Adaptation to the mental health setting: the lived experience of comprehensive nurse graduates

The aim of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the experience of new comprehensive nurse graduates as they adapted to working in the acute psychiatric setting. Interviews were conducted with four participants, focusing on their current work experiences and how the philosophical beliefs and values derived from their educational preparation fit with those they encountered within the practice setting. The data were analysed by noting common experiences, values and meanings and identifying the themes that emerged. The themes were: transition to practice, conflict, contradiction, structural constraints, and the 'reality' of the psychiatric setting. The results of the study confirm the concern that has been voiced by new graduates about the quality and quantity of current orientation programs. Conflicting values and beliefs concerning the nature of mental health/psychiatric nursing also became evident. It appears that the graduates' Comprehensive nursing preparation may have contributed to their feelings of unease as they attempted to fit their own values and beliefs about nursing with those of the acute psychiatric setting.