TITLE:
The nurses’ voice of working in a newly established community based 24-hour support center for people with psychiatric disabilities
AUTHORS:
Ann-Christin Janlöv, Agneta Berg
KEYWORDS:
Psychiatric Disability; Mental Health Nursing; Community Mental Health Service; 24-Hour Service Center; Qualitative Content Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Nursing,
Vol.3 No.2,
June
3,
2013
ABSTRACT:
This study explores the perceptions of a small group of nurses
working at a newly established 24-hour community-based service enter (SC) for users
with psychiatric disability using a qualitative approach. Since the mental health
reform in Sweden in 1995 where the communities (in Sweden called municipalities)
were given the responsibility to establish service and support to people with severe
psychiatric disabilities, they have struggled in finding suitable forms of these
kinds of areas. In 2010, this led to the creation and development of a new center
aiming to provide services and support based on the expressed needs of people
with physchiatric disability in a community located in southern Sweden. During
2011, a total of three group interviews were performed to capture the employed nurses’
perceptions of this newly established SC. The interview texts were analyzed by
way of qualitative content analysis. A first reading of the interview texts revealed that the nurses’ perceptions of the service center were unwaveringly positive but that their
beliefs about who the specific target group were
differed. The main finding was summarized by the theme: Making a difference—on an individual, professional, and organizational level.
The sub themes were: 24-hour availability, unclear
assignment, and preventing mental illness. The findings indicate a need
for a community round-the-clock service center in this Swedish community and a
more clear definition of the target group.