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‘Family in the waiting room’: A Swedish study of nurses' conceptions of family participation in acute psychiatric inpatient settings
Author(s) -
Blomqvist Marjut,
Ziegert Kristina
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
international journal of mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.911
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1447-0349
pISSN - 1445-8330
DOI - 10.1111/j.1447-0349.2010.00714.x
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , autonomy , nursing , interview , medicine , unit (ring theory) , family medicine , psychology , paleontology , mathematics education , political science , law , biology
Family plays an important role in the care provided for patients in all areas of nursing. However, relatively few studies deal with the focus of the present study: the ways that nurses experience family participation in acute psychiatric inpatient settings. Data were collected by interviewing 18 nurses who had experience working in such settings. A phenomenographical approach was used to analyse the interviews. Three descriptive categories were found: family participation as a part of the caring process, barriers to family participation, and nurses' resources in family participation. The findings show that the nurses' conceptions of family participation varied, and that the family was not always a priority in this caring context. The implementation of family participation was often only based on the nurses' own interests and insights. This could mean that family participation differed substantially, depending on which nurse a family encountered, and which unit the patient was admitted at. Finally, nurses had little professional autonomy, and organizational support and education were also lacking.