The attitudes and feelings of mental health nurses towards adolescents and young adults with nonsuicidal self-injuring behaviors

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health

Matejka Pintar Babič¹  Branko Bregar²  Maja Drobnič Radobuljac³ 

[1] Center for Mental Health, University Psychiatric Hospital Ljubljana, Grablovičeva 44a, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia;Center for Mental Health, University Psychiatric Hospital Ljubljana, Grablovičeva 44a, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia;Angela Boškin Faculty of Health Care, Jesenice, Slovenia;Center for Mental Health, University Psychiatric Hospital Ljubljana, Grablovičeva 44a, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia;Medical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia;

关键词: Cutting;    Self-mutilation;    Emotions;    Nurse;    Adolescents;    Young adults;    Self-harm;    Non-suicidal self-injury;    Emergency psychiatry;    Psychotherapeutic unit;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13034-020-00343-5

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAttitudes towards patients with self-harm behaviors are decisive for the quality of the relationship of healthcare professionals towards them, which is further linked to successful treatment. In mental health settings, nurses are the ones spending the longest time caring for these patients. Nurses often experience negative emotions while delivering care which may lead to professional burnout and suboptimal patient care. The purpose of this study was to explore the feelings and attitudes of nurses working in different psychiatric hospital settings toward adolescents and young adults with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI).Subjects and methodsThe subjects were nurses from the tertiary psychiatric hospital who deliver mental health care to patients with NSSI on a daily basis (n = 76; 20 males, 56 females; average age 42 ± 8 years; average working experience 20 ± 9 years). Data were collected via a self-report questionnaire consisting of three parts (sociodemographic data, Emotional Burden, Adapted Self-Harm Antipathy-Scale). In the latter two parts of the questionnaire, the subjects rated their level of agreement with the emotions and statements on a five-point Likert scale. Nonparametric tests were used for statistical analysis. The statistical significance was set to p < 0.05.ResultsThe emotions of nurses towards patients with NSSI were not very negative and the attitudes were positive. Powerlessness was the most prevalent (3.55 ± 1.038) of the studied emotions, followed by uncertainty (3.21 ± 1.225). The subjects disagreed with feeling anger (2.34 ± 1.17) and despair (2.07 ± 1.09) and were undecided about being afraid (3.07 ± 1.2). The nurses with higher education felt more negative emotions than those with medium education. Education did not affect nurses’ attitudes. The nurses from non-psychotherapeutic units felt more negative emotions and less positive attitudes than those from psychotherapeutic units. Gender did not affect the emotions felt towards patients, but the female nurses held more positive and less negative attitudes.ConclusionsThe respondents expressed low levels of negative emotions and positive and caring attitudes towards patients with NSSI, indicating a good predisposition for empathetic work and long-term burnout prevention. However, the differences observed with regards to education, gender and especially working environment indicate the different needs for environmental, educational and supervisory support.

【 授权许可】

CC BY