda. Psychiatric Superior Council elected and recommended “La asistencia al enfermo mental”(1933) by Luis Valenciano Gaya. The aim of this paper is to analyze the content of the book, including the care the mentally ill needed, as well as physical and attitudinal requirements for being “psychiatric nurse”. It also seeks to value the importance of the manual, while it was not the first published in Spanish, truly presented a national circulation and became the reference work for psychiatric nurses in the 30s.