title: Strategies nurses use to overcome medication refusal by involuntary psychiatric patients.
abstract: Nurses seem to play an important role in assisting involuntarily hospitalized psychiatric patients to accept medication. The initial aim of this study was to develop a theoretical understanding of strategies nurses use to overcome medication non-acceptance in involuntary psychiatric patients using a grounded theory approach. Interviews (n = 17) were conducted with psychiatric nurses in inpatient settings. Data analysis using the constant comparative method and validation by nursing literature identified four key themes: Engagement, formulating a therapeutic relationship, finding out why, and persistently trying everything. These themes were frequently encountered in descriptions of getting patients to take medications. The findings indicate that psychiatric nurses use varied and individualized techniques to convince involuntary patients to take their medications.
authors.affiliation: California State University, Los Angeles, California 90032, USA. pvuckov@calstatela.edu
authors.forename: Paula K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Vuckovich
mesh_terms: D003068:Coercion; D004358:Drug Therapy; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing