Anne-Grethe Talseth

Nurses' narrations about suicidal psychiatric inpatients

Seventeen Norwegian and two Danish registered nurses specialized in psychiatric nursing narrated their experiences in caring for suicidal psychiatric inpatients. The interview texts were transcribed and interpreted using a phenomenologic-hermeneutic method, inspired by the philosophy of Ricoeur. Two main themes with subthemes were found Distance, which included compassion without emotional identification, mistrusting the patient, being responsible for the patients actions, feelings of guilt, rejecting the patient, being rejected by the patient, and focus on the nurse, and Closeness, which included compassion with emotional identification, trusting the patient through contact, responsibility for the patient making his or her own agenda, being rejected by the patient, temporarily, listening to the patient, and focus on the patient. These findings were interpreted in relation to the ethical demand made on the nurses in their interaction with suicidal patients.

Confirming mental health care in acute psychiatric wards, as narrated by persons experiencing psychotic illness: an interview study

BackgroundIt is important that mental health nurses meet the safety, security and care needs of persons suffering from psychotic illness to enhance these persons’ likelihood of feeling better during their time in acute psychiatric wards. Certain persons in care describe nurses’ mental health care as positive, whereas others report negative experiences and express a desire for improvements. There is limited research on how persons with psychotic illness experience nurses’ mental health care acts and how such acts help these persons feel better. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore, describe and understand how the mental health nurses in acute psychiatric wards provide care that helps persons who experienced psychotic illness to feel better, as narrated by these persons.MethodThis study had a qualitative design; 12 persons participated in qualitative interviews. The interviews were transcribed, content analysed and interpreted using Martin Buber’s concept of confirmation.ResultsThe results of this study show three categories of confirming mental health care that describe what helped the participants to feel better step-by-step: first, being confirmed as a person experiencing psychotic illness in need of endurance; second, being confirmed as a person experiencing psychotic illness in need of decreased psychotic symptoms; and third, being confirmed as a person experiencing psychotic illness in need of support in daily life. The underlying meaning of the categories and of subcategories were interpreted and formulated as the theme; confirming mental health care to persons experiencing psychotic illness.ConclusionConfirming mental health care acts seem to help persons to feel better in a step-wise manner during psychotic illness. Nurses’ openness and sensitivity to the changing care needs of persons who suffer from psychotic illness create moments of confirmation within caring acts that concretely help the persons to feel better and that may enhance their health. The results show the importance of taking the experiential knowledge of persons who have experienced psychotic illness seriously to develop and increase the quality of mental health care in acute psychiatric wards.

Understanding the Experiences of Hearing Voices and Sounds Others Do Not Hear

In this article, we aim to contribute to the understanding of how people with mental illness experience hearing voices and sounds that others do not hear in daily life. We conducted in-depth interviews with 14 people and analyzed the interviews using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. The themes we arrived at included the following: hearing someone else or myself, am I losing my mind?, and daily life recurrently dominated by opposing voices. Our overall understanding of how the voices and sounds were experienced in daily life was that the intentions of others resounded intrusively in the participants and disrupted their lives. The tones and contents of these perplexing perceptions echoed and amplified past, present, and future experiences and concerns. The results elucidate the value that exploring and attempting to understand people’s daily life experiences of hearing voices and sounds might have for the voice hearer, his or her family, and health care providers.

‘‘Sometimes I walk and walk, hoping to get some peace.’’ Dealing with hearing voices and sounds nobody else hears

Our objective in this article is to add to the understanding of how people with mental illness experience dealing with hearing troublesome voices and sounds in everyday life. Fourteen people contributed through in-depth interviews and we analysed these using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. We found that the participants (a) tried to block out the voices and sounds, (b) navigated the health care services, and (c) struggled to come to terms with limitations. Our overall understanding of how the participants dealt with hearing voices is that they sought to be independent and lead ordinary lives despite being troubled by voices. The participants fought desperately to find relief and avoid being overcome by the voices and sounds in intense phases. In less intense phases, they developed ways of getting along with daily life in spite of these experiences. We reflect on the implications of these findings and emphasize the need for care providers to attempt to understand and engage in collaborative explorations with service users in search of the most helpful ways of dealing with hearing troublesome voices and sounds in everyday life.Our objective in this article is to add to the understanding of how people with mental illness experience dealing with hearing troublesome voices and sounds in everyday life. Fourteen people contributed through in-depth interviews and we analysed these using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. We found that the participants (a) tried to block out the voices and sounds, (b) navigated the health care services, and (c) struggled to come to terms with limitations. Our overall understanding of how the participants dealt with hearing voices is that they sought to be independent and lead ordinary lives despite being troubled by voices. The participants fought desperately to find relief and avoid being overcome by the voices and sounds in intense phases. In less intense phases, they developed ways of getting along with daily life in spite of these experiences. We reflect on the implications of these findings and emphasize the need for care providers to attempt to understand and engage in collaborative explorations with service users in search of the most helpful ways of dealing with hearing troublesome voices and sounds in everyday life.Our objective in this article is to add to the understanding of how people with mental illness experience dealing with hearing troublesome voices and sounds in everyday life. Fourteen people contributed through in-depth interviews and we analysed these using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. We found that the participants (a) tried to block out the voices and sounds, (b) navigated the health care services, and (c) struggled to come to terms with limitations. Our overall understanding of how the participants dealt with hearing voices is that they sought to be independent and lead ordinary lives despite being troubled by voices. The participants fought desperately to find relief and avoid being overcome by the voices and sounds in intense phases. In less intense phases, they developed ways of getting along with daily life in spite of these experiences. We reflect on the implications of these findings and emphasize the need for care providers to attempt to understand and engage in collaborative explorations with service users in search of the most helpful ways of dealing with hearing troublesome voices and sounds in everyday life.

I want to go home, but I need to stay: The transition to become ready for discharge from acute psychiatric wards, as narrated by persons who experienced acute psychotic illness

Background: Discharge planning for persons with psychotic illness who are admitted to acute psychiatric wards is critical for decreasing the well-known risk of new phases of psychosis and early rea ...

Responses of persons at risk of suicide: A critical interpretive synthesis

Several nursing studies focus on suicidal persons; yet, a synthesis of such research is unavailable. The aim of this review was to give an inclusive understanding of responses of persons at risk for suicide that guides clinical nursing practice and research.