| |
Records |
Links |
|
Author |
McLean, J.M. |
|
| |
Title |
Pushing the boundaries: Relationships with adolescents |
Type |
|
| |
Year |
2007 |
Publication |
|
Abbreviated Journal |
Victoria University of Wellington Library |
|
| |
Volume |
|
Issue |
|
Pages |
|
|
| |
Keywords  |
Psychiatric Nursing; Mental health; Adolescents; Nurse-patient relations |
|
| |
Abstract |
Therapeutic relationships are central to mental health nursing. The nurse's role in maintaining professional yet therapeutic boundaries within this relationship can be challenging. When therapeutic boundaries are breeched within the nurse adolescent relationship the adolescent's safety within this relationship is compromised. There is currently limited literature on how nurses are managing professional boundaries in relationships with adolescents in this setting. The adolescent's nature is to push boundaries; therefore the nurse needs to be acutely aware of this boundary pushing in everyday practice settings. For the safety of the adolescent and the nurse it is vital the nurse understands her role in managing the professional boundary. This thesis explores, through the use of narrative inquiry, four adolescent mental health nurses' experiences of assessing, understanding and maintaining therapeutic boundaries with adolescents in a mental health setting in New Zealand. The unique and specific implications for adolescent mental health nursing are discussed. Three key themes emerged from the analysis and findings: the importance of the nurse clarifying his/her role; the learning that occurs throughout the practice journey; and the role of the nurse in keeping the adolescent and the nurse safe. These findings highlight the importance of clinical supervision and open communication with senior nurses and mentors, which assist the nurse in monitoring practice. When nurses do not have sufficient knowledge of the fundamental principles of adolescent mental health nursing; such as knowledge and skills in both adolescent development and psychodynamic nursing, they are at risk of boundary crossings. Recommendations from this research include more emphasis on psychodynamic nursing principles in nursing education and nursing practice. There is a need for specialised education for nurses in child and adolescent mental health nursing. Nursing entry to practice programmes for new graduate nurses working in mental health, could assist in providing this. There is a call for further research into therapeutic relationships and professional boundaries in this complex nursing specialty. |
|
| |
Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ 762 |
Serial |
748 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
| |
|
| |
|
Author |
Martin, H.E. |
|
| |
Title |
Marking space: A literary psychogeography of the practice of a nurse artist |
Type |
|
| |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
|
Abbreviated Journal |
Victoria University of Wellington Library |
|
| |
Volume |
|
Issue |
|
Pages |
|
|
| |
Keywords |
Psychiatric Nursing; Mental health; Nurse-patient relations |
|
| |
Abstract |
The author suggests that the thesis as a production of disciplined work presented in a creative style is congruent with performance and presentation best practice in community arts. As a practising nurse artist the author describes creating spaces of alternate ordering within the mental health field environment. “I also inhabit the marginal space of the artist working in hospital environments. This Other Place neither condones nor denies the existence of the mental health field environment as it is revealed. Yet, it seeks to find an alternative to the power and subjectivity of the [social] control of people with an experience of mental illness that inhabit this place both voluntarily and involuntarily. I have used a variety of texts to explore the experience and concept of Otherness. The poems are intended to take you, as a reader where you could not perhaps emotionally and physically go, or might have never envisaged going. They also allow me as the author to more fully describe the Otherness of place that is neither the consumer story nor the nurse's notation, but somewhere alternately ordered to these two spaces. Drawing on the heuristic research approaches of Moustakas and literary psychogeography , particularly the work of Guy Debord, this thesis creates the space to explore the possibilities of resistance and change and the emergence of the identity of the nurse artist within the mental health field environment”. |
|
| |
Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ |
Serial |
685 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
| |
|
| |
|
Author |
Clayton, J.R. |
|
| |
Title |
The recovery of hope: A personal journey through paradigms toward emancipatory practice |
Type |
|
| |
Year |
2004 |
Publication |
|
Abbreviated Journal |
Victoria University of Wellington Library |
|
| |
Volume |
|
Issue |
|
Pages |
|
|
| |
Keywords |
Psychiatric Nursing; Mental health; Teaching methods; Nursing philosophy |
|
| |
Abstract |
This study traces the author's transition from being a mental health nurse to becoming a facilitator of an education programme, the Health and Wellbeing course, for those in recovery from mental illnesses. Within this transition, she describes a journey from disease-focused paradigms toward emancipatory paradigms, evidenced by her application of the recovery approach to her teaching. The 'recovery approach' proposed by the Mental Health Commission in November 1998, and other models of health, are explored using the methodology of descriptive/interpretive philosophical inquiry, autobiographical narrative and a dialectical research design. The author draws from the philosophies of phenomenology and existentialism to present excerpts from her journals, exemplars, poetry and artwork which illuminate epiphanies occurring as she integrates health paradigms in the design of the Health and Wellbeing course. Within this process the recovery approach is revealed as being consistent with the teaching principles of the Health and Wellbeing course. The author goes on to say that the dialectical research design reveals paradoxes and transformations in nursing, medical, psychological, and humanistic paradigms within the New Zealand socio-political context from the 1970s to 2003. The way these are integrated into her practice as an educator, becomes evident in the dialectical research cycles of being, thinking, developing a project, the encounter of teaching, making sense and communication. These cycles reveal her being in the roles of nurse and educator and the thinking through of paradigms that lead to the design and philosophy of a Health and Wellbeing course, the encounter of teaching, and the communication of insights gained. The author's main objective is to show the importance of nurses and educators developing a reflective consciousness when working with sufferers of mental illness. This reflective consciousness involves three levels: The primary level, or raw experience; the social level, or our socio-political contexts and social values, and, the realised level, insights gained about knowledge and experience. |
|
| |
Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ |
Serial |
854 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
| |
|
| |
|
Author |
Vermeulen, J. |
|
| |
Title |
“And there's the likes of me”: A phenomenological study of the experience of four women inpatients at a mental health unit |
Type |
|
| |
Year |
2002 |
Publication |
|
Abbreviated Journal |
Victoria University of Wellington Library |
|
| |
Volume |
|
Issue |
|
Pages |
|
|
| |
Keywords |
Psychiatric Nursing; Patient satisfaction; Hospitals; Nurse-patient relations |
|
| |
Abstract |
This research draws on the experiences of four women whilst they were inpatients at the Mental Health Unit in Southland. The Husserlian path of phenomenology was followed and in-depth interviewing used to collect data. Colaizzi's method of analysis enabled accurate interpretation of transcripts. The overall goal of this research was to provide health professionals with an opportunity to inform their practice, based on what consumers were saying about their experience of hospitalisation. Themes emerged through participants relating their experience by using comparisons with either their outside world or previous episodes of hospitalisation. Through analysis, two fundamental structures became evident within the findings. These were 'the environment as containment' and 'the road to recovery'. The author concludes that this study raises significant issues surrounding the experience of hospitalisation at the Mental Health Unit that have implications for future research and for future service delivery. |
|
| |
Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ |
Serial |
1246 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
| |
|
| |
|
Author |
Lyall, C. |
|
| |
Title |
Therapeutic relationships: What are inpatient registered nurses perceptions of the factors which influence therapeutic relationship development? |
Type |
|
| |
Year |
2003 |
Publication |
|
Abbreviated Journal |
Victoria University of Wellington Library |
|
| |
Volume |
|
Issue |
|
Pages |
|
|
| |
Keywords |
Psychiatric Nursing; Registered nurses; Nurse-patient relations; Mental health |
|
| |
Abstract |
The question explored in this research project is: What are inpatient registered nurses' perceptions of the factors which influence therapeutic relationship development? The literature reviewed for this project includes the history of interpersonal relationships in nursing; therapeutic relationships; what constitutes these relationships. Also discussed is literature about phenomenology as the underlying theoretical and philosophical position that informs the research method. To answer the research question a single focus group was used to gather data from a group of registered nurses practising in inpatient mental health units. Focus groups as a data collection method produce data and insights that would not be accessible without the group interaction. The key themes to emerge from the data analysis were; time, environment, knowing / self-awareness, compassion and power imbalance / empowerment. These key themes are discussed in relation to the literature and the wider context of the mental health care environment. The contribution this research makes to nursing includes a list of recommendations to nurses, nurse leaders and managers who aim to provide therapeutic mental health unit environments. |
|
| |
Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ |
Serial |
1245 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
| |
|
| |
|
Author |
Thompson, S.A. |
|
| |
Title |
Getting it right: An exploration of compulsive caregiving and helping profession syndrome |
Type |
|
| |
Year |
2000 |
Publication |
|
Abbreviated Journal |
Victoria University of Wellington Library |
|
| |
Volume |
|
Issue |
|
Pages |
|
|
| |
Keywords |
Psychology; Nursing |
|
| |
Abstract |
This thesis is a theoretical exploration of the concepts of 'Compulsive caregiving' and 'helping profession syndrome' in relation to the choice of nursing as a career. These concepts are derived from Bowlby's attachment theory and psychodynamic psychotherapy. Both have evolved from psychoanalytic theory. The thesis explains Bowlby's development of compulsive caregiving in health professionals. The author notes that her life history and experience as a nurse educator and as a nurse practicing psychotherapy support this theoretical explanation. An argument is developed that the propensity towards compulsive caregiving is a strength in nurses. Nursing places high value on caring and many of the traits exhibited by compulsive caregivers are desirable in nurses. Nursing as a caring interpersonal process is explored with reference to the literature. However, nursing has been identified as a stressful occupation. Support strategies such as professional supervision and reflective practice are discussed. Thesis concludes with a suggestion for further research on compulsive caregiving and helping profession syndrome. |
|
| |
Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ 813 |
Serial |
797 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
| |
|
| |
|
Author |
Scott, W. |
|
| |
Title |
Listen to the beat of my heart: The lived experience of panic attack in undergraduate nursing students: An interpretive inquiry |
Type |
|
| |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
|
Abbreviated Journal |
Victoria University of Wellington Library |
|
| |
Volume |
|
Issue |
|
Pages |
|
|
| |
Keywords |
Psychology; Students; Nursing; Midwifery |
|
| |
Abstract |
This interpretive inquiry explores the lived experience of 3 undergraduate nursing students and one midwifery student who have panic attacks. The aim of the research is to give voice to these students and to raise awareness among nurse educators about the impact that panic attacks may have for them. The research question asks, “what is the lived experience of panic attack in undergraduate nursing students?” A semi structured interview was conducted with each student in order to gain significant data. The research identified four key themes implicit to the lived experience of panic attack analysis: Listen to the beat of my heart (embodiedness), fearfulness, shamefulness, and holding one's own (coping). The findings suggest that the lived experience of panic attack is embedded in the lifeworld of lived body, lived time, lived relation, and lived space. Panic attack affects students physically and emotionally and interpersonally. The significant finding is that nurse educators need be aware of the coping or non-coping strategies used by students and, most importantly, recognise the impact that panic attacks have on their study. |
|
| |
Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ 735 |
Serial |
721 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
| |
|
| |
|
Author |
Wilson, H.V. |
|
| |
Title |
Surveillance or support: Divergent discourses in Plunket nursing practice |
Type |
|
| |
Year |
2000 |
Publication |
|
Abbreviated Journal |
Victoria University of Wellington Library |
|
| |
Volume |
|
Issue |
|
Pages |
|
|
| |
Keywords |
Public health; Children; Community health nursing; Plunket |
|
| |
Abstract |
Plunket nurses are New Zealand child health nurses who work in the community with the families of new babies and preschool children. Their work is called child health surveillance and this is considered to involve routine and unproblematic practices which are generally carried out in homes and clinics in the context of a relationship with the child's mother (Ministry of Health 1996; Royal New Zealand Plunket Society 1997). However, evidence in the literature that surveillance can have implications for power relations throws doubts on official claims that the relationship between the mother and nurse operates as a partnership (Trout and Polaschek 1996). The purpose of this thesis was to explore the way in which surveillance is constituted within the discourses of Plunket nurses and to examine these discourses for any implications of unequal power relations. Foucauldian discourse theory and poststructuralism, which informed this thesis, provided the opportunity to challenge assumptions about power and knowledge in the child health context. Analysis of the discourses generated by interviews with five Plunket nurses revealed that, contrary to the claims in the official literature, the relationship between the Plunket nurse and the mother is not that of an equal partnership but is constituted in various and unexpected ways. It was through the nurses' discourses of surveillance that the power relations underpinning this relationship were surfaced. While these discourses suggested that many mothers who use the nursing service are actively involved on their own terms, there are a number of women for whom the surveillance activities of the nurse have been shown to be particularly intrusive (Mayall 1986; Clinton 1988; Bloor and McIntosh 1990; Knott and Latter 1999). It may be primarily this unwelcome surveillance which accounts for the considerable number of women who, the statistics show, cease using Plunket services particularly in the early months. It is perhaps for this reason that the nurses in this study locate themselves as being caught between divergent discourses of support and surveillance. Findings indicate that the resolution of this dilemma by abandoning surveillance practices might improve maternal satisfaction with the Plunket nursing service. The author concludes that a child health service responsive to mothers' stated needs rather than institutional requirements or the nurse's own agenda could lead to a more open and equal relationship between mother and nurse. This relationship would be likely to benefit mothers and babies and, at the same time, enhance both nursing practice and nurses' satisfaction with their work. |
|
| |
Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ |
Serial |
899 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
| |
|
| |
|
Author |
Lindsay, N.M. |
|
| |
Title |
Skeletal attraction: Childcare provisions and the recruitment and retention of orthopaedic nurses in New Zealand |
Type |
|
| |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
|
Abbreviated Journal |
Victoria University of Wellington Library |
|
| |
Volume |
|
Issue |
|
Pages |
|
|
| |
Keywords |
Recruitment and retention; Nursing specialties |
|
| |
Abstract |
New Zealand's ageing population is predicted to have increasing degenerative musculoskeletal changes affecting both mobility and morbidity. In response, the New Zealand government is supporting a one hundred per cent increase in the number of elective joint replacements performed across the country from 2004 to 2008. However, like other specialties, orthopaedic nursing is experiencing shortages. In order to improve the recruitment and retention of orthopaedic nurses, as with other nursing specialties, childcare is offered as a strategy for consideration. In 2005, New Zealand parents indicated in an online survey, that in order for them to work, they needed affordable, quality and conveniently located childcare. Nurses have similarly indicated the importance of childcare when considering and managing a balance between their work and home lives. This paper explores contextual work and home life balance dialogues in relationship to nursing recruitment and retention issues and New Zealand nursing. Childcare as a recruitment and retention strategy, is explored in the context of New Zealand nursing and compared with the childcare strategies employed for nurses by Britain and Australia – New Zealand's major competitors for New Zealand nurses. The author concludes that, in light of the international shortage of nurses, childcare is an important recruitment and retention strategy which is currently absent in many of New Zealand's district health boards. Recommendations are offered to support the balance between work and home life for nurses and reconcile orthopaedic nurses to the clinical setting in order to provide the quality and efficient care that is needed for New Zealand's ageing society. |
|
| |
Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ |
Serial |
740 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
| |
|
| |
|
Author |
Wilson, L.J. |
|
| |
Title |
Futurist planning, not a shortage stopgap: Recruitment and retention of registered nurses in New Zealand |
Type |
|
| |
Year |
2001 |
Publication |
|
Abbreviated Journal |
Victoria University of Wellington Library |
|
| |
Volume |
|
Issue |
|
Pages |
|
|
| |
Keywords |
Recruitment and retention; Registered nurses; Policy; Careers in nursing |
|
| |
Abstract |
This literature review critically examines contributing factors to the current nursing shortage in New Zealand, centering on recruitment and retention of registered nurses. There is a dramatic widening between the supply of registered nurses and the demand for their services. All regions in New Zealand are reporting difficulty in hiring experienced and specialty nurses, and recruiting time is lengthening. This report suggests that the shortage is closely linked to factors in the nursing care environment. As a result of multiple factors during the centralising, cost-containing, acuity-increasing decade of the 1990s, the care environment has driven practising nurses out of acute care settings and discouraged new students from entering the profession. The availability of numerous alternative career opportunities has heightened the effect. Continuing causes to the non-selection of nursing as a profession are the influences of wage compression and limited career progression over the lifetime of the nurse, and insufficient orientation and mentoring of new nurses. Recent changes in the health care system have gone unevaluated and without oversight by nursing regulatory agencies – a situation not in the best interests of patients or nurses. A number of both literature-supported and resourceful approaches, including recommendations towards addressing the nursing shortage are proposed in this review. |
|
| |
Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ |
Serial |
1258 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
| |
|
| |
|
Author |
Blanchard, D.L. |
|
| |
Title |
Developing the place and role of family within the culture of critical care nursing: An action research approach |
Type |
|
| |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
|
Abbreviated Journal |
Victoria University of Wellington Library |
|
| |
Volume |
|
Issue |
|
Pages |
|
|
| |
Keywords |
Relationships; Nurse-family relations; Intensive care nursing; Nursing research |
|
| |
Abstract |
This research examines how nurses negotiate the context of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) while working with families. The action research described in this thesis developed through a series of meetings and conversations where the conversations supported the reflexive intent of the research. In commissioning the research, the design of the meetings and conversations were as a series of overlapping actions. Data collection and data analysis occurred in the action research by meetings, reflective conversations, ad libitum observations, and in a research journal. Conceptual maps explain the progress and findings of the research in this thesis while categories distilled from the conversations also support the findings in the research. The Family Action Research Group that was established within this project proposed a Family Assessment Form for the family to provide an assessment of themselves and the patient. Implementing this assessment tool demonstrated that clear information was needed for the family in the ICU. Findings in this research focus on developing action research and family care in ICU. Findings also focused on the role of the researcher being of and not being of the context where action research is undertaken. Recommendations include staff examining relationships for potential asymmetries and seeking ways to address these to support families and staff. Suggested strategies for developing action research in a clinical context include detailed planning, clear focusing, transparency of data, and working to explain change initiatives through the research are also included. |
|
| |
Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ 494 |
Serial |
480 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
| |
|
| |
|
Author |
Dulieu, F. |
|
| |
Title |
Collaborative practice: A study in bridging the gap to transform the delivery of specialist palliative nursing care in residential aged care facilities |
Type |
|
| |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
|
Abbreviated Journal |
Victoria University of Wellington Library |
|
| |
Volume |
|
Issue |
|
Pages |
|
|
| |
Keywords |
Rest homes; Palliative care; Older people; Nursing; Advanced nursing practice; Terminal care; Geriatric nursing |
|
| |
Abstract |
This paper documents a practice development initiative with the aim of formulating a rationale for the professional practice development of a relatively recently conceived nursing initiative; that of a Palliative Care Liaison Nurse (PCLN) role. The project involved conducting an inquiry through a search of the literature with the aim of discovering ways to articulate, then develop, the role to meet the needs of elderly people living in Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs), their family and the whanau. The paper initially explores the concept of liaison roles globally, to consider how this role might be located as an interagency position between palliative care and aged care within the context of Aotearoa/New Zealand. The paper then reveals the perceived skills and personal attributes required by a person in the PCLN role that the author, drawing from personal and professional experience of having been appointed to this position, considers are necessary to effectively manage the diverse dimensions of this role. Bridging the gap is a key role discussed which centres on the capacity to organise and present an effective education programme while supporting, encouraging and role modeling for staff providing the day to day nursing care. This role involves practice wisdom and advocating for change and tolerance within everyday practice. An example of this dimension is discussed in depth, because the researcher considers that through staff working together, they can effectively bridge the knowledge-practice gap which exists between specialist palliative and gerontological nursing care. |
|
| |
Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ |
Serial |
580 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
| |
|
| |
|
Author |
Campbell, K. |
|
| |
Title |
Intertwining the role of partner and caregiver: A phenomenological study of the experiences of four New Zealand rural women who have cared for their terminally ill partners |
Type |
|
| |
Year |
2004 |
Publication |
|
Abbreviated Journal |
Victoria University of Wellington Library |
|
| |
Volume |
|
Issue |
|
Pages |
|
|
| |
Keywords |
Rural nursing; Terminal care; Palliative care; Home care; Nurse-family relations |
|
| |
Abstract |
The stories of the women who live and work in rural settings in New Zealand have begun to reveal unique contributions that they have made to their families and community. This research study evolved from a trend the researcher observed as a district nurse providing community palliative care in rural New Zealand; that the majority of carers of those who are terminally in home-settings are in fact women. This qualitative study aimed to explore through guided conversational interviews the experiences of four women who have cared for their terminally ill partners who have subsequently died. The study investigated if these women's experiences were comparable to that of other women in existing palliative care literature. This research project focused particularly on elucidating the women's experience of intertwining the role of partner and caregiver. Heidegger's hermeneutic philosophy informed the methodology because he focused on what it meant to 'be' rather than 'how we know what we know'. The project focused on the meanings the women made of this dual role in their lives. Women already in the role of partner were now faced with the added responsibility of caregiver to meet the complex needs of their loved one. Usually they had no training to prepare them for this experience. The study reveals ways in which the visiting palliative care nurse becomes very important to them. The women's own voices reveal the high level of respect for their partners and address the harsh realities, revealing poignant and striking concerns in their lives. These stories are shared with the intent of enriching nurses' and other health professionals' understanding of the women's experiences. The author notes that understanding these women's experience is not only a way of honouring these remarkable women but more widely it will inform and possibly transform practice through guideline and policy refinement. |
|
| |
Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ |
Serial |
822 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
| |
|
| |
|
Author |
Bridgen, A.F. |
|
| |
Title |
A heuristic journey of discovery: Exploring the positive influence of the natural environment on the human spirit |
Type |
|
| |
Year |
2007 |
Publication |
|
Abbreviated Journal |
Victoria University of Wellington Library |
|
| |
Volume |
|
Issue |
|
Pages |
|
|
| |
Keywords |
Spirituality; Nursing; Nursing philosophy |
|
| |
Abstract |
The intention of this heuristic study was to explore and discover the essence of the positive influence of the natural environment on the human spirit. The study quest was identified as a central concern that evolved from the author's personal experience of spiritual awakening in the natural environment and an interest in the concept of connectedness in nursing care and practice. The study also focused on the self of the nurse and the qualities of holistic nursing care. Guided by heuristic methodology developed by Moustakas (1990) the thesis traces a journey of discovery. Using conversational interviews, six nurses were asked to describe their experiences of their spirit being positively influenced in the natural environment. These nurses were also asked if these beneficial experiences had any flow-on effect to their nursing practice. From these interviews various commonalities of experience were identified as well as some experiences unique to the individual participants. The participant knowing was articulated using Reed's (1992) dimensions of relatedness in spirituality as a framework. Reed describes these dimensions as being able to be experienced intrapersonally, interpersonally and transpersonally. A substantive body of nursing and non-nursing literature was explored to support the participant knowing and provide strength to the discussion. The study discovered that the human spirit is positively influenced in the natural environment. The three actions of personal healing and wellbeing in the natural environment, knowing self – knowing others and sustaining self in nursing practice were valued by the participants as contributing to the quality of their nursing care. In bringing together spirituality, the natural environment and nursing, holism was discovered to be the significant and connecting constituent. The study has some implications for the discipline of nursing that are also discussed by the author. |
|
| |
Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ 831 |
Serial |
815 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
| |
|
| |
|
Author |
Brinkman, A. |
|
| |
Title |
A study into the causes and effects of occupational stress in a regional women's health service |
Type |
|
| |
Year |
2000 |
Publication |
|
Abbreviated Journal |
Victoria University of Wellington Library |
|
| |
Volume |
|
Issue |
|
Pages |
|
|
| |
Keywords |
Stress; Midwifery; Nursing |
|
| |
Abstract |
Hospital-based health systems have the potential to be high stress environments, as staff work towards meetings the many and varied demands of the patients and their families / whanau in a situation of limited resources and unpredictable workloads. Dealing with physical and emotional trauma, and the 'normal' exigencies of daily life in what may be a far from normal workplace may compound the stresses facing health workers. Nurses, who are often at the interface between patients and other health professionals, may be caught in a cross-fire of transferred stress while also coping with stressors associated with their jobs. As well as being likely to have a negative effect on their well-being and job satisfaction, any such compounding impact of stress and stressors could have adverse impacts on patients and their supporters. The primary focus of this study has been to identify stress levels among nurses in a woman's health service, and to establish the causes of elevated stress. All staff were surveyed (with a 68% response rate). Midwives made up the largest portion, followed by nurses, doctors, therapies, support and clerical groups. The Job Stress Survey (JSS) and the General Health Questionnaire – 12 (GHQ-12) were used to help detect emergent stressors, and stress effects that staff were experiencing at the time. Aggregate data was used, focusing on the six occupational groupings and the nine areas within the health service. Findings from the JSS confirm that the staff had experienced a number of stressors, while indications of deleterious mental health effects in some staff emerged from the GHQ-12 scores. Occupational stress is a subset of general stress, making it difficult to separate one from the other as spheres of our lives overlap and interact. The stressors that were identified should contribute to the discussions and policies that might abet the reduction of stress. On the other hand, it is not possible to attribute the effects describes by the GHQ-12 as being derived primarily from occupational stress. A stressed staff member, no matter what the source of their stress might be, still needs support in order to cope. The author notes that the negative outcomes of occupational stress manifests themselves in many ways such as; mistakes, absenteeism, horizontal violence, burnout and turnover. These all affect the quality of the patient care delivered, leading to decreased patient satisfaction and and need to be addressed for these reasons. |
|
| |
Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ |
Serial |
900 |
|
| Permanent link to this record |
