Disconfirmed in one's otherness: A comparison between the nurse's view of the patient's past, present and future and the patient's own view of the past, present and future

Abstract

This study is part of a larger project, the aim of which is to elucidate "mental health nurses" attitudes towards their patients. In this study, nurses and patients attitudes are described from the perspective of both parties using a qualitative approach. The informants were selected from a rehabilitation unit for young adults, below 40, suffering from psychosis at a psychiatric clinic that provides acute psychiatric care. The informant group consisted of three dyads: three patients with various diagnoses and three nurses with primary responsibility for the patients daily care. The aim of this particular study was to extend our preliminary understanding of nurses attitudes towards psychiatric patients in the context of psychiatric in-patient care, by elucidating the patient's "inner" picture of her/his past, present and future and the nurse's picture of the same patient's past, present and future. Data were collected and analysed using a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach and the narrative picturing technique. For each picture and group, 15 related sub-themes emerged, on the basis of which six themes were formulated. The findings show that the nurses overrate their own importance when it comes to the patient's well-being on the ward. All the nurses emphasize confirmation and safety as the basis of their nursing care, while in the patient's picture the nurses represent a replication of childhood demands, which probably means that nursing care risks becoming a continuation of the patient's childhood estrangement. © 2007 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved.