Experiences of professional nurses working in rural primary health care clinics regarding the nursing management of mentally ill clients in the Eastern Cape

In South Africa, mental health care is being integrated into primary health care services. The integration of services was aimed at increasing the accessibility and availability of all health care services at primary health care level. The integration was well intentioned, and it was hoped that mentally ill clients would benefit from having a service near their homes. However, the process of integration is fraught with challenges, for instance, staff shortages, which lead to ineffective nursing management of mentally ill clients at the primary health care clinics. As a result, one professional nurse is often allocated to manage the clinic services on a daily basis with the assistance of an enrolled nurse or auxiliary nurse. The professional nurses therefore experience high levels of stress due to gross staff shortages and lack of time to conduct proper nursing assessments. This led to the research question: “What are the experiences of professional nurses with regards to the nursing management of mentally ill clients in rural primary health care clinics in the O.R. Tambo District in the Eastern Cape?’’ The proposed objectives of the study were to explore and describe the experiences of professional nurses working in rural primary health care clinics with regard to the nursing management of mentally ill clients. The researcher thereafter made recommendations to the district managers regarding effective nursing management of mentally ill clients in rural primary health care clinics. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was used. The research population comprised of professional nurses working in rural primary health care clinics in the O.R. Tambo District in the Eastern Cape. Purposive sampling was used to identify participants and the sample number was determined by data saturation. Unstructured interviews and observation notes were used to collect data. The eight steps of data analysis suggested by Tesch were utilized to analyze the data. The researcher conducted an in-depth literature review in order to identify research gaps pertaining to the study. To ensure that a high level of validity and reliability was exercised throughout the study, the researcher conformed to Lincoln and Guba’s model of trustworthiness. The study was conducted in an ethical manner and ethical principles were adhered to. Findings: Three themes with subthemes emerged. The study showed that professional nurses experienced challenges related to the nursing management of mentally ill clients. These challenges included shortage of staff, a heavy workload, and lack of resources, lack of in-service training and workshops related to mental health issues coupled with lack of support from the supervisors. Due to the challenges, the mentally ill clients were not getting quality nursing care leading to complications and relapse. Conclusion: It emerged from the study that matters pertaining to mental illness and mental discomfort were still a serious problem in rural areas. The problems were related to the challenges which prevented professional nurses from providing quality nursing care to mentally ill clients with subsequent complications and relapse. Recommendations: Recommendations were made as an effort to ensure that the nursing management of mentally ill clients in rural primary health care clinics is improved. These recommendations were categorized as related to nursing practice, nursing education and nursing research