Exploring Nurses' Experiences and Coping Strategies in Managing Mental Health Patients in Indonesian Hospital Settings: A Qualitative Study
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Abstract
The nursing profession in mental health settings plays a pivotal role in managing patients with psychological disorders, yet there is limited understanding of the emotional and psychological challenges faced by nurses in this field. While much research has focused on general clinical practices, the personal experiences and emotional labor of nurses remain underexplored. This study addresses the gap in knowledge by exploring the lived experiences of nurses who care for patients with mental health disorders. Using a phenomenological approach, this research seeks to uncover the meaning nurses assign to their professional roles and the emotional challenges they face in these settings. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 12 nurses working in a hospital, and analyzed using thematic analysis. The participants consisted of 9 female and 3 male nurses, with ages ranging from 27 to 45 years, and an average of 8 years of professional experience in mental health wards. Purposive sampling was employed to ensure participants had substantial exposure to mental health patients and could provide rich experiential accounts. The findings revealed that nurses experience significant emotional strain, a lack of mental health training, and insufficient institutional support, but they develop coping mechanisms such as peer support and self-care practices. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of emotional labor in nursing and highlight the importance of institutional and peer support in improving nurses' well-being. Nevertheless, this study is limited by its relatively small sample size and focus on a single hospital setting, which may restrict the transferability of findings to broader contexts. Future studies involving larger and more diverse samples are needed to enhance the generalizability and depth of understanding.These findings offer valuable insights for healthcare systems aiming to improve nurse resilience and suggest avenues for future research on emotional resilience and professional development in mental health nursing.
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