1. Mental health nurses’ views of mental illness within the profession: An in-depth cross-sectional survey.
Simon Sherring
Oxleas NHS Foundation
Trust, London
Supervisors:
Professor Ian Norman &
Dr Mary Stewart,
King’s College London
Introduction
One in four members of the general population in Britain experiences a diagnosable mental illness every year; and at any time one in six people in Britain are experiencing a diagnosable mental illness (The Office for National Statistics, 2001). In excess of 10,000 registered mental health nurses might be experiencing a diagnosable mental illness at any one time.
Members of staff in mental health trusts who suffer with mental health problems suffer from stigma and discrimination; and these members of staff would often prefer to cite going to prison as a reason for a break in employment, rather than owning up to experiencing mental illness (The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, 2006).
Mental illness is common, and mental health nurses will experience mental illness. Stigma towards mental illness is also common, and mental health workers who experience mental illness are stigmatised. Sickness absence is higher in mental health Trusts than the rest of the NHS. Mental illness amongst mental health nurses is likely to increase sickness absence, which will impact on service delivery and patient care. Very little is known about mental illness amongst mental health nurses, thus this area is worthy of further research.
Aims
The aim of this study is to explore the views of mental health nurses about mental illness amongst mental health nurses.
Methodology
The research will be conducted in two phases. The first phase will be a large scale electronic survey of all members of the Royal College of Nursing Mental Health and Forensic Forums (n>2000) and mental health nurses working in four UK NHS Mental Health Trusts. The second phase will be semi-structured telephone interviews of participants identified from the first phase of the research.
References
Kassam, A., Glozier, N., Leese, M., Henderson, C. and Thornicroft, G., (2010). Development and responsiveness of a scale to measure clinicians’ attitudes to people with mental illness (medical student version). Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 122:
The Office for National Statistics, (2001). Psychiatric morbidity among adults living in private households, Available:
[Accessed 14/05/2011].
The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, (2006). Leading by example: Making the NHS and exemplar employer of people with mental health problems. London: Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health.