Mental health nurses’ encounters with occupational health services

Abstract

OH provision in mental health settings must take account of the expertise of its staff. Further research, looking at NHS OH provision from the provider perspective is warranted.

Occupational health in mental health services: a qualitative study

“…The views of OH practitioners in mental health settings have not previously been sought or analysed by qualitative researchers. Findings here contribute to the wider field of occupational mental health research, giving a previously unheard clinician’s perspective, which contrasts with that of the users of occupational mental health services, as reported by Gibb et al (2010) and Oates, Jones and Drey, (2018). When mental health nurses have described their encounters with OH services, they have voiced concerned about differential expertise in mental health between them and the OH clinician.…”

“…When mental health nurses have described their encounters with OH services, they have voiced concerned about differential expertise in mental health between them and the OH clinician. They were anxious about being treated within the same organisation they worked for and how their “return to work” would be managed (Oates, Jones and Drey, 2018). This study found OH clinicians to have a clear sense of the scope of their OH function in relation to diagnostic and treatment services for mental health, with a focus on the influence of mental health on the workplace and vice versa.…”

“…Semi-structured interviews using a topic guide (Holloway and Wheeler, 2013) were undertaken by the lead researcher (see the Appendix), a mental health nurse. The topic guide was derived from a previous study and literature search on nurses’ experience of OH services (Oates, Jones and Drey, 2018). Two interviews were undertaken face-to-face.…”

“…The impetus for this study was a previous study (Oates, Jones and Drey, 2018) which described mental health nurses’ experience of OH services, which revealed that nurses-as-service-users took a critical stance when attending their OH clinics, as fellow health professionals and as experts in mental health. There has been only one other previous study exploring nurses’ and allied health professionals’ views on an OH service in a mental health care organisation (Gibb et al , 2010).…”