A descriptive account is presented of a community psychiatric
nursing service based at a psychiatric teaching hospital in
Edinburgh. The object of the study was to contribute to the
identification and analysis of the role and functions of community
psychiatry nurses.
The study was focused mainly on nurse-patient contact and
on the process and content of nurse—patient interaction.
The fieldwork for the study was carried out in 1972-73-
The main instruments used were self-administered record schedules
reporting nurses' contacts with patients and their families and
interviews to obtain background information on factors which
influenced the nurses' activities.
It was found that the service was functioning mainly as
an after-care agency. A high proportion of the work of the
service took place in a hospital context; the case-load had close
connections with hospital care, and the nurses mainly called on
hospital resources and staff in support of their work. It was
concluded that the staff were acting primarily as intermediaries
between the patient and the hospital, and that their direct care
functions were secondary to this.
Factors which influenced the activities of the nurses included
role concepts, role—relationships (which presented some problems)
and the needs of the patient and his family. A combination
of clinical-psychiatric and psycho-social needs were observed
and it was inferred from the evidence that the former were better
catered for than the latter. Particular problems in family
relationships were recognised. It was concluded that the
situation demanded enhanced skills which could be developed through
supervised practice. It was also suggested that the functions and
case-loads of community psychiatric nursing services were profoundly
influenced by their location and organisation, and that these should,
therefore, be decided in the light of an explicit formulation of
desired objectives
