Patient's capable of managing--basic process of psychiatric nursing in a hospital environment

The aim is to describe the basic process of psychiatric nursing in a hospital environment and to produce a practical theory of psychiatric nursing by the grounded theory method. The data were collected by means of observation and interviews and analysed simultaneously, so that the preliminary results and experience gained in the field shaped the data collection process. The data were subjected to continuous comparison analysis and classified into categories by open coding. The basic process was identified by means of axial coding and theoretical memos. The selective coding consisted of related categories grouped around a core category. The basic process of psychiatric nursing involves the patient's needs for care, the helping methods available and the objectives of care. The patient needs help because of his/her inability to manage in daily life, and the role of nursing is to help the patient to manage. The basis of psychiatric nursing lies in caring for the needs of the patient by employing various helping methods. Patient management consisted of three categories, each subsuming three subcategories. Examination of the content of these led to the identification of different types of psychiatric nursing, labelled as confirming, educating and catalytic. The results suggest that collaborative methods in psychiatric nursing enable and support the patient's participation in his/her care and show that both nurses and patients consider collaboration a good helping method, although requiring a change in attitudes and activities for both the nurse and the patient. In spite of changes in psychiatric nursing, there has been no essential development, as most of the care provided is still normative and traditional and the patient is a passive recipient.