An exploration of mental health nursing students' experiences and attitudes towards using cigarettes to change client's behaviour.
Using cigarettes to change client behaviour is a common, yet little studied, practice in mental health care. A questionnaire survey was used to explore mental health nursing student's experiences and attitudes to this practice. The sample was four cohorts of mental health nursing students (n= 151). Of them, 84% had experienced the practice of using cigarettes to change client behaviour in acute wards (73%), rehabilitation wards (28%) and elderly care (14%). Cigarettes were used to change client behaviour in areas such as attending to personal hygiene (57%) or engaging in the ward routine (39%). However, items such as leave (60%) or drinks (tea and coffee) (38%) were also reportedly used. Of the respondents, 54% inferred that the practice did not work well with 46% stating it was not written up in care plans; 52% felt it was an ad hoc practice, 60% inferred that at times it was used as a punishment while 55% intimated that they felt bad withholding cigarettes. There are ethical and moral dilemmas around using lifestyle risk factors as rewards or using client's nicotine addiction as a means of controlling behaviour. The question of whether this intervention should ever be used, given its associated health risk, requires more critical debate in clinical practice.
Psychiatric Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, St Brendan's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. michael.nash@tcd.ie
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D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000628:therapy*; D009042:Motivation; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000193:education*; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014040:Token Economy