The motivations and perceptions of nurses associated with working in and staying or leaving MHSOP in New Zealand

Abstract

In the area of mental health services for older people (MHSOP) and dementia services, there are concerns as to nursing staff retention and recruitment, the need to train and develop the current nurses, and the necessity to plan for an increasingly aging workforce. The aim of this study was to identify the factors that influenced nurses’ choices to work in MHSOP; to explore the perspectives of nurses who did not actively choose to work in MHSOP but who have stayed in the setting; to explore nurses’ positive and negative perceptions of the MHSOP specialty; to identify reasons why nurses might plan to leave the MHSOP specialty; and to develop an understanding of how to recruit and retain nurses in the MHSOP specialty. A qualitative descriptive methodology was used. Data was collected via focus group discussion from 30 mental health nurses and was analysed using a thematic analysis. Analysis of the data revealed four over-arching themes. The main themes were: (1) MH vs. general nurses: the nursing idea of being able to use all of their skills, (2) the work environment: whether it is a supportive, pleasant place to work, if there is a conflict within or between services, including management style, other challenges encountered within the service; (3) what does it take to become a MHSOP nurse: characteristics of a MHSOP nurse and what motivates them; (4) what the nurses want for a better MHSOP specialty. The study has identified that working in MHSOP service is a rewarding as well as a challenging experience. Working in MHSOP is mostly a positive experience for the nurses who are personally motivated and committed to work alongside with their patients and finds MHSOP as the most therapeutic place for their patients and themselves to work in. By working well within MHSOP multidisciplinary team, patients, and whanau have been identified as rewarding while the need to balance conflict within the team, inpatient and community team, and management and problems encountered have been found to be challenging. The findings in this study have suggested that despite the challenges encountered in the DHB setting, MHSOP nurses are keen and motivated to continue and work in MHSOP specialty.