Abstract
Background: Recruiting young nurses into mental health and psychiatric nursing in Nigeria is difficult and limited. The study aimed to explore undergraduate nursing students' mental health and psychiatric clinical experience and their career choice in nursing. Methods: A cross-sectional survey in classroom settings, using a standardized instrument Attitude towards Psychiatry questionnaire (ATP), explored the attitude of undergraduate nursing students after their mental health/ psychiatric nursing clinical experiences using a chi-square test to compare their positive and negative responses. Results: 122 undergraduate students participated, of whom 90% were female and 10% male, with an overall response rates of 95.6 percent. The majority 59.8% showed positive attitude, while 40.2% showed negative attitude towards psychiatric nursing, indicating that the clinical experience provides positive experiences for some of the participants. Conclusion: Clinical experience in mental health nursing can positively influence perceptions, reduce stigma, and attract nurses to mental health and psychiatric nursing practice.
Highlights
Nurses make up the largest professional group working in the mental health sector, yet a recent analysis of 58 low- and middle in-come countries identified a shortfall of 128,000 per country, this number being needed to provide care for people with mental disorders [1]
There is a global shortage of psychiatric nurses, this being more acute in developing countries [6] such as Nigeria, with a ratio of 2.41 per 100:000 people, compared to 10.08 per 100:000 people in South African, a middle in-come country [7]
The shortage of psychiatric nurses is partly attributed to the negative attitudes of nursing students toward mental health disorders, which results in their not considering a career in mental health and psychiatric nursing [12]
Summary
Nurses make up the largest professional group working in the mental health sector, yet a recent analysis of 58 low- and middle in-come countries identified a shortfall of 128,000 per country, this number being needed to provide care for people with mental disorders [1]. There is a global shortage of psychiatric nurses, this being more acute in developing countries [6] such as Nigeria, with a ratio of 2.41 per 100:000 people, compared to 10.08 per 100:000 people in South African, a middle in-come country [7]. This has changed little over the years, which suggests that in spite of an increase in the absolute number of psychiatry nurses, the number per unit population has not improved in the country [8]. The study aimed to explore undergraduate nursing students' mental health and psychiatric clinical experience and their career choice in nursing
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