title: An ethnographic study of psychiatric nursing.
abstract: There is a well documented continuing anomaly between what is expected of a psychiatric nurse and observations of practice. This paper presents an ethnographic study carried out in three acute psychiatric in-patient units over one year. Methods used were participant observation and semistructured interviews of 15 trained nurses. Three themes were isolated during and following data analysis: the difficulty of working closely with mentally disturbed individuals; maintaining distance and congruent care. There was a notable dichotomy, that of wanting to work with the patients but constantly feeling that what they intuitively wanted to do was not right.
authors.affiliation: Homerton School of Health Studies, Fulbourn, UK.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bray
mesh_terms: D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D006272:Health Facility Environment; D006801:Humans; D007587:Job Description; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology*; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D012649:Self Concept; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires