Perceptions of Mental Health Nurses Regarding Metabolic Syndrome at a Public Tertiary Psychiatric Hospital in Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

Mental and physical health should not be regarded as two separate entities. Recognising the periodic co-morbidity between mental and physical health conditions could facilitate an improvement in the observed lack of screening for metabolic syndrome (MetS) in patients with severe mental illness (SMI). The aim of the current study was to investigate the perceptions of mental health nurses about their knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding mental health care users (MCHUs) with MetS in a public tertiary psychiatric hospital. The study was conducted in one of the four public, tertiary psychiatric hospitals in Western Cape, South Africa. A self-administered quantitative descriptive survey design, using an 18-item modified version of the MBACK-Questionnaire was conducted with an all-inclusive sample of 97 mental health nurses. Ethics approval was obtained from the Western Cape Department of Health and the Research Ethics Committee from the University of Western Cape. A response rate of 87.6% (n = 85) was attained. The specialised mental health nurses reported perceived higher knowledge scores than the non-specialised mental health nurses, with no significant differences between the responses of their level of agreement for their attitudes and self-reported practices on the topic. The specialised mental health nurses perceived themselves to have better knowledge than the non-specialised mental health nurses, with both categories exhibiting similar positive attitudes towards providing general physical care and active involvement in their practice towards mental health care users (MHCUs) with MetS.