PATIENTS INTERNAL WORLD EXPERIENCE OF INTERACTING WITH PSYCHIATRIC-NURSES

Research was conducted to explore the patient's perception of interact ion with psychiatric nurses, In-depth interviews were conducted with 1 3 psychiatric patients. The interviews were conducted in two phases, I n phase 1 of each interview, the focus was exploratory and phenomenolo gical, where a single central question was posed concerning the nature of a psychiatric patient's experience of interaction with psychiatric nurses, In phase 2 of each interview, the focus was to probe for furt her patient experience, based on the data elicited in phase one, The r esults of the research show significant findings within the psychologi cal dimension of psychiatric patients' internal environment with speci fic reference to: their perception of the interaction (including stere otyping, custodialism, rule enforcement, lack of intimacy, friendlines s, and lack of empathy and caring); defense mechanisms, identified dur ing the interaction as denial and avoidance; and anxiety as emotion, T hese results emphasize the importance of a facilitative psychiatric nu rse-patient interaction to assist the patient in the promotion, mainte nance, and restoration of mental health. (C) 1996 by W.B. Saunders Com pany