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This is the accepted version of a paper published in Nordic journal of nursing research. This paper has been peer-reviewed but does not include the final publisher proof-corrections or journal pagination.
Citation for the original published paper (version of record):
Enarsson, P., Sandman, P-O., Hellzén, O. (2017)
'There should be something gained': Carers’ ethical reasoning about using a common staff approach in psychiatric in-care
Nordic journal of nursing research, 37(4): 217-225 https://doi.org/10.1177/2057158517699098
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AQ: 1 ‘not in favor of the patient’ correct here (i.e. suggesting against their interests in general)? Or not in favor of the patient receiving an additional cigarette?
AQ: 2 conclusion missing?
AQ: 3 should the English translation be ‘on humans in’ rather than ‘on human in’ or is a word missing?
Article
‘There should be something gained’:
Carers’ ethical reasoning about using a
common staff approach in psychiatric in-care
Per Enarsson 1 , Per-Olof Sandman 2 and Ove Hellzen 3
Abstract
Thirteen carers were interviewed about their ethical reasoning when using a common staff approach to restricting smoking for a psychiatric in-patient. A constructed case structure and a vignette method were used in the interviews, and manifest content analysis of the texts exposed five ethical positions adopted by the carers: ‘best for the person’, ‘best for the patient’, ‘best for others involved with the person/patient’, ‘best for me as a carer’, and ‘best according to rules and regulations’. A second manifest content analysis of language showed terms that expressed value judgments in regard to the carers’ personal experi- ences. Some carers argued at first from one ethical position, but when the question was changed, they argued from an opposite ethical position. Results may be understood in light of dialog philosophy; ethical reasoning during use of a common staff approach tends to focus either on relations with others or with oneself.
Keywords
common approach, content analysis, ethics, nursing, psychiatry, vignette
Accepted: 20 February 2017
Introduction
This article is about ethical reasoning among carers when applying a common staff approach toward patients in psy- chiatric care. Carers working in psychiatric care may have different ideas about the social norms a patient should accept and conform to.
1In Sweden, however, a structured care program is regarded as important for successful care episodes and for meeting the patient’s need for security in a controlled environment.
2Carers try to achieve a stable milieu through a adopting a similar approach in inter- actions with the patient. A ‘common staff approach’
should here be understood to include the social process in which carers in psychiatric in-care or working at com- munal group dwellings formulate a common approach in their behavior toward a single patient.
3In this social pro- cess the carers characteristically negotiate with each other about how to deal with the situation, while the patient in focus has little or no knowledge of or influence over the process. The carers describe their desire to preserve and restore order by adopting a common staff approach, but also their difficulties in maintaining the common approach over time. In an additional study nine carers were inter- viewed about their experiences in situations that included a common staff approach towards a single patient in psychi- atric in-care.
4This study showed that individual carers had a difficult choice between focusing on their relations with their colleagues or relations with the patient, who appeared to suffer when a common approach was used. When a common staff approach was present the carer became aware of their own values and those of others, aware of
the patient’s suffering, and more likely to feel judged by others and by their own consciences. In a related study, nine patients with psychiatric in-care experiences were interviewed about their experiences of being cared for with a common staff approach.
5The main result was that patients suffered greatly under the common approach, but they also felt secure when the carers took over their responsibilities for them.
Background
A number of studies have explicitly aimed to investigate the ethical and moral standpoints and actions of carers, most often nurses, in psychiatric care.
6–9Related studies of carers’ experiences of providing psychiatric nursing care at communal group dwellings or psychiatric in-care settings highlight ethics,
10–13empowerment,
14or control and protection of patients.
15Earlier studies of a common staff approach in psychiatric care have shown that ethical questions and conflicts between ethical perspectives arise when carers have to choose whether to be loyal to their colleagues or to the patient.
3–5However, although
1
Department of Health and Caring Sciences, Linneaus University, Sweden
2
Department of Nursing, Umea˚ University, Sweden
3
Department of Nursing Science, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden
Corresponding author:
Per Enarsson, Department of Health and Caring Sciences, Linneaus University, 391 82 Kalmar, Sweden.
Email: per.enarsson@lnu.se
Nordic Journal of Nursing Research 0(0) 1–9
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nurse-initiated rules in psychiatric care have been investi- gated
16no study to our knowledge has aimed explicitly to investigate the common staff approach from an ethical perspective. Psychiatric patients are in a vulnerable situ- ation when being cared for; often not being able to control their personal milieu when admitted to a psychiatric ward.
This makes it of utmost importance to investigate carers’
ethical reasoning when a common staff approach is pre- sent. How does the carer’s personal standpoint influence the care received by the patient? The aim of this study was to describe ethical reasoning among carers when applying a common staff approach toward patients in psy- chiatric care.
Method Participants
A psychiatric clinic in Mid Sweden was contacted and permission was obtained from the head of the clinic to conduct the study. The sole criterion for inclusion was at least two years’ experience caring for psychiatric in-patients over the last 10 years. A nurse responsible for staff education at the clinic invited nursing staff to par- ticipate. Several announcements were made to obtain a sufficient number of participants. All who agreed to par- ticipate were contacted by the principal investigator and then interviewed. The final sample consisted of 13 carers:
five registered nurses and eight nurse aides trained in mental health care (Table 1). The carers worked at wards specialized for acute psychiatric care, psychosis care, or general psychiatric care. All registered nurses had under- gone specialization in psychiatric care or were studying to obtain this specialization.
Data collection
Methods for data collection. A vignette method was used to prompt the interviewees to disclose their ethical reasoning.
A vignette, or short story, describes a situation or episode with characteristics that the researchers regard as
important and critical to a person’s choice of action in a specific situation.
17,18This method has been used previ- ously to explore ethical standpoints held by nursing staff in relation to forced feeding
19and the use of physical restraints.
20The vignette, based on knowledge obtained in earlier studies of the common staff approach,
3–5was constructed to elicit the interviewees’ personal ethical reasoning in a hypothetical case of a common approach used to restrict smoking in a psychiatric in-patient. The interviewees were aware of the aim of the vignette and of the study. The vignette consisted of two parts: a situation presented to the interviewees (Appendix 1), and four scenarios for respondents to consider depending on the interviewee’s response to the vignette (Appendix 2: these questions were asked but not shown to the interviewees).
In the first stage of the interview, the interviewee was handed the vignette in writing and asked to read it for a few minutes, after which they were asked to answer three questions: ‘What is your decision?’ ‘How would you act in practice?’ and ‘What are your arguments (what is your reasoning) for your decision and action?’ Depending on the interviewee’s decision to give or not to give cigarettes, follow-up questions were asked based on four constructed scenarios (Appendix 2). Finally, all interviewees were asked what other condition might influence them to change their original decision to give or not give cigarettes.
All interviewees spontaneously said they were familiar with the situation described, and one person said, ‘This is a classic’. Several interviewees asked for more information in order to find a practical solution to the situation, but they were directed back to the information that was given in the vignette and asked to interpret it based on their own experiences. Nine of them expressed difficulty articulating a specific standpoint in relation to the scenarios and said there was more than one way to act. The researcher then asked them for the alternative they would be most likely to use.
All interviews were held in private rooms at the wards and lasted between 45 and 75 minutes. Interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim, and the transcrip- tions were validated against the tape.
Analysis
Two separate content analyses were performed in order to describe ethical reasoning among carers. One analysis of language to grasp ethical language used by the carers; and another analysis of text in order to describe ethical stand- points made by the carers. The two analyses can be seen as supplementary in order to understand more about the phe- nomenon studied.
Analysis of language
A content analysis of language was performed from a non- normative perspective,
21seeking the manifest content. The aim was to present a picture of the carers’ ethical language in reasoning about a common staff approach towards a Table 1. Characteristics of the participants.
Data
Nurse aides
Registered Nurses
Sample (n ¼ 13) 8 5
Age (years) Range 42–60 Range 25–46
Mean 52 Mean 33
Gender 4 F, 4 M 4 F, 1 M
Years in practice
Range 3–36 Range 4–21
Mean 16 Mean 15
Education Nurse aides with training in psychiatric care
Registered Nurses
a,ba
Specialization in psychiatric care, three nurses.
b