Issues in mental health nursing
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Integrity is interpreted as a holistic phenomenon that incorporates personal characteristics, cognition, interpersonal awareness, and practical enactment-ultimately relating to matters society deems worthwhile. This approach enables integrity to be understood as both a personal morality and a social (group) morality. ⋯ In this article, we provide an overview of the structural and contextual realities of nursing work within organisations and discuss how these factors can compromise whole unit integrity and seriously challenge mental health nurses' commitment to enacting integrity. In the final section of this article, broad suggestions for strengthening individual and group integrity are provided.
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Issues Ment Health Nurs · Apr 2013
Comparative StudyLack of father involvement in research on children with autism spectrum disorder: maternal parenting stress and family functioning.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has an estimated prevalence of greater than 1% of people in the U. S. Caring for children with ASD is stressful and challenging for parents. ⋯ There were differences across the groups of mothers of children with ASD for the discrepancy in expectations for help, from the participants' spouse or relatives, with family tasks, meeting the demands of other work responsibilities, child care, challenging behaviors, and school absences. Mothers of children with ASD are at risk for isolation and stress from negotiating family functions with the fathers of the children. Health care providers can assess for stress and family functioning and may anticipate different needs based on marital status and by father's involvement in decision-making.
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Issues Ment Health Nurs · Apr 2013
Emergency room psychiatric services: a qualitative study of nurses' experiences.
Emergency nurses working in general emergency divisions (EDs) are primarily trained to assess and treat acute physical problems. However, ED nurses often care for psychiatric patients and the perceptions of nurses in EDs regarding their experiences with psychiatric patients have not been well-studied. ⋯ Four themes emerged; powerlessness best captured the overarching and substantive experience of the participants. Based on the findings, implications for emergency room care of psychiatric patients are described.
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Issues Ment Health Nurs · Jan 2013
Posttraumatic stress disorder among spouses of patients discharged from the intensive care unit after six months.
The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) can be traumatic, not only for patients, but also their closest relatives, especially spouses. Within Botswana, a developing country with very few ICUs and not so sophisticated machinery or a generalised lack of counselling for relatives, the ICU experience can be more traumatic. This study reports on the proportion of spouses who continued to experience mental distress, including the incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder, at six months after the discharge of their spouse from an intensive care unit. ⋯ Fifteen spouses reported intrusive memories of ICU and avoided reminders of the experience six months later. Ten spouses reported feeling anxious for a short while after their spouse's discharge but that they had come to terms with the experience. In order to mitigate the trauma experienced by spouses the study suggests that pre- and post-counselling for close relatives, especially spouses, should be implemented at the point of hospitalisation, during admission, and after discharge for a period of at least six months.
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Issues Ment Health Nurs · Jan 2013
The association of pain severity and pain interference levels with abuse experiences and mental health symptoms among 300 mothers: baseline data analysis for a 7-year prospective study.
Women who experience interpersonal violence are at increased risk for anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and chronic pain and other physical disorders. Although the effects of mental health disorders on women's functioning and well-being are well established, less is known about the effects of pain. ⋯ Higher levels of pain severity and pain interference were significantly associated with anxiety, PTSD, and depression symptoms. Mental health symptoms compounded by pain, may leave abused women less able to access resources or practice safety behaviors to protect themselves and their children.