title: The lived experience of community mental health nurses working with people who have dual diagnosis: a phenomenological study.
abstract: Dual diagnosis (the combination of mental health and substance misuse problems) is a significant facing mental health nurses in the UK. The purpose of the study was to describe the lived experience of community mental health nurses working with people who have a dual diagnosis. A phenomenological approach was us and a purposive sample of seven community mental health nurses with experience of working with people with a dual diagnosis was selected. Data were collected through audiotaped, semi-structured interviews lasting approximately 1 h in duration and analysed using Colaizzi's (1978) method. Thirteen theme clusters relating to three major themes were identified: (1) difficulties in understanding the concept of dual diagnosis; (2) feeling deskilled when working with people who have a dual diagnosis; (3) struggling to work in a system which seeks to avoid people with dual diagnosis. Recommendations regarding the need for increased joint working between professionals, improved education and further research are made.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Nursing, School of Health and Social Care, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK. elcoombes@brookes.ac.uk
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Coombes
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wratten
mesh_terms: D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000451:nursing / Q000534:rehabilitation; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing; D012922:Social Change; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000451:nursing / Q000534:rehabilitation