Mental Health Nurses' Experience of Trauma: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

Résumé fourni par la source

INTRODUCTION: Mental health nurses can experience trauma in their personal and work lives; however there is no prior qualitative research describing these experiences. AIM: Describe mental health nurses' experience of potentially traumatic events in their personal and professional lives. METHOD: Qualitative descriptive study of mental health nurses describing traumatic events in a survey. Content analysis conducted using Foli's trauma framework. RESULTS: Eighty-two mental health nurses described potentially traumatic events. Most (65%) were personal events, including deaths and suicides of family members, domestic and family violence, and adverse childhood experiences. Workplace events included violence, consumer and colleague deaths, second-victim trauma, and trauma from insufficient workplace resources. DISCUSSION: Due to their trauma experiences, nurses are at risk of poorer psychological health and re-traumatisation through their work. LIMITATIONS: Findings are limited to one group of mental health nurses in one setting. IMPLICATIONS: Organisations need to place nurses and other staff at the centre of approaches for addressing trauma, and support nurses' trauma-informed self-care. RECOMMENDATIONS: Organisations have a duty of care to staff. Organisation-wide trauma-informed approaches in mental health services are recommended, that are staff-centred as well as consumer-centred. Continued efforts to reduce avoidable sources of trauma at work, such as violence and lack of workplace resources, are needed.