Professional nurses' perception of nursing mentally ill people in a general hospital setting

Abstract

Recognising the enormous challenges in South Africa confronting the nursing of the mentally ill, the project was conducted in a public hospital in Gauteng. The purpose of the research was to describe professional nurses' perception of nursing mentally ill people in a general hospital setting and was carried out amongst a sample size of 124 professional nursing staff using a self-administered tool.

The study looked at four different types of perceptions guided by categories of conceptual framework proposed by Mavundla (2000:1569-1570), namely perception of self, perception of patients, perception of environment and perceived feelings.

The study found that the majority of professional nurses have a predominantly positive self- perception of nursing mentally ill people in a general hospital, although a significant number have a negative perception of patients, the nursing environment and perceived feelings. Lack of knowledge, skill and experience affect the nursing care of mentally ill people in the general hospital.