Greek mental health nurses' practices and attitudes in the management of acute cases

The aim of this study was to identify nurses' interventions, views, and attitudes concerning critical incidents. Using semi-structured interviews, a descriptive study was conducted among mental health nurses working in three major psychiatric hospitals. Analysis of nurses' audio-recorded data indicated that they had used a number of different interventions under six main categories: counseling, performing security practices, monitoring thinking disturbances, contacting the psychiatrist on-call, contacting the chief nurse on-call, and administering medication. The need for specialized training was noticed and problems like accountability, nurse-patient interactions, and nurse-doctor relationships were considered crucial by the mental health nurses. © 2013 Informa Healthcare USA, Inc

Prevalence of Secondary Traumatic Stress Among Psychiatric Nurses in Greece

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of secondary traumatic stress/compassion fatigue (STS/CF), burnout (BO) and compassion satisfaction (CS) in psychiatric nurses, and their risk factors. The Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL R-IV) and a demographic and work related characteristics questionnaire were distributed to 174 psychiatric nurses in 12 public hospitals in Greece. The majority of participants were at the high risk category for STS/CF (44.8%) and BO (49.4%), while only 8.1% of nurses expressed high potential for CS. Awareness of the factors associated with STS may help nurses to prevent or offset the development of this condition. © 2015 Elsevier Inc

Containment and therapeutic relationships in acute psychiatric care spaces: the symbolic dimensions of doors

Background: There is an increasing trend of door locking practices in acute psychiatric care. The aim of the present study was to illuminate the symbolic dimensions of doors in Greek mental health nurses’ experiences of open and locked working spaces. Results: A sequential mixed-method designexplored the experiences of nurses working in both open and locked psychiatric acute care units. Participants experiences revealed four types of doors related to the quality of recovery-oriented care: (a) the open door, (b) the invisible door, (c) the restraining door, and (d) the revolving door. Open doors and permeable spacesgenerated trust and facilitated the diffusion of tension and the necessary perception of feeling safe in order to be involved in therapeutic engagement. When the locked unit was experienced as a caring environment, the locked doors appeared to be “invisible”. The restraining doors symbolized loss of control, social distance and stigma echoing the consequences of restrictingpeople’s crucial control over spaceduring the COVID-19 pandemicin relation toviolence within families, groups and communities. The revolving door (service users’ abscondence/re-admission) symbolised the rejection of the offered therapeutic environment and was a source of indignation and compassion fatigue in both open and locked spaces attributed to internal structural acute care characteristics (limited staffing levels, support, resources and activities for service users) as well as ‘locked doors’ in the community (limited or no care continuity and stigma). Conclusions: The impact of COVID-19 restrictions on people’s crucial control of space provides an impetus for erecting barriers masked by the veil of habit and reconsidering the impact of the simple act of leaving the door open/locked to allow both psychiatric acute care unit staff and service users to reach their potential. © 2021, The Author(s)

Wounded healers during the COVID-19 syndemic: Compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction among nursing care providers in Greece

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate compassion fatigue (CF) and compassion satisfaction (CS) in nursing care providers in COVID-19 units. Methods: A mixed-method study with 105 nurses. Results: 23% of participants reported high CF risk while 77% expressed high to moderate potential for CS. Adequate preparation/education, clear and accountable leadership, and team sharing of feelings, experiences, and responsibilities during the transition in the COVID-19 unit helped participants to deal with overwhelming anxiety which if unattended could bring about frustration and long-lasting feelings of powerlessness. Practical Implications: In the face of the present and future pandemics, there is a clear need to prepare healthcare organizations and nursing care providers to cope with the emotional content of public health emergencies while protecting themselves and avoid absorbing unmanageable emotions. © 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC

Psychiatric Care in Acute Care Units with Locked Doors: Nursing Care Providers’ Perceptions and Experiences

Social distancing and the recent lockdown due to COVID-19 have increased the feeling of disconnection, isolation, and suffering in vulnerable individuals and have brought forward questions regarding locked acute care psychiatric units that cannot be answered by the literature. In Greece, there is no available research on how locked ward environments are perceived and experienced by mental health professionals. The aim of the present study is to illuminate nursing care providers’ perceptions of psychiatric care in units with locked doors. Fifteen nursing care providers were interviewed and inductive content analysis was employed to explore their experiences of working in locked psychiatric acute care units. Negative and positive feelings about door locking did not appear to match the specific system of practice. Some participants described how locked doors influenced their professional role by placing emphasis on control rather than care while others regarded locked doors as a symbolic way of therapeutic boundary setting. Participants had positive experiences when they perceived their working environment as caring. The therapeutic benefits of locked doors were prominent when locked doors were perceived as “invisible.” © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Anxiety, Stress and the Resilience of University Students during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on everyone’s daily lives with short-term or long-term consequences. Among the affected population, university students were studied by researchers specifically due to the total change to their educational way of learning and the courses they attended. The present study aimed to assess the psychological difficulties experienced by the university students of Greece during the first wave of the outbreak. Methods: 288 university nursing students completed an electronic questionnaire after consent. The sample included students from all years of study. The questionnaire included demographic data and questions about mental health status, resilience level, coping strategies, positive and negative emotions and an optimism assessment. Results: Depression (44.8%), anxiety (36.8%) and stress (40.3%) were experienced by the students. Females had significantly greater anxiety and stress signs compared to males (p < 0.001). The resilience score was significantly greater in males, as it was for the Positive Affect Score. Students in the fourth year of study used significantly more active/positive coping strategies than students in the first (p = 0.016) or second year of study (p = 0.005). Conclusion: Several students experienced serious mental disorders during the first period of the COVID-19 outbreak. Variables such as gender, year of study, age, positive and negative affect score, life orientation test score and coping strategies were identified as factors contributing to this situation. Special attention must be paid to female students as they mentioned negative emotions more frequently than males. Further research on the academic population could be beneficial to university administrators. © 2022 by the authors