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

Abstract

Background Attitudes 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 methods The 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. Results The 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. Conclusions The 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.

Mental health nurses' perception of self‐harm among people receiving psychiatric care in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

“…Working with people who SH and are potentially suicidal can be daunting for nurses who have limited experience of psychiatric care, particularly if they hold the belief that a person has intent to die and/or the purpose of the behaviour is to manipulate situations. Regarding SH, Babic et al (2020) found that most studies of nurses were conducted in acute and emergency care settings, and primarily reported nurses' negative attitudes towards patients who SH. Chambers et al (2010) found that healthcare professionals per se hold more negative attitudes towards mental illness than the general public.…”

Self-Mutilation Among Adolescents: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis

“…Thus, it is necessary that nursing professionals, in assisting patients with self-mutilation behavior, offer emotional support to subjects and their families with the purpose of strengthening the professional-patient bond, providing a comforting and stimulating environment for continuity of treatment and search for more help, since the positive perception of care is especially important in order to facilitate communication with the patient for an agile and qualitative resolution by nurses. 9 However, in the assistance provided by health professionals, there is a deficit in terms of caring for the adolescents' family. For the most part, this is justified by the insecurity of how to approach the theme.…”

“…7 Thus, given the role that nursing professionals play in health care, especially at the primary care level, it becomes essential to understand the causes and motivations that lead to self-mutilation in order to avoid ineffective care, with stigmas, banalizations and judgments that can result in bad experiences and, consequently, interfere with the search for health services. [8][9] In this regard, studies on self-mutilation are of fundamental importance to equip the nursing team with a specific look with regard to the identification of early signs of cases, with a view to producing holistic and specific assistance aimed at adolescents' needs.…”

Assistência a pessoas com autolesão não suicida: construção e validação de um cenário simulado

“…Nesse sentido, o acolhimento e o gerenciamento do comportamento devem ser baseados na confiança, confidencialidade e empatia. Os profissionais de saúde são um pilar essencial no acolhimento, avaliação e acompanhamento de adolescentes com autolesões não suicidas e seus familiares, juntamente com estratégias de desestigmatização, identificação e prevenção de autolesões (7) .…”

“…No entanto, alguns estudos destacam que os profissionais e estudantes de saúde sentem a necessidade de aprimorar suas habilidades para a identificação, avaliação de risco e assistência de pessoas com autolesões não suicidas (3,6) . Enfatizam ainda que a falta de qualificação e capacitação dos profissionais está associada a sentimentos e atitudes negativos no acolhimento das vítimas de violência autoinfligida (7)(8) .…”