Caught between compassion and control: exploring the challenges associated with inpatient adolescent mental healthcare in an independent hospital

Aim. To extend our understanding of how healthcare assistants construct and managedemanding situations in a secure mental health setting and to explore the effects ontheir health and well-being, to provide recommendations for enhanced support.Background. Contemporary literature acknowledges high rates of occupationalstress and burnout among healthcare assistants, suggesting the context in whichthey work places them at elevated risk of physical harm and psychologicaldistress. Yet, there is a deficit of qualitative research exploring the experiences ofhealthcare assistants in adolescent inpatient facilities.Design. An exploratory multi-method qualitative approach was used to collectdata about the challenges faced by healthcare assistants working on secureadolescent mental health wards in an independent hospital during 2014.Method. Fifteen sets of data were collected. Ten participants completed diaryentries and five participants were also interviewed allowing for triangulation.Data were analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis.Findings. The findings illustrated how inpatient mental healthcare is a unique anddistinctive area of nursing, where disturbing behaviour is often normalized anddetached from the outside world. Healthcare assistants often experienced tensionbetween their personal moral code which orientate them towards empathy andsupport and the emotional detachment and control expected by the organization,contributing to burnout and moral distress.Conclusions. This study yielded insights into mental health nursing andspecifically the phenomenon of moral distress. Given the ever-increasing demandfor healthcare professionals, the effects of moral distress on both the lives ofhealthcare assistants and patient care, merits further study

Feasibility of the Schizophrenia Hope Scale-9: A Psychometric Study

Hope is essential in rehabilitating persons with schizophrenia, though scales to measure hope are not appropriate for this population. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to identify the psychometric properties of the Schizophrenia Hope Scale-9 (SHS-9) using data from 83 people with schizophrenia in four mental health centers and 762 healthy persons from two universities in South Korea. The total SHS-9 score is calculated by adding all items’ scores and ranges from 0 to 18. The mean (standard deviation) SHS-9 score of the participants with schizophrenia and healthy participants was 11.53 (SD = 4.78) and 14.78 (SD = 3.19), respectively. Lower scores indicate a lower level of hope. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.92 with a four-week test-retest reliability of 0.89. Criterion-related construct validity was established by examining the correlation between the SHS-9 and the State-Trait Hope Inventory scores. Divergent validity was identified through a negative relationship of SHS-9 with the Beck Hopelessness Scale. In persons with schizophrenia and healthy college students, Bartlett’s test of sphericity yielded χ2 = 465.03 (p < 0.001) and χ2 = 2679.24 (p < 0.001) respectively. The values of the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy were 0.89 and 0.90, respectively. The construct validity of the SHS-9 was confirmed through principal component analysis with extraction methods, which resulted in a one-factor solution, accounting for 61.83% of the total item variance. This study provides evidence for the validity and reliability of the SHS-9; therefore, it could be used to study the relationships between hope and other variables (e.g., depression and recovery) in persons with schizophrenia and measure the effect of psychosocial interventions on their hope

Effects of Food Art Therapy on the Self-Esteem, Self-Expression, and Social Skills of Persons with Mental Illness in Community Rehabilitation Facilities

Persons with mental illness often have low self-esteem, a lack of self-expression, and poor social skills. This study used a quasi-experimental two-group pre-test-post-test design to investigate the effects of food art therapy on the self-esteem, self-expression, and social skills of persons with mental illness attending community rehabilitation facilities. The authors recruited persons with mental illness aged 18 years or older attending three community rehabilitation facilities. Participants in two rehabilitation facilities participated in food art therapy (experimental groups 1 and 2; n = 15 for each group), and participants in the third rehabilitation facility participated in regular programs of the facility (control group, n = 30). Participants in the experimental groups attended a total of eight sessions of food art therapy twice per week for four weeks. The Korean versions of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale, self-expression scale, and social skill rating system were administered at pre- and post-test in both the experimental and control groups. The self-esteem, self-expression, and social skills of the experimental group improved significantly compared to the control group. The findings suggested that food art therapy would be an excellent psychosocial intervention to help persons with mental illness to rehabilitate in the community

Effect of Ethics Seminar on Moral Sensitivity and Ethical Behavior of Clinical Nurses

While nursing is an ethical profession, unethical behavior among nurses is increasing worldwide. This study examined the effects of an ethics seminar on nurses’ moral sensitivity and ethical behavior. A total of 35 nurses (17 experimental, 18 control) were recruited. The ethics seminar was held over a six-month period from May to October 2018 and comprised six sessions held once a month for two hours. Moral sensitivity and unethical behavior were measured at the start and end of the seminar. Moral sensitivity and unethical behavior showed a negative correlation (r = −0.400, p < 0.05). After the ethics seminar, the experimental group’s moral sensitivity was not significantly increased (t = −1.039, p = 0.314). The experimental group’s mean scores of unethical behavior at pre- and posttest were 12.59 and 9.47, respectively, indicating a statistically significant difference (t = 3.363, p = 0.004). There was no statistically significant difference in the mean score in both moral sensitivity and unethical behavior at pre- and posttest in the control group. Thus, ethics seminars can reduce the risk of unethical behavior among nurses. Regular ethics seminars and training must be provided to nurses as part of their curriculum/practice