Level of training of nursing staff and the autonomy given to psychiatric inpatients: a multicenter study

Abstract

This research examines the infl uence of the level of professional training of the caretaking staff in psychiatric wards, the type of wards in which a patient is treated and the patient ' s age compared with the level of limitation put on patient autonomy. Detailed questionnaires were administered to 296 nurses from fi ve mental health centers who met inclusion criteria for the study. The level of autonomy restriction was measured using six representative cases from fi eldwork of the interviewees. These cases were analyzed by the authors based on Collopy ' s theory, by categorizing the data according to the six polarities of autonomy presented in his work. Our fi ndings suggest a positive correlation between the level of professional training of the nursing staff, patient ' s age and the level of autonomy given. Our fi ndings did not show a signifi cant relationship between the type of ward and level of autonomy, although there could be a tendency for higher autonomy within closed wards.

Untitled

“…In a Swedish study, it was found that nursing assistants supported the older persons' preferences to a higher extent than nurses' aides (Mattiasson & Andersson 1995). This is in conformity with results showing that the level of professional training predicts the extent of autonomy given to the patients (Leibovich et al 2011).…”