Nurses' views on the provision of physical healthcare for individuals with comorbid mental illness and chronic disease.

Abstract

The prevalence of chronic diseases (such as diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) continues to increase among patients with mental illness. This cross-sectional study investigated the factors affecting nurses' views on the provision of physical healthcare to patients with comorbid mental illness and chronic disease. In total, 369 nurses working in mental health were assessed for the physical healthcare attitudes and practices using the Physical Health Attitude Scale for Mental Health Nurses. The results of generalized linear modelling indicated that nurses' involvement in physical healthcare was associated with psychiatric mental health nurse credentials (B = 1.560, 95% CI = 0.292-2.828, P = 0.016) and their confidence in delivering physical healthcare was associated with prior physical healthcare training (B = 0.639, 95% CI = 0.104-1.174, P = 0.019). In addition, the frequency with which the nurses engaged in physical healthcare practices was associated with working in a community unit (B = -7.416, 95% CI = -9.652 to -5.180, P < 0.001), involvement in physical healthcare (B = 0.349, 95% CI = 0.162-0.535, P < 0.001), and confidence in delivering physical healthcare (B = 1.148, 95% CI = 0.776-1.519, P < 0.001). Our findings suggest that interventions aiming to help nurses assess and improve their own physical healthcare practices should consider nurses' background and patients' physical health needs in various settings and focus on cultivating an organizational culture that gives nurses confidence in providing physical healthcare.