An exploration of psychiatric nurses’ perceptions of
recovery in mental health care
Niamh Hurley
Rationale for study
Mental health care has dramatically changed over the last few decades with a strong emphasis
worldwide on recovery orientated mental health practices. Ireland has recently embraced the
concept of recovery in mental health and is currently striving to change mental health practices
to a more recovery focused service. Recovery orientated mental health services aim to empower
and work collaboratively with service users. The literature acknowledges that exploring
psychiatric nurses’ perceptions of mental health care can inform practice and influence the
delivery of care for clients. Although psychiatric nurses are central to the recovery process, their
perceptions of recovery in mental health care are unknown, therefore exploring psychiatric
nurses’ perceptions of recovery in mental health care was timely.
Research Design
A qualitative descriptive approach was adopted when conducting the study. Data was collected
by means of semi structured interviews with a sample of eight registered psychiatric nurses. The
sample for this study was achieved by systematic sampling with the sample being selected from
a population of 188 registered psychiatric nurses employed by one mental health service
provider.
Data analysis
Data was later analysed using a Burnard’s (1991) method of thematic content analysis. The
analysis resulted in the identification of four master themes.
 The nurses’ role in recovery
 Facilitators to recovery
 Barriers to implementing recovery orientated practice
 Challenges to promoting recovery.
Findings
The findings suggest that participants had a limited understanding of the meaning of recovery in
relation to mental health. However participants valued and used many of the principles
underpinning recovery in their nursing practice. The findings also revealed factors which
psychiatric nurses perceive may impact in facilitating the integration of a recovery orientated
service. Participants consistently emphasised the need for more education and training on the
principles underpinning the concept of recovery. Additionally, nurses with a negative attitude
and resistance to change could negatively impact recovery orientated mental health care.
Discussion
The conclusions drawn from this study are the importance of education and training on recovery
orientated practice as participants appeared to have a limited understanding of the meaning of
recovery. The role of the nurse was seen to be either a facilitating or a hindering factor on the
recovery process, it was revealed that nursing staff were often resistant to change and this was
seen as a challenge to promote recovery. While participants welcomed a recovery approach, this
study revealed that the dominance of the medical model was evident in participant’s
understanding of recovery and in the strategies which they use to promote recovery.
Recommendations
Recommendations which were made following this study included
 The need for psychiatric nurses to receive both education and training on the principles
which underpin recovery.
 The provision of clinical supervision to guide and support psychiatric nurses in
promoting recovery.
 To create a more service user led mental health care service by means of initiating user
led recovery groups within the clinical setting.
 The need for further research on the concept of recovery in order to integrate recovery
into the current mental health services.
References
Burnard P (1991) A method of analysing interview transcripts in qualitative research. Nurse
Education Today 11(6)461-466.