Factors Influencing Psychiatric Nurses' Attitudes toward Suicide Attempters: Implications for Nursing Education in Suicide Prevention

Abstract

Purpose: Evidence indicated that the nurses' negative attitudes are influential to the quality of suicidal patient care and the patients’ intention to seek help. Educating the nurses to be aware of this phenomenon is the first step to improve care quality. The study aimed to explore psychiatric nurses' perceptions and attitudes of caring for suicidal patients and their implications for suicide prevention and nursing education. Methods: Qualitative method was used with purposive sampling, one-on-one interviews audiotaped for transcriptions and content analysis for data interpretation. Results: Fifteen psychiatric nurses between the ages of 26-38 (mean: 29.3) in a general hospital in northern Taiwan agreed to participate. Three themes reflected the nurses' opinions toward factors affecting nursing care for suicidal patients in the acute psychiatric setting: (1) fluctuated attitudes; (2) dichotomized attributions of suicidal behavior; (3) the conflict between professional caring ethics and morality. Further, three strategies emerged as the way to overcome the ethical/moral conflicts, which are rationalizing suicidal behavior in the medical context, separating practice from thinking, and choosing contact timing. Conclusions: Direct care experiences affected nursing attitudes on suicide, which in turn induced personal reflections on suicide. Nurses who care for suicidal patients should receive debriefing, proper education and interactive discussions with nursing leaders to clarify negative meanings of such care for better care quality and personal growth.