The attitudes of female nurses towards female substance misuse patients within a psychiatric hospital

Abstract

The aim of this study was to capture the attitudes of female nurses when dealing with patients who as a consequence of illicit drug use require hospitalisation within a psychiatric hospital. The study discussed how the nurses' attitudes affect the care that they deliver to such patients. A qualitative method was adopted for this study and six semi-structured face to face interviews were conducted. The respondents were part of a purposive sample and the interview schedule was developed after a thorough literature review. A process of thematic analysis was utilised in order to extract five common themes from the interviews. These were skills, training and experience; personal perceptions and attitudes; specialised care; effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes and finally the recommendations and concerns of nurses. Collectively the results of the research were that nurses' who took part in this small scale study revealed that working with illicit drug users is not an easy job. Results suggest a number of loopholes in the present system which were earmarked to equip nurses' in working with illicit drug users. In particular skills, training and experience were mentioned as being crucial for nurses to be able to deliver the best care possible Based on the data collected, the study presented recommendations for service enhancement and directions for further research.