Psychiatric nurses' attitudes toward consumer and carer participation in care: part 1--exploring the issues

Consumer and carer participation in mental health delivery is now enshrined in Australian Government policy. However, strategies assisting in implementing this vision have not been explored. Nurses are crucial to the mental health workforce, both in numbers and by virtue of the therapeutic relationship. The willingness of nurses to encourage consumer and carer participation is therefore essential for implementation of this policy. This article presents part 1 of the findings of a qualitative study exploring nurses' opinions regarding consumer and carer participation. Data were analyzed using a content-analysis approach, assisted by the software package NVivo. The themes explicated were as follows: Consumer and carer participation-a help or a hindrance? Encouragement-an important role for nurses; and communication-a gift of nursing. These findings highlight the unique and important role nurses can play in encouraging participation and explore some of the issues involved if that role is to become a reality.