Developing a mental health nursing model to facilitate the rehabilitation of persons suffering from severe mental illness and their families

D.Cur.Abstract: The mental health services of Namibia are centralised in Windhoek and Oshakati, and strongly follow the medical model in a curative service that does not focus on rehabilitation. Patients stay in hospital for an average of three weeks and are then discharged, but remain outpatients. The outpatient service perpetuates the problematic curative care model, focusing on controlling and alleviating symptoms with medication and not on the social and vocational rehabilitation of the patients. On discharge, persons suffering from severe mental illness will still have active symptoms that range from hallucinations and delusions to depression and anxiety. These symptoms adversely affect their ability to look normal and function normally. People suffering from severe mental illnesses have a long history of being stigmatised, reviled, shunned and shut away. Because of the lack of rehabilitation, these persons’ disabilities increase to the point where they become burdens on their families. From this scenario arises the research question: What can the mental health nurses do to facilitate the rehabilitation of persons suffering from severe mental illnesses? The purpose of this study is to develop a mental health nursing model to facilitate the building of resilience in persons suffering from mental illness and their families. The study described and explored the experiences of such persons, as well as the experiences of their family members and the mental health nurses who care for them. This study used a theory-generating, qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design, in accordance with the four steps described by Chinn and Kramer (2008:185-244). A purposeful sample was selected from the patients, families and nursing staff of the mental health unit of the Ministry of Health and Social Services to participate in qualitative case studies. Data was collected by using phenomenological interviews, observations and field notes. In-depth, phenomenological interviews were conducted with each of the persons in the sample population until data saturation was reached. Audiotape recordings of the interviews were transcribed for data analysis. After transcribing the interviews, it was analysed..