Exploring Nurses’ Perceptions of Nursing Presence in the Mental Health Setting

Abstract

Background: Nursing presence is a core relational phenomenon in nursing. It is the process of devoting attention to being with and connecting with another, requisite to providing quality, holistic, person-centered care. Presence has been incorporated in the newly revised scope and standards of nursing, as an intervention. There is a paucity of research on the experience of nurses practicing in mental health settings who employ presence to provide unique, relational care. Aims: The aim of this research is to understand the lived experience of nurses providing nursing care and engaging with presence in the mental health setting. Methods: The tenets of hermeneutic phenomenology proposed by Heidegger and Gadamer were used to guide this inquiry. Twelve nurses practicing mental health were interviewed on Zoom using a semistructured interview guide and the interview time ranged from 45 min to 1 hr. Data were analyzed using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) process outlined by Smith et al. Results: Four themes are identified: A powerful intervention which fuels healing, Building the bridge, Transcending barriers, and Preserving the well. Conclusions: Nursing presence is implicated as essential to improving the quality of holistic health care, positively impacting patients and nurses. These findings may influence nursing leaders, educators, and administrators to incorporate nursing presence in nursing curricula, develop policies respecting presence, and alter the culture of the health care environment.