Lived experiences of psychiatric nurses caring for mental healthcare users with a comorbid disorder at a psychiatric hospital in Limpopo Province

Abstract: Caring for mental health care users (MHCUs) with comorbid disorders has always been a challenge and requires expert knowledge, skills, intuition, feelings and empathy. Comorbid disorders create significant challenges for the psychiatric nurses caring for these MHCUs. A comorbid disorder refers to the simultaneous manifestation of two or more disorders in a patient. In this study, it means a mental healthcare user is suffering from a physical and a mental disorder, such as schizophrenia and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). As a result, the objectives of this study were to: • To explore and describe the lived experiences of psychiatric nurses caring for MHCUs with a comorbid disorder in a psychiatric hospital in Limpopo Province. • To develop specific recommendations to facilitate the mental health of psychiatric nurses caring for MHCUs with a comorbid disorder. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was used, and the research was carried out over two phases. Phase 1 focused on exploring and describing the lived experiences of psychiatric nurses caring for MHCU with a comorbid disorder in a psychiatric hospital in Limpopo Province. Phase 2 focused on specific recommendations to facilitate the mental health of these psychiatric nurses. Purposive sampling was employed in selecting participants for the study. The inclusion criteria were psychiatric nurses caring for MHCUs with a comorbid disorder in a psychiatric hospital in Limpopo Province. Participants could be male or female, and had to be able to communicate in English. Data were collected using in-depth phenomenological interviews, observational notes and field notes. The central question posed to the participants was, “What is it like to care for MHCUs with a comorbid disorder?” Eight participants were interviewed, and data saturation was reached...M.Cur. (Nursing Sciences