What determines whether nurses provide physical health care to consumers with serious mental illness?
journal contribution
posted on 2017-12-06, 00:00authored byBrenda Happell, Chris Platania-Phung, David Scott
People with serious mental illness (SMI) have heightened rates of chronic physical disease. This study aimed to identify what nurse and organisational factors predict physical health care provided by nurses in contact with consumers with SMI, through a survey in Australia (N=643). Statistical analyses revealed that physical health care could be accounted for in terms of nurse views on consumer health, rights and nurse role ideal ('nurses should be involved in physical health care'), and organisational factors. However, organisational factors may be more important in determining physical health care than views and perceptions about consumers, roles and ideals.