The Person-Centred Care Practices of Mental Health Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study

Person-centred care can result in improved patient satisfaction and health outcomes; however, operationalisation has been challenging in mental health settings.

To describe person-centred mental health nursing practices and associated factors.

The study was underpinned by The Person-Centred Practice Framework. All mental health and addictions registered nurses in one Canadian province were invited to complete the Person-centred Practice Inventory-Staff (PCPI-S) and a short demographic questionnaire. EQUATOR network recommendations for quantitative (STROBE) data were followed.

Nurses scored all three domains of the PCPI-S favourably, indicating strong evidence for person-centred practices; the practice environment domain was rated the lowest. There was a moderate, positive, statistically significant (r_s = 0.451, p < 0.001) association between the practice environment domain score and the person-centred process domain score, which was the measure of delivery of person-centred care. A regression model explained 76.1% of the variance in delivery of person-centred care. Significant predictors were: (1) the prerequisites domain score of the PCPI-S, (2) the environment domain score of the PCPI-S and (3) nurses' relationship with their manager.

Findings from our study provide strong support for the use of the Person-centred Practice Framework in mental health nursing, particularly in the context of Canadian mental health and addictions services. Study results align with existing evidence that also reported generally favourable PCPI-S scores with comparatively lower scores in the practice environment domain.

To address practice environment concerns, future research should focus on the context within which care takes place and its impact on the delivery of person-centred care.