Investigating Experiences Of Mental Health Nurses Working With Patients On A Mental Health Ward.

The way mental illness is conceptualised influences how individuals who are diagnosed with a mental illness are treated and understood. A medical model approach to understanding and treating people suffering mental distress has led to those with diagnosis being treated physically under the assumption that they have some 'thing' existing within them which is causing their distress. Six mental health nurses were interviewed about their experiences working in this environment with people deemed mentally ill. Mental health nurses reportedly spend the most time with patients on a mental health ward. Nurses report working in a ward which is anti-therapeutic and running on a shortage of staff. The medical model influences nursing practice, with physical treatments having the most prominence. Nurses reported a lack of resources impacting on the quality of care they felt able to give, and express a desire to distance themselves from a medical model of treatment.bsc_Psyunpub1617_ethesesunpu